What to expect from Noynoy

His vision is simple, nothing fancy, nothing really new, and yet it seems doable only under a leadership of change and transformation, one that Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, the only son of two Philippine democratic icons, vows to pursue if elected as the country’s 15th president.

We are quite familiar with his story, which unlike his vision, is probably not that simple and fresh. A low-key, nearly 50-year-old scion of a rich, political family, Noynoy was thrust into the presidential ring after the entire nation mourned the death of his mother, ex-president Cory, everyone’s nurturing “tita” at the very least, and the closest to a queen this country ever had.

Noynoy, who had no grand ambitions in the 2010 elections, was by some mutual, unspoken agreement, suddently entrusted the role of ushering the nation into a regime of hope, change and progress.

To a people tired of a current established pattern of lying, cheating and stealing, Noynoy, by a growing consensus, is the agent of change that’s badly needed in government in this country.

With the forceful way political opponents have been drilling Noynoy’s supposed lack of experience and shallow track record, the presidential candidate still leads in the surveys, even by those his rivals commissioned.

The good senator last week gave us a glimpse of the framework of his governance should he be elected into office. He is the first speaker in the Makati Business Club Presidential Candidates Series, and in his 30-minute speech followed by a Q&A, Noynoy highlighted several issues he plans to tackle in his administration.

Plug tax leaks

With the next administration inheriting a record budget deficit, a shortfall that has swelled to an all-time high of about P290 billion in 2009 and projected to hit P293 billion this year, Noynoy pledges not to add new taxes nor increase the levy rate but instead improve the efficiency of tax collection by running after the unscrupulous evaders and smugglers, and corrupt revenue officials.

By a seemingly conservative estimate, Noynoy’s team has placed losses due to corruption to about P280 billion each year, an amount large enough to close the gap and end the year with a balanced budget.

Again, this is nothing new even by Noynoy’s own admission. Programs that go after tax cheats and punish ineffective BIR and Customs officials in fact have been introduced under the incumbent’s early years in office.

Unfortunately, some of the key people who implemented them have long left government service, disillusioned perhaps after the “Hello Garci” election scandal and by the gall by which the current regime had manages to hang on in power.

Noynoy says that some of these reform-minded finance and BIR officials are now part of his team, giving some comfort that when elected, he will appoint executives who will have the talent and decency to help solve the deficit problem.

Reproductive health

The reproductive health issue is a controversial one, especially for the son of Cory who is a devout Catholic. Noynoy himself took refuge with the Pink Sisters in early September to contemplate whether or not to heed the people’s call for a change.

Having put his signature on the pending reproductive health legislation, Noynoy is an easy target of the Catholic Church, to which the narrow-minded simply dismiss as a pro-abortion proposal. While the conventional Catholic doesn’t have a solid voting block, unlike its unit El Shaddai or the Iglesia ni Cristo, it would be foolish for a candidate to clash head-on with the Church at this point.

This probably explains Noynoy’s vague reference now to an issue he was perceived to have espoused strongly before he decided to run. For now, the senator underscores the need for responsible parenthood and education of couples so they can make informed choices as key to public health, empowerment and progress.

As the senator himself said during the MBC forum, 2.5 million Filipinos are born each year and a third of them are due to unplanned pregnancies. Children born in poverty are handicapped, ending up malnourished and getting inferior education, if not turning out illiterate.

Deteriorating education system

Noynoy expressed concern that the country’s education system has deteriorated to a point that even our premier state universities and expensive colleges, once considered among the best in the region, are falling out of favor. The public school system is grappling with factual errors in textbooks, a lack of classrooms and a declining quality of teachers.

We all know how even doctors are leaving for overseas employment as nurses. It’s not so hard to understand, he added, why our teachers have been escaping poverty at home by applying as domestic helpers abroad.

Agriculture, infrastructure

It has long been a wonder how our very own experts have trained countries like Thailand and Vietnam to improve their rice productivity, and yet our own rice and farm sector had been faring poorly, forcing us to increase our imports for our staple.

We are facing falling rice and sugar outputs this year, in part because of the back-to-back typhoons that hit us last year. Somehow, we know that the bigger problem faced by our farm sector is low productivity, caused in part by the attendant corruption and inefficiency.

Noynoy pointed out that the state-run National Agribusiness Corp. (Nabcor), supposedly the agri-business arm of the Department of Agriculture, spent P60 million in a year supposedly to act as a conduit to regional offices. Nabcor has been cited in several questionable transactions including committing 1.4 million hectares of land to the Chinese government to utilize for its country’s food program and a recent purchase of 98 ice machines that were allegedly overpriced by at least P2.3 million per unit.

A lack of infrastructure is also partly to blame for the sorry state of our agriculture. The same sordid situation is mirrored with regards our highways and railways. Noynoy noted that the country spends less than five percent of its gross domestic product for infrastructure, which is among the lowest in the region.

Corruption

Noynoy pointed out that in every setback and suffering of our country, corruption is always the underlying cause. Everywhere we look, we see traces of irregularities that bloat government’s costs, perpetuate inefficiency, prevent the state from putting up much-needed infrastructure and creating more jobs, and keep the nation and its people poor.

We have scams from procurement of textbooks and fertilizer to big ticket infrastructure items like the Northrail contract and NBN-ZTE deal, apart from the perceived day-to-day “transactions” at BIR, Customs and practically most government agencies.

As the government loses billions of pesos each year to corrupt deeds and questionable practices, the people suffer from poverty, poor health, lack of basic services and loss of confidence in governance and democracy, Noynoy concluded.

Pure intentions over experience

Experience is very important for the country’s next president to have to be able to deal with the nation’s problems. But more than experience, our president must have integrity, honor and moral ascendancy to lead by example. The bottom line: Anyone who bets on Noynoy will hope that the lack of experience will be offset by pure intentions.

Villar’s turn

The next guest speaker in the Makati Business Club Presidential Candidates Series is Manuel “Manny” Villar, and the same group that listened to Noynoy will surely be interested to hear what he will say. It would be interesting to hear how “sipag at tiyaga” will bring this country to a better future.–Rey Gamboa (The Philippine Star)

Should you wish to share any insights, write me at Link Edge, 25th Floor, 139 Corporate Center, Valero Street, Salcedo Village, 1227 Makati City. Or e-mail me at reydgamboa@yahoo.com. For a compilation of previous articles, visit www.BizlinksPhilippines.net