The Youth’s Presidential Report Card

Five days before Day 100, four young Filipinos assess the performance of the President

It is Day 95. The Philippines wakes up to yet another hot issue in the news, more debates on the controversial Reproductive Health bill, more witnesses to the jueteng scandal.

President Benigno

Over in Malacañang, the political atmosphere barely gives anyone room to breathe. A little over three months into the presidency, Benigno Aquino 3rd, known by his presidential moniker PNoy, has already encountered more than a few bumps in the road.

“You can’t please everybody,” they say. Indeed, truer words were never spoken, if the President’s situation was to be analyzed carefully. The goal of a president is, however, not to give everybody what they want, but to provide everyone what they need. Ninety-five days into the presidency, has President Aquino begun this massive objective well?

Assessing the President

In their campaign for good governance marked by the youth’s participation, X young leaders from the Kaya Natin! Movement for Good Governance and Ethical Leadership’s youth core group try to evaluate Mr. Aquino’s performance thus far.

Cristyl Senajon, Bem Olaguera, Wendell Balderas and Kirstin Lopez give their thoughts on several issues surrounding President Aquino, his leadership, and what it may mean for the future of these young Filipinos.

After all that has happened, do you think the President stayed true to his word during the campaign and his inaugural statement, “Kayo ang boss ko”?

Senajon: When it comes to following due process, (President) Noynoy observes that. He does not easily come up with a decision that he hasn’t thought of. And it seems that he is serious about stamping out corruption. It’s just that I think it can be . . . I like to say that in the “leadership” department, he’s lacking, he can still improve. In terms of the “doing” department, though, he seems to be doing OK.
Olaguera: I agree with Tyl, he needs more political will.
Senajon: He has a hard time handling his people, like the people in his Cabinet.
Olaguera: He is kind of indecisive, as shown in his first few executive orders. That’s why I somewhat agree with (Senator) Joker Arroyo’s statement about this government being run like a student council, that is, still learning.
Senajon: You know that he means well, but his tendency is, “Once I’ve given you the directive, you do your job, it’s your call.” He needs to be more decisive about how he wants things to be implemented. I think he has a vision, a plan, but he needs more directives.
Olaguera: But the good thing is, he empowers his heads to do their jobs. What’s unfortunate is that people want to see Noynoy in action. Like with the hostage crisis, they expected him to be on the scene. But that’s micromanagement, and it’s not productive. There were people during the hostage taking that had the responsibility of taking charge on the ground.

How would you rate the overall performance of President Aquino up to this point? What grade would you give him? A for excellent, B+ for very good, B for good, C+ for fair, C for satisfactory.

Olaguera: I feel positive towards his plans, his principles, the way he empowers his people. I give him [a grade of] B.
Lopez: I also give him a B. His principles are good. He’s effective as a leader because he can influence his Cabinet members with his principles.
Senajon: B for me, too. I think the problem now is that people are expecting too much from him. Every move he makes, people say something whether positive or negative. Plus, media and people have the tendency to compound and sensationalize his every move. We should all just give him a chance to do his job.
Balderas: So far so good, but he needs a lot of improvement, especially since he’s coming from an Arroyo administration, which needed improvement as it was. He has a good vision, his challenge is how to implement that vision well. I also think he did a good job on hiring good people in his Cabinet.

What are the President’s strengths and weaknesses?

Lopez: His strength is that he remains down-to-earth. I liked it when I read about how he ate hotdogs in New York. He’s still an ordinary Filipino, he doesn’t let things get to his head. But that could also be his weakness, because if he’s too grounded and simple, he can be assassinated more easily. His security shouldn’t be compromised just because he wants to remain grounded.
Senajon: He should also lessen his “friendly” ties with his friends, especially if their work is compromised. He has too much trust, I think, in some of his friends.
Olaguera: I also don’t like that his first reaction to every problem is to blame the past administration. While it is true that a majority of the problems we have now is because of Arroyo’s administration, I don’t like the fact that it becomes the knee-jerk reaction to every crisis.

Are you in favor of adding two years to basic education?

Olaguera: Yes, since it’s the global standard.
Balderas: But I think they have to concentrate more on quality before adding the two years.
Senajon: Poverty is a big issue. Are we really ready to add two more years? It’s not just a question of lack of supplies or teachers. It’s also entangled in the problem of poverty. Sure, let’s say there are enough classrooms, enough teachers, enough supplies. But the families are still too poor to send their kids to school. They have no money for food, so the kids go to school hungry. They get sick so often that they can’t even go to school. So what’s the use of adding two years if the students can’t go to class in the first place?
Balderas: A lot of families can’t even make their children finish sixth grade, what more a seventh and eighth grade.
Olaguera: This underscores the fact that the problems are interrelated. Even if you have a good education reform, if you don’t have a good plan for health and nutrition, your education reform will be futile because the students will be too sick to go to school anyway. Adding two years isn’t that simple, there are a lot of factors to consider and a lot of services outside education that need to be implemented.

What issues of young people do you think the President should focus on?

Lopez: A lot! But foremost, I think, are education and health. The administration should make it a priority to invest in teachers.
Senajon: On the point of education, it’s making sure every child gets an education through the Conditional Cash Transfer system so the families have an incentive to send their child to school.
Lopez: Also employment. In TESDA, they offer vocational courses for those who really can’t afford college. But even after taking the courses, they still don’t have jobs. Perhaps they could partner with a company that will give these students on-the-job-training opportunities, and they could be absorbed by the company after finishing the course.

Why do you think the hostage tragedy ended the way it did? What did you think of the President’s actions during and after the crisis?

Balderas: I didn’t really feel him during the incident.
Senajon: I don’t want to blame President Aquino, because what happened was a hodgepodge of different factors. One, the command and control of the ground. Whoever was in charge of giving directives to the police failed. There was no clear command of control. Two, our equipment was a big joke. The police were courageous, but that was not enough since they didn’t have proper and adequate equipment. Three, media. There’s such a thing as social responsibility. I wish they had exercised self-restraint. As for Noynoy, like what Bem said earlier, he didn’t need to be on the scene. The police officers should have done their duty.
Olaguera:I don’t think we should put the blame on one single person or entity. It was a collective mistake of many parties. It’s really wrong to blame the President just because he happened to be the president at that time. Our country just wasn’t ready for these kinds of situations, which is a much deeper problem. We need to educate the Filipinos that the President does not need to be visible all the time. The government works even when you don’t see the president, but the department heads are doing their job.

Are you in favor of the Reproductive Health Bill (RH)? Why or why not?

Olaguera: I fully agree with Noynoy’s take on the RH Bill. The government’s role is to show the Filipino people the different ways of family planning. Not imposing what you should do, but showing what you can do.
Senajon: RH bill is really about educating the Filipino couple on which method to use to manage the size of their family. I really don’t see how contraceptives equal abortion, like what the Catholic Church sees. Sometimes they go overboard just because they want to “protect our soul.”
Olaguera: But the Church is entitled to its own opinion.
Lopez: For me the RH bill is relevant because it’s what we need right now, with all the poverty and problems we are facing because of overpopulation.
Balderas: The RH bill is really more of education. Especially in far-flung areas where they have the tendency to think that the more children you have, the more people can help them out of poverty. Also, not everyone can afford contraceptives so it’s also good that they are planning to distribute contraceptives to poor families.

If you were to give one piece of advice to the Cabinet, what would it be?

Olaguera: Simply do your job. Read your job description and do it well.
Balderas: Don’t let “PNoy and the Pinoys” down!

After experiencing 100 days of an Aquino administration, do you feel that you would want to go abroad?

Lopez: It’s still an option. At the 100th day, if you ask me, I can still go abroad. An assessment of his first 100 days is still too short a time to make a decision.
Senajon: If I didn’t have the option of leaving even during Arroyo’s regime, what more today when the chance for a better Philippines is almost a reality?
Olaguera: For me, I never saw it as an option. Today the younger generation is more hopeful about the future with President Aquino than they were before.

What do you want to see after one year under President Aquino?

Senajon: More jobs generated and an inclusive economic growth.
Lopez: I want to see that Noynoy has learned from all the problems he encountered this first 100 days.
Olaguera: More innovative programs, projects and partnerships with the private sector.
Balderas: For plans to be fully implemented. Right now everything is a vision. I hope that in a year, that vision will turn into reality.

What’s your message to the President as a young Filipino?

Lopez: So far, so good!
Olaguera: Keep up the good work, just continue doing your job.
Senajon: “Di ka nag-iisa [You are not alone]!”
Balderas: Be strong.
All: Kaya Natin! –KARLA ANGELICA G. PASTORES, Manila Times