While the following may seem trivial to some. We caught this in a group commentary the other day, and decided to post this as a simple reminder of just how destructive the administration of former (thank Christ) Philippine president BS Aquino, had truly been. So much so, that when compared to the alleged financial theft perpetrated against President Marcos in his 21 years in power. BS Aquino, in just 6 years, may have stolen 3 times that amount. But we are not here to discuss guilt. We are simply pointing out the facts of what BS Aquino and the Liberal Party have been up to. And not just under his watch. Most of what follows, is the tip of an iceberg, that goes all the way back to when Cory Aquino took power.
Under the BS Aquino government, the Philippines had successfully earned top awards for the worst Airport, worst traffic, worst Internet and worst country to die in. Other marvelous achievements included:
- High crime rate including threats from Islamic terrorists in Mindanao.
- Energy and Water crisis.
- Flooding problem in and around the country.
- High unemployment rate.
- Tuition and other fee increases.
- Budget cuts in state schools and social services.
- Mamasapano massacre.
His handling of the Mamasapano incident? Not really. His biggest failure was his failure to apply Daang Matuwid (Straight Path) to all public officials. Whether they were political opponents, friends, party mates, family or allies. The Mamasapano incident would probably not have happened, had President Aquino applied Daang Matuwid to his own men. Even the closest of friends such as former Philippine National Police chief Alan Purisima. When reports first surfaced that Purisima had acquired ill-gotten wealth, he should have been canned. But BS Aquino kept defending him.
Typhoon Relief
BS Aquino failed to respond to the natural disaster of Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda), thereby creating an Unnatural disaster and devastation of the Filipino people.
This infographic illustrates the human consequences of these shortcomings. Despite the billions of pesos in the Philippine calamity fund and the international donations of millions of dollars, why was the government unprepared? Where did all of that money go?
BS Aquino failed to prioritize building the proper infrastructure to prepare the Philippines for the yearly typhoon season. In fact, he enabled the diversion of funds to false projects, eventually revealed in the Pork Barrel scandal.
Upholding Workers’ Rights
The Aquino regime failed by neglecting the responsibility to protect its own people who are forced to work overseas. BS Aquino boasted of record-setting trade export gains with the United States, but the biggest export of the Philippines, was actually its own people. Every day, 4,000+ Filipinos leave the Philippines to find work abroad. Who in turn, provide substantial financial support for their families back home in the form of cash remittances. Approximately 4 million Filipinos live in the United States. A common issue of Filipinos in the U.S. is economic injustice, such as wage theft and human trafficking.
Upholding National Sovereignty
BS Aquino failed to uphold Philippine sovereignty by serving U.S. Imperialism in enacting the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement and allowing more U.S. troops to occupy the Philippines and use facilities freely and openly without regard to the negative effects of increased militarization.
Theft of public funds using mechanisms such as pork barrel and Presidential slush funds for public servants, such as the Pork Barrel.
BS Aquino failed to further investigate the wide-spread corruption of his regime and cronies and by neglecting to prosecute their rampant abuse of power. They simply stole public funds originally intended for much needed public projects.
One of the biggest cases of the pork barrel scandal involved many Philippine Congress members who conspired with businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles (JLN). This infographic shows how she, and BS Aquino’s colleagues stole billions in Priority Development Assistance Funds (PDAF). Napoles’s letter to President Aquino in seeking protection from her crimes was completely ignored. However, Aquino doesn’t publicly acknowledge that he benefits the most from pork barrel funds, pocketing P1.3 trillion of public money himself (approx. $29 billion).
Thievery and mismanagement of public funds under the guise of mechanisms such as Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) and Presidential slush funds
This is just an example of the subtle ways the Aquino government was using taxpayers’ money unconstitutionally. Ignorant Filipinos – and they are the majority – do not realize how much of their money the past administration had wasted on nothing of substance. Billions of pesos have been unaccounted for because they were given as bribes to members of Congress who then gave it to fake NGOs. So far, no one in the Aquino government has been prosecuted for their DAP shenanigans despite the Supreme Court’s ruling that the use of “savings” from another branch is illegal.
http://thestagnantfilipino.com/2016/10/a-small-reminder-of-some-failures-of-bs-aquinos-administration/
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