The Philippine Online Chronicles

As the year draws to a close and as a new one dawns upon us, it’s a good time to reflect on how 2010 turned out.

2010—a year of the Tiger has certainly been a year of aggressive change. There have been many breakups and breaking news all over the country and around the world.

Overall, it seems that 2010 was marked by a feeling of hopefulness and optimism that haven’t been seen or felt in a long time. This feeling is quite uncanny because it is so unfamiliar, and yet it is certainly wonderful.

2010 was certainly a year of change. With the May 2010 elections, the democratic process brought about a change in government. The Arroyo administration has finally come to a close and a new administration headed by Pres. Noynoy Aquino has begun. At the start of the election year, it seemed that Sen. Manny Villar could possibly be the winner, but through grassroots campaigning and support, Aquino won the election with a landslide victory over his closest rival.

The surprising win was vice presidential candidate Jejomar Binay, who managed to snag the win from early favorite Sen. Mar Roxas.

The new administration is so markedly different from the previous administration. For one thing, there is massive public support for the Aquino administration. For another, the current administration is uncontested in its winnings, without any mark of scandal or contestability. Also, the use of the computerized voting machines helped make the elections efficient, with the results being released as early as the end of the day, instead of months after.

Although the first few months of the administration were not perfect, the president overall enjoys a high approval rating from his constituents. Even with the Supreme Court reversal of his first executive order on the Truth Commission, Aquino still remains popular and surprisingly credible to both the masses and the international community.

The new administration has led the way for change. Who can forget the infamous line “no to Wang Wang” or “Kayo and boss ko”? The Aquino administration has made a grand gesture of making the Filipino public feel privy to the closed door and under the table negotiations of many government contracts and operations. Although full transparency hasn’t been achieved, there is certainly a marked effort in heading that way.

Of course, the 2010 election has not been without surprising results. For one thing, Mikey Arroyo managed to win and keep his seat as a party list representative of security guards, even though he is not a security guard himself. Also, for the first time in history, we have a former first president in the lower house, with former President Arroyo winning a representative seat for the third district of Pampanga.

The Supreme Court has come into scrutiny this year, especially with its apparent clash with President Aquino himself. The entire credibility of the judiciary has been put into question because of midnight appointees. Also, because most of the justices in the current Supreme Court are appointees of Arroyo, it also seems that there may be a bias to protect Arroyo from facing any charges of graft and corruption. How all these will play out will be seen in the coming year.

As in any election year, the economy is pretty upbeat. Businesses are optimistic, in spite of the recession in western parts of the world. The stock market rebounded well, making Presidential aspirant Manny Villar make up all his campaign spending with the increase in his stock value for his group of companies. Also, Ramon Ang has been aggressive in 2009 in converting San Miguel from a food conglomerate into a highly diversified company, with shares in Petron and other energy industries.

Many small businesses have opened shop and succeeded. Mang Inasal’s little chicken franchise has mushroomed into a formidable fast food competitor this year. Yogurt places have sprouted all over the metropolis. There is an overall feeling of euphoria that people aren’t afraid to spend, which is great for the economy. Malls all over the land have managed to lure shoppers into their doors and enticed them to spend their hard earned money.

In terms of natural calamities, the country was spared for a major flood like Ondoy 2009. Yes, the country had its fair share of monsoon weather, but nothing as devastating or as earth shaking as the great flood of 2009. This probably contributed to the overall upbeat mood of people in 2010. If people lost their homes this year, it was due to accidental fires, and nothing at the same scale of devastation as experienced in 2009.

It’s wonderful to finally have a feeling of positivity in the air. Although not all lives have been improved in the last year, the paradigm shift in the attitude of people is a refreshing change. Somehow, the magic of 2010 is that people have begun to feel hope.

Things just don’t seem to be as dismal this year as in previous years. We don’t have an Ampatuan massacre this year, although the international attention we got in the handling of the Chinese tourists hostage taking has been a source of criticism and embarrassment. What made it different is that the President himself actually stepped forward and took accountability for the actions of those below him. This is certainly a refreshing change from previous administrations that made no hesitation in pointing the blame at everyone else.

Even show business has had its ups and downs. Although the movie industry still hasn’t rebounded to its previous glory years, the television industry has certainly been doing well. With the purchase of TV 5, there is now a legitimate contender for the top-rating channel. Willie Revillame made the headlines this year. With his contract dispute with ABS-CBN still going and his subsequent switch to ABC 5, Revillame has certainly captured the imagination and attention of the public. His new show has been steadily getting good ratings. With super prizes in the hundreds of thousands, Willie’s fans have supported the host in a big way and made the switch to his new show, Willing Willy. Getting presidential ex girlfriend Shalani Soledad also generated more interest for the show.

Let’s hope this positive energy and hopefulness translates to more good things for the coming year. Hopefully, this energy is harnessed to provide continued support for the president and the administration in general to provide better lives for all Filipinos.

It is with gratitude that we say goodbye to 2010, and it is with hope and optimism that we enter 2011.

Photo: “Happy New Year 2011” by Mooi Hsieh, c/o Flickr. Some Rights Reserved