The year under a yellow sun

On the day Noynoy Aquino took the Oath of Office, I can tell you that underneath the euphoria, came a great sense of astonishment, and surprise. The moment President-elect Aquino became President Aquino, was the moment for many of Aquino's supporters that it dawned for them, they had won an election. They found themselves blinking. "We did it", uttered in disbelief.

An election campaign for President of the Philippines was pretty much like going to war. To put in words how these people had upended themselves, and set aside their lives for three months on the campaign trail couldn't even be captured by, and done justice by words. So when President Aquino drove in, coming from the Grand Stand and into the Palace that first time, he brought with him a conquering army.

Someone would have to write a memoir of what they found in those first grueling days that turned into even more grueling months. Their experience and their story ought to be heard. It is a compelling story about triumph and adversity, of transitioning from a campaign to government; and from private sector to the public sector.

A year later, here we are trying to make sense of what little has been done, and the many other things left to do.

Where it went wrong

We've seen how this government made missteps. And there was a lot. The first real test for the fledging Aquino government was the hostage taking that took place in August last year. For most people what was wrong with it was the handling of the crisis. It was like ice water being splashed on the collective faces of Filipinos everywhere. It was a microcosm of the state of the nation.

Years of neglect had made our Police ineffective. Years of a culture of impunity created the situation from the hostage taker to how the rescue was planned and botched.

The hostage taking also showed us that while Aquino's style of leadership was to delegate authority, the cultural norm in the Philippines is this. All authority resides in the palace. The Presidency is an elected monarchy. The telltale sign is there. Even the critics believed that the Palace ought to have taken a more micromanagement approach. LGUs take their cue from the Palace, when they should take center stage, which in this case they ought to have. Certainly, Arroyo would have done so. As she had demonstrated in the nine years of her presidency. So letting people do their jobs isn't exactly the norm, as was blatantly obvious in how things went.

The hostage taking--- and I know people aren't ready to accept this--- is a mirror look at how broken our nation is. From the Government to local government to the media, to the police to us, in the public watching the events unfold. What makes us angry is that the whole world got to see how utterly broken we are. That's not reason to blame Aquino for being ineffective. No, his mistake was what happened afterwards.

For all our talk of accountability, and transparency, none of the president's allies resigned or face really tough sanctions. It is disheartening to know that for all our talk of accountability and transparency none of these allies took the bullet.

That's how we get these allegations that shooting buddies are protected by presidential fiat. Buddies whether in the LTO, the bureau of corrections, the Interior department and even the Executive Secretary. These are allegations that the buddies are not up to the task or ineffective.

Slow and steady

Another allegation placed against the government is how utterly slow it is to get a move on. Between July 2010 and December 2010, the only remarkable piece of legislation passed by the Administration was the General Appropriations Act. Make no mistake this is a feat in itself when set side by side against Arroyo's track record of getting the budget passed. So it was a breathe of fresh air that there was a budget passed at all this time around.

What many find incredulous is how it took awhile for the President to activate the LEDAC. This is the Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council. It was signed into law under President Ramos but has since been rarely used in the past decade. It took awhile for LEDAC to be called into action. And it was only in March that 23 priority measures were sent to LEDAC.

One of the biggest complaints about the 23 bills of LEDAC were the absence of key legislation like Freedom of Information Act, and the Reproductive Health Bill.

What's clear here is the difference between what the government--- meaning the President--- and what critics and sometimes supporters see what the government ought to be doing (That's us!).

What's indicative of LEDAC 23 is its focus on anti corruption legislation, and less about a more transparent government, or bills on health legislation. It isn't to say these things are important. It isn't to say that these things are not under the priority of this government. It is just that this Administration is playing triage and acting unlike any government before.

What's also clear to me, is how this government operates. In many degrees it is being cognizant about what the law is, and mindful of what kind of legislation it is introducing. It would appear how it operates is slow. Take for example, how easy it is t to say we want Freedom of Information, but the debate is now framed at what are the details? As we've heard from the Palace it wants an information ombudsman. Is that what we really want? Is that what we really need? So a debate needs to take place on this. The debate needs to be framed for the public to understand what does this do for them?

The reproductive health bill is another issue. The palace at first refused to engage in a war. It would be inevitable that there would be a clash between the secular nature of Government and the Church. The latter of course will refuse the very idea that religion is a private matter. It all boils down to power. The palace tip toed around support for this legislation. What irked many of its supporters was that fact. High public ratings and the President didn't want to put that rating for a spin?

Speaking of spin on the news, as Manuel Buencamino wrote, can a leopard change its spots?

Done right

@marocharim is right to a degree in his assessment of "The Drop". Politics is a matter of perception.

And what's clear too is this. In the past year under this government, everything seem to be… quiet. There is no BANG. There is no loud noise. There doesn't seem to be an adrenaline rush. Ergo, there is a perception that the government isn't doing anything. At all. What this government is doing is not what most people expect it should be doing. It takes an honest perspective of what has been done, and what has yet to be done.

I disagree with Conrad de Quiros as much as I agree with him. Recently, he wrote, "Perspective". And in this case, I agree with him. It is a matter of perspective when one looks at Aquino's last year in office. A microcosm of this is the case between Ondoy and Falcon. The biggest difference has been government's response. During Ondoy, we were pretty much left to our own devices. Falcon, however imperfect the government's response was, we knew government was there. Just look at the archive of reports by PAGASA, the MMDA, and the NDRRMC.

Caticlan_Airport And we're now talking about The importance of Spratly islands and the West Philippine Sea. Recently too, there was a spirited debate between the Palace and its critics on Flood Control. Would it lead to a better Armed Forces, and would the latter lead to better Weather forecasting, and better flood control, and taking care of our environment?

Oh, the upgrading of Caticlan airport and its conversion to an international airport that would connect Boracay to the world is on track as the government revealed a scale model.

So how do we sum up the last year of the Aquino Administration? It also doesn't mean there isn't much to do, as @marocharim points out--- there is a lot to expect, and a lot that hasn't been done. More importantly, we need perspective, as de Quiros points out. The fact is, the challenge that still lie ahead are no less daunting, but these words by Palace Spokesperson Abi Valte perfectly describe where the nation is, and what has so far has been accomplished by the Aquino government and the theme of the past year, "Democracy is in the recovery room as of May 2010". That's the year under a yellow sun.

Photo credit: Malacañang Photo Bureau

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