President Aquino is expected to face the new batch of graduates of the Philippine National Police Academy today, the same school that produced six of the 44 members of the Special Action Force who died in Mamasapano, Maguindanao two months ago.
Mr. Aquino has told some media organizations that this would be the last time he would ever speak on the controversial police operation that killed a Malaysian terrorist but claimed the lives of the SAF commandoes and five civilians as well as some members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
The focus of his speech, Mr. Aquino said, would be his own questions regarding what happened in Mamasapano, given the information available to him at that time. “That’s how I want to be judged,” he added.
Some anticipate that he would “tell all” about Mamasapano – although we have learned from experience that “all” eventually turned out to be only “some” as the President’s version of events evolved as he went along.
In fact, a survey said that eight out of 10 Filipinos felt that the President’s explanation of Mamasapano was not enough.
The President’s address also comes on the heels of the release of yet another survey—Pulse Asia’s Survey on Urgent National Concerns. Mr. Aquino, who won the 2010 elections on a platform of good governance and reform, failed to obtain majority approval ratings on his performance in 12 key issues—responding to the needs of those affected by calamities (net 31%), stopping the destruction and abuse of our environment (net 26%), defending the integrity of Philippine territory against foreigners (net 20%), fighting criminality (net 20%), enforcing the law on all, whether influential or ordinary people (net 12%), increasing peace in the country (net 11%), fighting graft and corruption in government (net 9%), creating more jobs (net 7%), improving/increasing the pay of workers (0).
Significantly, on two urgent issues—reducing the poverty of many Filipinos and controlling inflation—President Aquino registered negative approval ratings of both -12%
We wonder whether he would at all refer to this latest finding, explaining away and bashing critics anew, or whether he would dismiss these numbers as he normally plays down issues that paint him in a bad light. All he said was that he would push governance, create jobs and fight poverty in the last 15 months of his presidency.
In fact, at an investors’ forum held Tuesday in Makati City, Mr. Aquino appeared jolly and upbeat, recounting the supposed economic gains realized under his administration and tracing “the success story that is the Philippine economy.”
Promising more economic gains, the President told the forum participants: “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”
For once, we tend to agree with the President. Given the paucity of his concrete achievements in the last fou years, we really haven’t seen anything yet.