Former President Benigno S. Aquino III. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Senator Francis Pangilinan on Tuesday filed a resolution seeking to honor the life and legacy of former President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino.
In filing Senate Resolution No. 765, Pangilinan recognized the Aquino administration’s promotion of “honest and effective governance that led to unprecedented economic growth and uplifted the lives of Filipinos.”
“The past five days have been trying for a lot of us, lalo na sa pamilya, mga katrabaho, at mga sumusuporta kay PNoy. Kakaibang pagluluksa rin dulot ng maraming limitasyon ng pandemya,” Pangilinan said.
(The past five days have been trying for a lot of us, especially for the family, colleagues and supporters of PNoy. It’s a different kind of grief since it happened amid a lot of limitations due to the pandemic.)
“Ngunit ito ang hindi magbabago: ang pagkilala at pag-alala sa mga nagawa ng administrasyong Aquino para sa mga Pilipino,” he added.
(But what will not change: The recognition and the recollection of the achievements of the Aquino administration for the Filipino people.)
Pangilinan is the president of the Liberal Party, of which Aquino served as chairman emeritus.
“President Aquino’s legacy, which rightfully earns him a place in the annals of our nation’s history, is a testament that the Filipino is, indeed, in his own words ‘worth fighting for’,” the resolution reads.
Pangilinan’s resolution highlighted the accomplishments of the Aquino administration that elevated the Philippines from being the “Sick Man of Asia” to being one of the “fastest-growing economies” in the world.
Aquino’s term, the resolution notes, saw the highest six-year average growth of the Philippine economy since 1978 at 6.2 percent from 2010 to 2015, with a focus on infrastructure, public-private partnership projects worth P194.87 billion, and foreign direct investments of up to $5.74 billion in 2014, a 436-percent increase from 2010.
The resolution also points to Aquino’s transparency and anti-corruption efforts during his administration.
The Aquino government, according to the resolution, was able to lower the unemployment rate to 5.6 percent in October 2015 and expand the PhilHealth coverage to 92 percent or 93.45 million of the 101.45 million 2015 projected population.
More than 7 million individuals, meanwhile, were uplifted from poor status to non-poor, alongside efforts to ramp up the coverage of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino program from 786,523 poor households in June 2010 to 4.4 million poor households and displaced families as of June 2016.
“Tinotoo ng pamumuno ni PNoy na kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap. Marahil maraming magsasabi na numero lang ang mga ito, ngunit hindi maikakaila ang pagbabago ng buhay sa marami mating mga kababayan,” Pangilinan went on.
(PNoy proved in his leadership that no one will be poor if there is no corruption. Many may think that these are just numbers, but it could not be denied the change it had on the lives of Filipinos.)
The senator also underscored the Aquino administration’s initiative to file a case against China over Beijing’s expansive claims in the South China Sea, which led to a historic victory for the Philippines.
Other landmark reforms implemented during the Aquino administration were the K to 12 Basic Education Program, Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act, investments in agriculture, and the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamaro, which paved the way for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao under the Bangsamoro Organic Law, which was signed in 2018.
“It was an honor to serve alongside him in the Senate, to be the campaign manager of their slate as they ran for President in 2010, and again to serve as one of his Cabinet Secretaries in 2014 to 2015,” Pangilinan said.
“We witnessed how hard he worked, and how it was always for the good of the people. Maraming salamat, PNoy,” he added.
A resolution expressing the Senate’s “profound sympathy and sincere condolences” on Aquino’s death was also earlier filed in the upper chamber by Senate President Vicente Sotto III.
Aquino, also popularly known as PNoy, died in his sleep on June 24 due to renal disease secondary to diabetes. He was 61.
President Rodrigo Duterte, Aquino’s successor, earlier declared June 24, to July 3 as national days of mourning for the late statesman.
Aquino was buried alongside his parents, democracy icons former President Cory C. Aquino and assassinated Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino.