“Teflon President?”
President Aquino on Wednesday attributed his rather strong sense of ethics to consistency of his character, desire to seek and speak out the truth, and conscious effort to lead a simple life despite his being the most powerful man in the land.
Aquino said this when asked why criticisms didn’t seem to stick to him in the aftermath of revelations that Malacañang had tapped the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) mechanism in the national budget to provide additional pork barrel to senators last year.
At the annual presidential forum of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines on Wednesday, the President had a chance to engage the media in a wide-ranging discussion of burning issues of the day, including his emerging public persona as a “Teflon President.”
Teflon, a nonstick substance present in cookware, was first used in American politics to refer to US President Ronald Reagan, who enjoyed widespread popularity despite the scandals surrounding his stay in the Oval Office in the 1980s.
The term has since referred to politicians who are able to withstand criticism without a major effect on their popularity.
“How do I do the consistent performance of an ethical behavior? Well, first of all, I guess I really have to give credit to both my parents who actually formed the ideology that I follow,” Aquino said, when asked about his resilience despite the corruption scandals that involved government officials, past and present.
He noted that his parents’ “best practices” were inculcated in him at a very young age, including “the sense of responsibility.”
“But at the end of the day, I think that if there is one thing that I can find myself with a relation with our people is consistency and always seeking to tell the truth at all times. It may be an unpopular truth but I guess I think I have been very consistent since even before entering public light, to stand by what I say and also to do what I say,” said the President.
He was also asked about the trappings of power and how, as Chief Executive, he would resist the daily “temptation” that come his way.
“Well, we were always taught to have simple lives. We were taught to be very disciplined at a very young age and I guess it helps that I went to an institution … during martial law years … that also … taught that to resist—or to effectively resist an oppressive structure—you have to live a simple life,” he said, referring to his alma mater, Ateneo de Manila University.
“The more you are wedded to things, from material nature, various systems, to certain privileges, the less effective you will be in fighting the oppressive structure. And we have tried to live by those [ideals],” he said.
But while he continued to enjoy the support of majority of the electorate, Aquino may have to work harder to regain his previous standing in the polls.
His net satisfaction rating dropped by 15 points in September based on a recent survey by Social Weather Stations (SWS) at the height of the Zamboanga siege and pork barrel controversy.
The SWS survey conducted among 1,200 respondents from Sept. 20 to 23 showed that from a “very good” rating of +64 in June, Aquino’s net satisfaction rating fell to “good” at +49.
The poll had a margin of error of 3 percentage points for national and 6 percentage points for area percentages.
The survey showed that his net satisfaction rating dropped in all areas and in all socioeconomic groups though it was still within or above the range of “good.”
He blamed the previous administration for this dip in his satisfaction ratings, admitting that the “pork barrel scam” did have an effect on his ratings.
He pointed the finger at the administration of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, during which the misuse of pork barrel was widespread.
“Who was sitting in Malacañang then? Not us,” Aquino asked.