Wear yellow ribbons, Aquino urges supporters

MANILA, Philippines–With his trust and approval ratings at an all-time low, President Aquino on Tuesday asked Filipinos to wear yellow ribbons to show if they still supported his administration.

The President sounded the call amid a new battle that he all but waged against the Supreme Court after it junked his Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).

“Perhaps wearing our yellow ribbons, amongst other things, just to demonstrate exactly in a quick manner where the sentiments of our people lie,” he said at an open forum during the Daylight Dialogue in Malacañang.

Aquino was responding to Gregorio Navarro, president of the Management Association of the Philippines, who asked: “So what exactly do you want from us to help you?”

The President said he would “be posting a more detailed list of requests to our ‘bosses’ in the coming days.”

In the meantime, he said the public could also contact their respective congressional representatives to remind them of “priorities” their constituents wanted accomplished.

Aquino’s reply seemed to miss Navarro’s remark about the need to give legislators “incentives” to ensure that priority measures are passed.

“We have huge pending bills: The proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law, the Fiscal Incentives Rationalization, the Customs Modernization. And, of course, we understand that the executive is also stymied if you don’t have something to use to incentivize projects. And the legislators, I understand, you sometimes need to give them incentives to make sure there’s a quorum in Congress,” Navarro said.

Navarro was commenting on the President’s speech wherein he warned that the high court’s decision against the DAP would have a “chilling effect on our economy—and consequently on millions of Filipinos.”

“The worry, I think, of the business community and the civil society is that it will lead, as you mentioned, to a shutdown or paralysis in government, the bureaucracy, the chilling effect on the bureaucracy—they might be afraid now to make decisions or implement projects—the distraction at the legislative branch of government,” Navarro said.

Based on the latest Pulse Asia survey, Aquino’s approval rating went down from 70 percent in March to 56 percent during the June 24-July 2 survey.

Take case to Filipinos

Aquino’s trust rating also went down from 69 percent to 53 percent during the same period.

Business groups on Tuesday backed the President’s move to file a motion for reconsideration of the court’s ruling.

“I do not think he is defying or is challenging the SC. What he did was to take his case to the Filipino people, to the court of public opinion,” Navarro said in a text message on Tuesday.

John D. Forbes, senior advisor at the American Chamber of Commerce, noted in a separate text message that the “President made a strong defense of budgetary realignment procedures often used by the executive.”

“Perhaps the use in the Senate could be more controversial. We hope the Supreme Court will expedite the reconsideration of its decision and that most DAP projects will be considered worthwhile and needed for economic development,” Forbes explained.

Aquino’s prerogative

Alfredo Yao, president of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, explained in a phone interview on Tuesday that the group was looking forward to the resolution of this issue so as not to negate the significant economic and governance gains made over the last four years.

Yao said that Aquino, as the “CEO of the country,” may have the “prerogative” to realign the government’s savings for projects deemed to have the most impact on inclusive growth. However, he said the President must become more transparent on how and for which projects the DAP was used, while the Supreme Court must come up with guidelines.–With a report from Amy R. Remo