Aquino has ‘more pluses than minuses’

The opposition may find much to criticize about the Aquino administration, but for Sen. Cynthia Villar, it has its share of accomplishments as well as failures.

Villar, of the Nacionalista Party, said she would give the Aquino administration a rating of “fair,” citing economic growth, infrastructure, education, health care and trade promotion among the areas that had seen development.

Villar also noted the administration had sustained its anticorruption drive, although she said corruption would be hard to totally eliminate without further national development.

At the same time, she said, the administration was failing in the matter of poverty alleviation, since the number of people living below the poverty line had not decreased.

On Vice President Jejomar Binay’s recent assertion that the Aquino administration was “lazy, slow and indecisive,” Villar said that leading the country was not an easy job.

“It is so easy to say that you’re lazy or indecisive, but to move the bureaucracy is really difficult. This is a bureaucracy where you feel like you’re pulling a carabao,” she said.

Villar was a guest at Thursday’s Kapihan sa Senado media forum. She is the wife of former Sen. Manny Villar, president of the NP which is allied in Congress with the ruling Liberal Party.

Asked to rate the Aquino administration on a scale of one to 10, she said she would give it a “five to seven.”

She said the administration improved the gross national product (GNP), although its effects do not seem to be trickling down to the poor.

“It’s a reasonably good growth but the question is, is it inclusive?” she said.

She pointed to improvements in infrastructure and commended the President’s appointment of Rogelio Singson, who she said was a very good public works secretary.

She said Singson was able to control corruption. He is no politician and is easy to talk to, she added.

She noted improvements in the weather bureau.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration has been giving out accurate forecasts, which is crucial for a disaster-prone country like ours, where preparation is important to prevent loss of lives and property, she said.

Sin tax collections have gone to pay for universal health care, and 15 million poor families will be getting PhilHealth cards, she added.

The K-12 basic education program has been put in place to improve the educational system, although whether this would succeed remains to be seen, she said.

The administration has also been focused on trade promotion, she noted.

Villar defended the amended Fisheries Code, after Binay assailed the government for failing to consult fisher folk who would be affected by the law.

She said Binay may have been misinformed about the measure, which she had pushed in the Senate.

She said the fisheries code was amended to raise the penalties for those who commit acts that harm the environment.

She said the amendment was necessitated by Food and Agriculture Organization findings that if illegal fishing was not stopped, the country’s fisheries resources would be depleted and it would have to depend on aqua culture.

“The ocean will become a virtual desert. Who will be affected? The small fishermen in municipal waters,” she said.