Analyst urges ‘fairer’ evaluation of Aquino performance

President Benigno Aquino III FILE PHOTO

Political analyst Clarita Carlos urged the public to be more cautious on evaluating President Benigno Aquino III’s performance.

In an interview with Radyo Inquirer on Monday, Carlos was uncertain in giving an assessment on Aquino because she did not have the necessary data.

READ: Palace: Aquino’s last Sona a 5-year performance report

“I give him a plus for motivation and a plus for working hard although if we compare it to norm-based, I’m sure medyo lalagapak siya (he is going to fail)…And the reason why I’m giving all these caveat ang daming lumalabas na (is because there have been several) evaluation and it’s unfair to the one evaluated,” she said.

“We set a criteria for assessment, is this criterion-based or is it norm-based where we compare him with a personality…The off-the-cuff statements we have to summate them. We have to add the math….then we check at the end of the equation if it is a success or failure,” she added.

Carlos cited Aquino’s efforts on the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law when asked about some of the things that the President should be credited for.

“Just from the top of my head….without thinking about it, it would be all the massive efforts to push the Bangsamoro negotiations to its conclusion. If you will notice, this one President went out of his way…never mind that there were no real successes. ‘Di ba nagpunta sa Japan (Didn’t he go to Japan) to meet Bangsamoro leaders? These are the extraordinary things that he had done,” she said.

“Pag i-measure ang BBL (if it) has been signed, negative, pero sa effort positive. This is what I mean by evaluation,” she added.

The government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front sealed a peace agreement last year for a new Bangsamoro entity to replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. It has yet to be passed into a law, however.

Aquino will deliver his last State of the Nation Address on Monday (Sona) afternoon but Carlos does not expect much out of it.

READ: Aquino urged to show ‘political courage’ in remainder of term

“I hope it will not be as long as the previous one. It was a very long speech…I’m not expecting anything spectacular,” Carlos said.

Last year, Aquino’s Sona speech took 91 minutes. IDL