Pulse Asia survey has shown that four out of 10 Filipinos or about 36 percent don’t believe that President Benigno Aquino III lived up to his “tuwid na daan” (straight path) slogan. That didn’t come as much of a surprise.
About 29 percent of Filipinos believe that the President fulfilled his campaign slogan, while 34 percent were undecided, according to the survey conducted from Sept. 8 to 15.
But has the President really toed the line of the straight path as what he promised his bosses in 2010?
The government is certainly not without faults as can be seen in the controversy over the President’s continued insistence to retain PNP Director General Alan Purisima despite questions on his integrity and honesty.
Malacañang has not made a bold move on Purisima who is facing plunder and graft charges before the Ombudsman for the P25-million worth renovation of his official residence at Camp Crame in Quezon City and his unexplained wealth.
Instead of calling the attention of Purisima, Mr. Aquino defended Purisma and said he had known the PNP chief since 1987 and had not seen him live a luxurious life.
Like his predecessors, President Aquino has practiced patronage politics with the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) which his administration defined as a stimulus package designed to fast track public spending and push economic growth.
In reality, it allowed the administration to give out projects to legislators and allies using government savings.
When DAP suffered the same fate as the pork barrel, Mr. Aquino struck back at the Supreme Court and wanted to curtail the power of a co-equal branch of government.
Now, the Palace wants P13 billion from Congress to fund unfinished projects funded by the PDAF and DAP. The funds would also be used to pay suppliers and contractors of projects funded from the PDAF and DAP that were started but were not paid.
The amount would be contained in a supplemental budget that would be submitted to Congress on Monday. Don’t expect any opposition since this will benefit the congressmen who are all preparing for the 2016 polls.
The supplemental budget is even bigger than the request of Bohol provincial government for its rehabilitation and recovery plan. The province asked for P12 billion to recover from the devastation caused by the 7.2-magnitude earthquake on Oct. 15 last year.
But only P2.3 billion was released – barely 20 percent of what was asked by the province.
Now, is that “tuwid na daan?”
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