Dismantling Aquino’s legacy of misrule

WITH the voiding of Maria Lourdes Sereno’s faulty appointment as chief justice, the worst act of institutional destruction perpetrated by the

presidency of Benigno Aquino

Sereno’s wrongful appointment and the preceding pork barrel- greased ouster of her predecessor Renato Corona were among the appalling excesses of

the Aquino administration thankfully remedied under President Rodrigo Duterte.

Add to that assault on the judiciary the graft-ridden degrading of the Metro Rail Transit 3, the illegal purchase of license plates without any budget, the life-threatening Dengvaxia vaccination program, the raiding of senior citizens’ Philhealth premiums, the tripling of crime and contraband, and the illegal P157-billion Disburse

– the worst case of malversation in Philippine, if not Asian history.

Let us go over these and other enormities of Aquino misrule, which major media backing him largely concealed during his regime.

- governance, we defer the article on

The pork-barreled ouster of Corona

The assault on the Supreme Court began at the December 5, 2011 criminal justice summit in Malacañang, where Aquino trashed good manners as conference host by publicly lambasting then-Chief Justice Renato Corona for purportedly favoring past President Gloria Arroyo.

Then followed the instant impeachment, where most congressmen signed the Articles of Impeachment, including many who never read them. Right after, tens of millions of pesos in pork barrel allocations were released to signatories.

The ensuing Senate trial in 2012 saw even more funds disbursed for projects of senatorjudges who convicted Corona, including DAP monies. Supreme Court, the Judicial and Bar Council nominated Sereno for the CJ post even if she did not submit most of the asset statements required as an integrity check by the JBC.

This wrongful appointment, which also gave little value to judicial experi-

with the quo warranto ruling declaring Sereno’s appointment illegal.

Predictably, Aquino camp stalwarts simply cannot get used to being out of power even after two years. Senate Majority Leader Kiko Pangilinan wants to waste the Supreme Court’s time with another motion for reconsideration of the Sereno ruling.

Considering how Aquino raged over the unanimous SC rulings voiding pork barrel and DAP, and

Hacienda Luisita, it’s no surprise that his clique can’t take the quo warranto defeat graciously either.

Crime, contraband and crony contracts

Thankfully, most Filipinos aren’t fooled by such protestations claiming democracy’s demise under Duterte. Despite Vice President Leni Robredo’s warnings about strongman rule, four

Philippine democracy is working well, as found in a recent Social Weather Stations poll.

Just a little less also manifest trust, satisfaction and approval for President Duterte and his government. And one big reason is his effort to repair the damages done to the country by his predecessor.

Foremost of these national injuries from Aquino misrule is the trebling of criminality, from 324,083 incidents in 2010 to more than a million in 2013 and 2014, as reported by the Philippine Statistics Authority.

But since Duterte took over, major crimes have dropped 20 to 30 percent, 1.3 million drug users and pushers have surrendered, and tens of thousands have been arrested, while whole drug labs and stockpiles have been raided and destroyed.

And retired Philippine National Police chief Ronald de la Rosa is cracking down on the notorious drug trade in the National Bilibid Prisons, for which Senator Leila de

detained without bail.

Smuggling is also on the retreat after trebling under Aquino, from $7.9 billion in 2009 to $26.6 billion in 2014, based on International Monetary Fund data. With Customs Commissioner and former anti-drug czar Isidro Lapeña at the helm, the Bureau of Customs is curbing contraband, charging smugglers, plus setting records in collections and exceeding targets month after month.

Also being remedied are anomalous contracts for MRT3 maintenance and vehicle license plates, awarded to entities linked to Aquino’s Liberal Party. Now, after just months under maintenance by the Department of Transportation, MRT3 is running with far fewer breakdowns. And the DoTr has started making license plates after years of woeful shortage due to the illegal contract awarded without budgetary allocation.

Underspending no more

The growth-sapping underspending by the Aquino government is another misgovernance legacy that is now over. From 13 percent of the national budget in 2014 and 2015, underspending is now below one percent, thanks to reforms instituted by Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno.

With government revenues and spending soaring, infrastructure development is accelerating to record levels as the Duterte government aims for outlays totaling between 5 and 7 percent of annual economic output.

Even the environment is getting a long-overdue rehabilitation, with the Boracay cleanup burnishing the country’s leading tourist destination. By contrast, Arroyo-era decrees to preserve the island’s forestland stalled under Aquino.

Perhaps the biggest reversal under Duterte is in corruption. Instead of coddling and defending cronies, as Aquino did with his “KKK” cabal of classmates, allies and shooting buddies, Duterte is

for even the whiff of corruption, or such excesses as too many junkets.

For sure, many more problems need to be addressed, and new ones call for greater efforts. But the boondoggles of Aquino misrule are being taken down. Even more will be corrected after his chosen Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales exits next month, including her last-minute effort to let Aquino get away with a slap on the wrist over the mammoth DAP malversation.

Plainly, what goes around comes around.