The second half

For a President often criticized for doing nothing, with a derisive term even coined for it, there are some undeniable feats in the past three years. 

Beyond the continuing ban on wang-wang, President Aquino has managed, in less than three years, to get rid of officials he believed were major roadblocks along his daang matuwid: a chief justice, an ombudsman, plus a motley bunch of individuals who initially insisted that they enjoyed tenure.

P-Noy also managed to sign into law two of the most difficult pieces of legislation: the reproductive health law (though still stalled in the Supreme Court) and excise tax reforms.

Much of the work involved in those feats was put in by Congress. But impeachment and the passage of laws cannot happen without Malacañang’s support. P-Noy is picking his battles and making sure political capital is judiciously expended.

The latest casualty is Juan Ponce Enrile. He put in a brilliant performance in the impeachment trial of Renato Corona, and he should have quit while he was ahead. After the trial, everything went downhill for Enrile and the Senate. Literally rewriting martial law history compounded his woes – and possibly those of his only son and namesake.

Jackie Enrile and Nancy Binay were the principal targets of negative stories swirling around during the election campaign, by text, email and snail mail. The attacks could not have come from the candidates’ own coalition, the opposition United Nationalist Alliance (UNA). The only other possibility – the one with that type of resources and organization – is… you guessed it. Those alluded to will naturally deny this.

In Binay’s case, her father, Vice President Jojo, once again showed his clout with voters that’s spooking some quarters. The Veep’s name installed his little known daughter in fifth place in the Senate race, despite all the insults hurled her way. Or maybe it was because of all the insults: the voting segment of the 80 percent of the Pinoy population that her fair-skinned critics think need whitening cream probably catapulted Nancy to fifth place.

The performance of Nancy at the polls highlighted the failure of Enrile’s son to enter the Magic 12. Worse for JPE, his arch foes made it, with Alan Peter Cayetano placing a strong third and Antonio Trillanes IV landing at ninth.

Even Joseph Estrada’s other son JV struggled and managed to land only in 11th place. Among UNA’s so-called Three Kings, it was clear who was Numero Uno among voters.

With the results of the Senate race, and particularly with Jack’s poor showing, the administration no longer even bothered to conceal its aim of seeing an ally installed as Senate chief in the 16th Congress.

That was one of Enrile’s beefs as he acknowledged “the handwriting on the wall” and announced his irrevocable resignation from a position that everyone knew would soon no longer be his anyway. With just one day left in the regular session of the current Congress, his move gave his critics fodder to dismiss the resignation as nothing but bitter drama.

Some quarters wonder: if Enrile had tendered his irrevocable resignation at the height of the Senate fund controversy, as advised by his former chief of staff, could the gesture have saved his son’s Senate bid? But dwelling on what-ifs lead only to frustration. Listening to father and son in recent days, it’s clear that they have no intention of fading away any time soon from the national scene.

The incoming Senate, however, can be expected to be more cooperative with P-Noy, allowing him to push his reform agenda in the last half of his term. He still has a lot on his to-do list if he wants a strong, irreversible legacy.

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Three years can fly swiftly for a presidency. In the second half of his term, P-Noy is expected to produce results on gut issues such as poverty alleviation, job generation and infrastructure modernization.

It’s significant that Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said the thrust is to make this presidency “so hugely successful” that whoever is endorsed by P-Noy in 2016 will win, ensuring that his reforms will survive the leadership change.

The model, Abad said, is Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who retired from the presidency with a dizzyingly high popularity rating after eight years in office, installing his preferred candidate Dilma Roussef – despite her unexciting personality – as his successor.

Abad should note that Lula, whose economic policies also inspired the short-lived Erap presidency, currently faces investigation in Brazil on accusations of involvement in a scheme to buy political support from coalition parties using public funds. Several of Lula’s allies have been convicted and sent to prison for the corruption scandal.

Lula has always denied involvement and this could end up like other accusations against him during his presidency, rolling off his Teflon-coated back. But even if recent events turn out differently for Lula, the daang matuwid administration will still like his success in installing Roussef in power.

 Obviously, Abad and his Liberal Party have someone as colorless as Roussef in mind as Noy’s successor. Such types, decent but boring, have always been a hard sell in a presidential race in this country. Selling is made harder when there is no strong track record in governance, when competence is a question mark.

Three years and still no corruption scandal tainting the nation’s leader himself – that’s a feat for a Philippine president. P-Noy, however, will have to work on corruption in the lower rungs of government, which remains rampant.

The unprecedented flourishing of political dynasties under his watch also adds a solid layer of opportunity for corruption and lack of accountability in governance.

Some people, worried about the characters emerging as the likely contenders for the presidency in 2016, are hoping that after six years under P-Noy, people would have become so used to a chief executive untouched by scandal that they won’t accept anything less from subsequent presidents.

Pinoy voters, however, can be notoriously unpredictable. At the end of six years, ordinary people could also be tired of clean government at the top but with no corresponding improvement in their lives.

“Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap” remains the battle cry of the administration.

P-Noy is delivering on the first part of the campaign promise. The masses are still waiting for the second part.

If P-Noy wants to install his Dilma as successor, progress in the second part should be tangible in the final half of his term.