More Projects Won't Be Left Hanging Under A Parliamentary System

Two weeks ago, one of Noynoy Aquino's projects namely the New Mactan Airport International was finished under the term of President Rodrigo R. Duterte. The successes and failures of the Noynoy Administration can show why the presidential system actually sucks -- six years is NOT ENOUGH to create much change. If people want to criticize Noynoy for not making the Philippines a first world country -- did they even bother to ask if six years was even enough for such ambitious visions that Noynoy or anyone had?

Here's an excerpt from the airport inauguration last June 7, 2018:

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday, June 7, led the inauguration of the new passenger terminal at the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA).

MCIA Terminal 2 (T2), which brings the airport's annual capacity to 12.5 million passengers from the current 4.5 million, will start operations on July 1. It will serve solely as an international passenger terminal.

Construction of T2 is part of the P17.52-billion Mactan airport upgrading project, the first airport public-private partnership (PPP) project in the country that was awarded during the Benigno Aquino III administration.

"It's a beautiful airport. Cebuanos are very lucky," Duterte said in a press conference after the inaugural ceremony.

The Public-Private Partnership was awarded during the term of Noynoy and not during President Duterte. President Duterte ended up having to pick whatever hanging projects were left during the term of Noynoy. But under a parliamentary system -- it would mean giving more leeway to Noynoy which he could have inaugurated the airport. Two, he would have scrutinized every step of the way to make sure the airport's progress is met every step of the way by the Philippine Parliament. 

Remember Noynoy's unfulfilled train promise by January 1, 2016? That would be another issue. Noynoy's term was coming to a close on 2016 so he had to fulfill his promise by 2016 -- the whole promise of the expressway from Baclaran to Bacoor had a very unrealistic set deadline to start with. Building an expressway is not a walk in the park. Getting the train and everything to build that promised expressway in such a short amount of time couldn't be carried out. That wouldn't be a problem if he were Prime Minister instead of president -- he would actually be granted leeway by the Philippine Parliament to finish his projects along with a series of deadlines to comply. That means that he would have had to let others examine the purchase and implementation of Dengvaxia and budget programs at the Philippine Parliament where he's scrutinized as the "father of the nation" to make sure he delivers what he promises. 

What could have also worked is that if and if Noynoy had to deliver the proposal of the expressway or whatever projects he left hanging because of the six year (no more no less) time limit in front of the members of the Philippine Parliament. He would have to address senators from both sides -- his bloc vs. the minority bloc. Can you imagine if we had Richard Gordon as the Opposition Leader and Noynoy as the prime minister would have to address the issues of his projects? He would have to receive frequent scrutiny from his side vs. the other side such as making sure his projects have a more realistic time frame than what the presidential system of the Philippines has to offer. 

I hope that this rather common sense and you don't have to be a political science graduate to understand it post will at least help Filipinos understand the need to remove unnecessary term limits.