Is it me or is time for necropolitics? Honestly, I can't be the judge of the recently deceased Noynoy Aquino's current passing due to heart failure. Unlike Get Real Philippines - I'm going to try and be objective towards Noynoy's pros and cons. For one, the late Carlos Celdran was anti-Duterte BUT he was definitely for constitutional reforms. Noynoy himself was among those presidents who eased down certain sectors too aside from former presidents Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Joseph Estrada, and Fidel V. Ramos.
Globals Risk Insights in its article "The legacy of Philippines President Benigno Aquino" wrote the following about Noynoy's role with foreign investments:
By all accounts, the Aquino administration has had a strong economic record. The Philippines is an emerging economy, which has steadily grown under Mr. Aquino due to the inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI).
FDI has been rising steadily in recent years, and between January and November 2014, FDI flows reached USD 5.7 billion, which represents a more than 60% increase compared to 2013. Most of these investments went into manufacturing gas, steam, and air-conditioning supply, finance and insurance, transportation and storage, and professional, scientific and technical activities.
Moreover, the economy is reported to have grown by 6.1% in 2014. Whilst this was slower than the 7.2 % growth in 2013, and was short of the government’s 6.5 to 7.5% target, it was still the second fastest in Asia during the period. However, critics argue that economic growth has failed to raise living standards.
Official figures confirmed that 25.8% of Filipinos were living below the poverty line in the first half of 2014, just 0.5% less than in 2009. According to Carl Baker, director of programs at the think tank Pacific Forum CSIS in the United States, “much of the employment growth has been in the services sector, which tends to generate fewer high-wage jobs and less spin-off small business opportunities than large manufacturing”.
Jonathan Ravelas, chief market strategist with BDO Unibank in Manila suggests that the Philippines needs at least seven years of growth at 6% to impact the “grassroots” level. The government is hoping to hasten this process by bringing in more manufacturers.
Which in turn, makes comparing Noynoy Aquino to Benign0 of Get Real Philippines (GRP) somehow stupid. For whatever mishaps happened during Noynoy's time (such as the MRT breakdown under Joseph Pabaya, SAF-44 mishap due to Alan Impurisima, and Stinky Soliman) - he also did some good. If I'm not wrong - even President Rodrigo R. Duterte did praise Noynoy's economic legacy.
One reason why I wanted Noynoy to live longer was because of the prevalence of necropolitics. Let's face it that there are two (or more) time bombs namely Bum Aquino and Kris Aquino. The Liberal Party is known for making disastrous decisions. I even feel that the Liberal Party may make Kris their "last hope" should all candidates fail. We might also want to think about the reality that Ninoy Aquino died then Cory Aquino became president, Cory died and Noynoy became president, then now Noynoy has died then we might as well brace ourselves for Kris (and perhaps even Joshua Salvador) to become president. There are opportunists and I think Kris will be one of them. Sure, we need to leave Kris' children alone but the statement "or I will enter politics" can be a grim one. Kris might run for senator or even president this 2022 given the circumstances. On the other hand, Bum who lost the 2019 #OtsoDiretso slot really might use his cousin's death to propel himself. It's that kind of running that causes candidates to lose their brains to start with. I mean, notice that Bum before politics was a brilliant businessman. After politics, Bum has become a clown.
This also makes me think that some Yellowtards wanted Duterte to die, right? Maybe, it's really karmic backlash that Noynoy died instead but I can't really say it. However, the Liberal Party can be accused of disrespecting their own members if they continue to use necropolitics to propel a candidate into power. I think it wasn't respectful either when Cory herself was urged to run because Ninoy was shot. It wasn't respectful for the Robredos either when Leni Loud was urged to run because her husband, Jesse Robredo, died in what might not be just an accident. Right now, it wouldn't be respectful to the late Noynoy either to use his death to try and get the Liberal Party to win their seats this 2022. If so, they should be ashamed of themselves to use anybody's death to propel their cause.
If the Liberal Party wants to remain relevant then they shouldn't wait for another person to die. Instead, the Liberal Party should be focused on BADLY NEEDED REFORMS. I mean, Noynoy did after all ease certain sectors from unreasonable restrictions to FDI, right? They should instead focus on that for a change. They should also support shifting to parliamentary (so they can still have a voice if ever they become the minority), and to federalism to decongest the Philippines.
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