A HUNDRED days seems long; but for President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, 100 days is just the beginning.

After Bantay Presidente’s watch of Aquino’s first 100 days as president, majority of the Ateneo community thinks that 100 days is not enough to see improvements.

Since his inauguration on June 30, several issues have already been presented, such as the No Wang-Wang policy, the basic education movement, and the hostage-taking crisis. Bantay Presidente is a project of the Socio-Political Alliance of the School of Social Sciences Sanggunian.

Not an overnight miracle

John Gokongwei School of Management (JGSOM) Dean Rudy Ang said that with the limited amount of time, big changes in the country cannot be observed right away. “Given the sort of systemic corruption and inefficiency that we’ve had… [Filipinos] need to give [Aquino] a chance,” Ang said.

He added that people should take a step back and willingly wait for progress to be achieved by the president. “Too many people are too quick to criticize, expecting miracles to be done overnight,” he said.

Media and the Creative Arts Head Joseph Teoxon said that he hasn’t noticed any transformation yet but is willing to wait for these adjustments.

For freshman Carlos Emmanuel Quiapo, Aquino will be able to change the Philippines during his term. “I know that the President is currently on a hiatus based on his performance for the past 100 days but that doesn’t means that he is worthless,” he said.

Freshman Beverly Abriol also believes that Aquino will be able to serve his job well in the coming years knowing that he’s not only doing this for the country but also for his parents.

And while some people are willing to wait a bit longer for the Aquino administration’s action on the country’s pressing problems, others are starting to be impatient with the pace things are going.

Freshman Cornelio Peter Yap said in a mix of English and Filipino, “I wish the effects will already start so we would know what the administration wants to happen.”

Need for implementation

For University President Fr. Bienvenido Nebres, SJ, after all the policy-planning comes implementation, which he believes is where the office will experience difficulties.

“It’s difficult to implement partly because the plans aren’t spelled down to detail,” Nebres said.

Nebres added that he looked forward to seeing the details of how Aquino would implement his plans, the time table and the budget that would be allotted for these.

Vice President for the Loyola Schools John Paul Vergara said that instead of making grand solutions such as the proposal for lengthening basic education to increase competency, the government should address the issues with a more grounded approach.

“You really have to start from the ground—confront the corruption, confront the processes. It [takes] several years to even make little progress, so a quick-solution approach doesn’t work. It has to be a little more grounded. And if you start doing something like that, people will start to see that things are working,” he said.

Solutions

Ang said that even students can help Aquino achieve his goals.

With regard to business and economics, Ang said that JGSOM would continue to train their students to excel in their fields to be able to help the country.

“The best way that we can help the president with his objectives is to keep on doing what we’ve always tried to do, which is teach our students to be responsible, ethical, and honest businessmen,” he said.

In addition, JGSOM will continue to emphasize entrepreneurship, which is “totally consistent with President Aquino’s theme of poverty eradication and the creation of jobs.”

Ang said that instead of criticizing the government, a collective effort at helping the administration should be made.

Likewise, School of Humanities (SOH) Dean Maria Luz Vilches said that to improve the country, the efforts of the citizens should be taken into account as well.

“As a people, sometimes we’d rather look at what people are doing and watch for faults instead of looking at ourselves and asking ‘What can I do? How am I contributing to this illness in society? What am I doing right within my sphere of influence?’,” she said in a mix of English and Filipino.