The dust (and yellow confetti) from a phenomenal election victory had long settled, and for the past hundred days, President Noynoy Aquino has been busying himself by cleaning up after a regime rocked by scandals and controversies. It’s been a daunting task, definitely not something anyone would expect him to accomplish within three months in office. To some analysts and observers, however, the president could have begun his six-year-long orchestra on a happier note; the first hundred days in office, after all, is an important preview of the next six years.

Circumstances, however, have placed a great burden of expectation on Aquino. As a son of two democracy icons, he is expected to carry forward his parents’ legacy. As an Atenean, he is expected to serve as a man for others. As the second Cojuangco president, he is expected to do better where his mother did poorly. A man with many roles—that was Aquino when he took his oath of office a hundred days ago. Now, however, the first fruits of his labor that he is harvesting are turning out to be an equally diverse mix. Ripe, rotten—and everything in between—are all in the basket.

The president’s men

Early on in his presidency, Aquino promised a clean rule by curbing corruption and installing honest officials in his Cabinet. Not every appointment, however, has been met with approval. Political Science Department Chair Alma Salvador thinks the appointments might have been influenced by three different groups: his closest friends, his family, and the Liberal Party.

While this shows that he is not a one-man government, Salvador thinks that this also points to him putting too much of a premium on feedback. “I’ve yet to see a balance between agency and feedback,” she says.

For Associate Dean for Student Affairs Rene San Andres, Aquino’s appointment decisions are not perfect, but are good nonetheless. “There seems to have been a genuine effort to select the right people,” he says. He warns, however, of a “horde of people who have their own agenda… So expect some bad eggs.”

But beyond mere appointments, San Andres wonders about how Noynoy will manage his men. “The next question is, ‘will he be able to manage these people well?’ That remains to be seen,” he says.

‘Abhorrent appointment’

However, Aquino has not been able to completely veer away from controversial appointments. Salvador mentions the criticisms against Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Romulo, who was retained from the Arroyo Cabinet. Many in the press reacted negatively; Ellen Tordesillas of Malaya, for example, branded Romulo as “incompetent.”

Some other appointees who have received negative feedback, although post facto, are Interior and Local Government Secretary, Jesse Robredo, and Undersecretary for Peace and Order of the same department, Rico Puno. Robredo and Puno are both implicated for the botched response to the Quirino Grandstand hostage incident last August 23. Puno—known to be a good friend of the president—is also currently implicated in a jueteng controversy.

Etta Rosales’ appointment as the new Chairperson of the Commission of Human Rights has also drawn flak. The New York Times Philippine Correspondent Carlos Conde called Rosales’ then unconfirmed appointment as “the most abhorrent appointment Aquino can make.” The human rights watchdog Karapatan similarly lambasted Rosales’ appointment, claiming that she had shown bias against particular victims of human rights violations.

Reaching out

Bantay Presidente (BP100) Project Head Iriz Beleno considers Aquino’s efforts to reach out to people for his cabinet appointments “commendable.” BP100 is a Sanggunian project headed by Beleno and David de Castro, that is tasked to monitor the Aquino government in its first hundred days in power.

“His kind of administration is closer to the people, unlike the past administrations [where you feel the] barrier between the citizens and the government,” Beleno says, but she adds that this can be a double-edged sword. For Aquino, it has worked both to his advantage and disadvantage.

“Personally, I think that from the very beginning, [Aquino] seems gullible to the people and probably to his Cabinet members, so that’s probably why he’s a bit permeable to the influence of others,” Beleno says in a mix of English and Filipino.

“He used [this gullibility] to his advantage during the campaign period; it’s one of the traits that got the people to trust him, to look at him as a democratic leader.”

The right steps

Has Aquino been taking the rights steps to firm up the foundations of his presidency?

That question will probably best be answered by time. Salvador says, however, that the president is prioritizing peace as an undercurrent to national development. He has also been creating normative frameworks to define public issues and, in turn, be able to create improvements and policies.

The Communist Party of the Philippines, though, has repeatedly criticized Aquino for his lack of sincerity in resuming peace talks with the Maoist rebels. On the other hand, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front welcomed Aquino’s openness to charter change as a possible resolution to the Moro armed struggle for self-determination.

Meanwhile,  University president Fr. Bienvenido Nebres, S.J. says Aquino is taking the right steps by moving towards overcoming corruption and poverty.

“I think these are the proper priorities for the Philippines, particularly lessening poverty,” he says. “And [this government focus] does connect with our priorities in the Ateneo…Our mission should be to close the poverty gap.”

However, while Nebres acknowledges that a lot of Aquino’s policies are fine, he stresses that implementation is another matter. “Many of us are still waiting [to see] how the policies will get down to detailed implementation plans, and who is responsible for implementing,” he says.

On another note, various groups have praised Aquino for his valiant stand against the Church in defense of women’s rights and reproductive health. The prospects for the passing of a reproductive health bill are now brighter than ever. This is a fulfilment of one of Aquino’s campaign promises.

Room for improvement

As everyone expected, the Hacienda Luisita issue continues to hound Aquino well into his first months in office—and will likely do so, along with the greater issue of land reform, until the matter finds resolution. The president has promised to implement land reform programs, but Salvador does not see much progress.

“He has inadequate resolve,” she says. Still, she notes that he is starting to exert more effort by placing the right people in some key spots, such as Leila de Lima as Justice Secretary. This approach, though, could be very procedural; she believes Aquino should be more hands-on on the issue, not “hands-off” as he once asserted.

Apart from the agrarian reform issue, though, Salvador also thinks that the bureaucracy needs improvements. Specifically, she calls for a proper delineation of tasks in government, something that was resoundingly lacking during the August 23 hostage-taking incident.

Great expectations

Last October 1, Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said that the Palace is giving itself a passing mark for the first few months of the Aquino administration. He said, though, that Aquino’s entire presidency should not be gauged only by the first hundred days.

David de Castro of BP100, on the other hand, rates Aquino’s performance as “under-average to average.” He says that the people have expected him to work on pressing issues like land reform, but little to no progress has been made.

For the same reasons, Salvador believes Aquino has a lot more ground to cover. “Noynoy is a weak leader,” she says in Filipino.

San Andres, for his part, thinks the difficulties are brought about by trying to overturn “years of mismanagement” and “betrayal of the people.” He gives Aquino a six out of ten, explaining that the score is beyond neutral because he can sense some hope.

“This early, you have to give [Aquino] a break,” he says. “Give him time to do what he needs to do.”

A hundred days of the change Filipinos voted for last May 10 has already passed. To this day, however, a lot of Aquino’s campaign promises remain unfulfilled (such as the Freedom of Information Act) or are on the way to being broken (such as agrarian reform).

Unfortunately, it seems like for some issues, Aquino’s first hundred days failed to serve as the starting line it was supposed to be. ν