Economy and Noynoy

Yahoo! PH poll: Aquino must 'move faster' on economic issues


President Benigno Aquino III has to address the country’s economic issues immediately, according to a majority of respondents on a Yahoo! Southeast Asia online poll this week.

Asked whether the President is failing on the economy, 70 percent of 95,013 votes said yes, and that he “needs to move faster.” Little more than a fourth of respondents—28 percent—said Aquino should be given more time to fix the economy while 2 percent had yet to form an opinion.

The poll, open from April 17 to 20, follows news this week of a nationwide survey giving the Aquino administration low marks on economic issues. Respondents on a recent Pulse Asia survey gave Aquino a low rating of +2 on “reducing the poverty of many Filipinos” and a dismal -12 rating on “controlling inflation”.

The government also got low scores on creating new jobs (+20) and giving workers better pay (+15).

Seventy percent of respondents on the survey, conducted in late February to early March, said keeping costs down is the most urgent issue that the government should address.

Very few respondents said  "ensuring a fair trial for Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona"
(13 percent) and "running after former and current government officials accused of graft and corruption"
(12 percent) should be a priority.

Aquino, who has been pushing his “Daang Matuwid" (Straight Path) campaign against corruption, received a +44 approval rating on curbing graft in government.

source: http://ph.news.yahoo.com/yahoo--ph-users--aquino-must--move-faster--on-economic-problems.html





With these statistics, it seems that the general public can't help but think that the President is indeed Noynoying on his work as president. President Aquino has come under fire from the public for various issues from his administration's work on Human Rights all the way down to his personal life. But in the economic area, there have been people who have stepped up to defend him.

In an article in the Philippine Star (you can read it here: http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=791734) Albay Governor Joey Salceda came to Aquino's defense, pointing out the president's creation of 3.3 million jobs during his administration, exceeding the amount of jobs created in the administrations of the last two presidents. Salceda also points out the 5.7 GDP growth of the country as another plus for the country.

Sure, the lawmakers may be putting out all these numbers and whatnot, but the quesion is: do the people understand what it means? And even if they do, do they feel the change that these numbers are supposed to insinuate?

The clear answer here is no. With the results of the poll saying that 70% of people think that Aquino is failing on the economy, it seems that there is a need to assess what really determines improvement in economy; is it the large scope of change in numbers, or is it the quality of life or satisfaction of the individual person? The numbers no doubt show a sizable change in the economic state of the country, but how has the quality of life for the common person changed? Apparently not enough.

So is the president Noynoying on the economy? With varying standards, it seems impossible to come to a caucus. The nation's opinions are divided, and Aquino should find out who it is he really wants to please. Remembering how he addressed the Filipino people, saying "Kayo ang boss ko," it seems clear who he should be aiming to please, and with the poll results out, his efforts seems to have come up short. Looks like Aquino's "matuwid na daan" isn't all that straightforward.