After six years of what for him was long and hard work, President Benigno Aquino III will take a vacation, lead a normal and quiet life, read books he has collected, and listen to his favorite music, a Malacañang spokesman said on Friday.
Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. told The Standard that during the past years of the Aquino administration, the Philippine economic condition improved more than it did in the previous administrations.
Coloma said that over the past six years, the Aquino administration implemented a number of programs and undertakings that improved the quality of life of Filipinos and tangibly addressed pervading systemic problems that enabled the Philippines to achieve its status as the new Darling of Asia.
He added that among the notable accomplishments of the outgoing government are:
• Enhanced transparency in governance and an improved budgeting process which plugged leaks and corruption throughout the bureaucracy;
• A 6.2-percent annual average economic growth, the highest in the past 40 years;
• A low inflation environment, averaging 1.4 percent, that enhanced the purchasing power of Filipino consumers;
• A significantly lower incidence of self-rated poverty and food hunger owing to targeted and purposive poverty alleviation and food security programs;
• Attainment of a good credit standing, with over 20 positive actions earned for the Philippines’ credit rating, including outlook changes to “positive” and actual hikes in credit ratings from various agencies;
• A higher employment rate, from 92.7 percent in 2010 to 93.5 percent in the last quarter of 2015 and 94.2 percent for January 2016;
• An enhanced revenue collection anchored on vital tax reform measures such as the increase in excise tax on so-called “sin” products;
• Increased investments in public infrastructure and active promotion of public-private partnerships;
• Increased tourist arrivals with an annual growth rate of 8.77 percent from the period covering 2010 to 2015;
• Extensive education reform anchored on the enactment of the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013 which institutionalized the K-to-12 basic education program, aimed at ensuring the basic education graduates’ readiness for tertiary education as well as provision of specialized training and preparation for specific career options;
• And the signing of the historic Framework Agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front that serves as a foundation to achieve long-term peace, stability, and development in Mindanao.
Coloma said the Aquino administration has also devoted substantial resources to expanding the Conditional Cash Transfer Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, which serves 4.6-million poor households, while enlarging the scope of the government’s Universal Health Care Program of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp.covering free health services to over 93.45-million Filipinos.
The continued expansion of the economy hinged on a favorable business environment, responsive social protection programs, efficient fiscal management, sound macroeconomic fundamentals and transparent and principled leadership, has generated a well-spring of economic opportunities for the Filipinos whether in gainful employment or in entrepreneurial pursuits, he further said.
Coloma said Aquino had pointed out that the number of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) has declined by 1.6 million from 10 million in 2010 to about 8.4 million in 2014.
In preparing for his exit from Malacanang, Aquino remains focused on overseeing the completion of priority reform development programs up to the last day of his term on June 30, the Malacañang spokesman said.
During the past few days, the President led the inauguration of key projects in the provinces, which shall serve as his legacies to the Filipino people.
The entire Executive branch has also taken the necessary steps to ensure an efficient and seamless transfer of power to the incoming administration.
Earlier this May, Aquino issued Administrative Order 49 creating the Presidential Transition Commission that will work closely with representatives of President-elect Rodrigo Duterte on a peaceful, orderly and effective transition on June 30.
All agencies and instrumentalities of government are finalizing their respective transition reports, which would be turned over to the next administration and shall serve as valuable reference on such matters as mandate, powers and functions of the organization, major final outputs, organizational concerns and available resources.
“When the Aquino administration steps down from office on 30 June 2016, we will be leaving behind a legacy of good governance that has firmly taken root in our public institutions,” said Coloma, on the assurance that the incoming administration will continue the programs of the outgoing President.
The Palace mouthpiece said they take solace in the fact that the incoming President has made public pronouncements that his administration shall continue the programs and initiatives of the Aquino administration to decisively end and address graft, expand social welfare and pro-poor programs, improve the welfare of the public servants and enhance the quality of public service of the frontline institutions.
The incoming administration has also pledged to adopt and maintain the current macroeconomic policies of the incumbent government, including increasing public infrastructure spending as a percentage of the gross domestic product, to sustain the robust growth achieved during the past six years.
“We are confident that the foundations that we built made significant inroads in institutionalizing these social and economic reforms and that its impact would long be felt by the succeeding generations of our Bosses–the Filipino people,”Coloma also said.
