TEXT OF REPORT

Name of President: Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III

Term: JUNE 30, 2010 – JUNE 30, 2016

I. Introduction of the Topic:

LIFE, PROJECTS, PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED BY PRESIDENT BENIGNO S. AQUINO III

Benigno Aquino III, in full Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III, also called Noynoy, (born
February 8, 1960, Manila, Philippines—died June 24, 2021, Manila), Filipino politician who
served as president of the Philippines (2010–16) and was the scion of a famed political family.

He was the son of Corazon Aquino, who served as president of the Philippines (1986–92),
and political leader Benigno Simeon Aquino, Jr.—themselves the children of politically
connected families.

In 1998, he made the move to politics as a member of the Liberal Party, serving
the constitutional maximum of three consecutive terms as a representative of the 2nd
district of Tarlac province. During this time he also served as deputy speaker of the House of
Representatives (2004–06), but he resigned from the post in advance of joining other
Liberal Party leaders in making a call for the resignation of Pres. Gloria Macapagal
Arroyo (2001–10).

PNoy is an economist by education, a lawmaker by vocation. He is an audiophile, history

buff, marksman and self-taught billiards sharpie. He is a loving brother and uncle, and a
steadfast friend.

II. Projects

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AND POVERTY REDUCTION

EDUCATION - K-12 education system

Republic Act No. 10533, otherwise known as the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013, was
signed into law by Mr. Aquino on May 15, 2013. The law’s passage formalized the K to 12 basic
education program from the previous 10-year basic education curriculum.
HEALTH –

Reproductive Health Bill

The Reproductive Health Bill, also known as Republic Act 10354, was signed into law
by Mr. Aquino on Dec. 21, 2012. RA 10354 provides its beneficiaries with “universal access to
medically safe, non-abortifacient, effective, legal, affordable and quality reproductive health
care services, methods, devices, supplies which do not prevent the implantation of a
fertilized ovum.”

Dengvaxia controversy
The Dengvaxia controversy, which stemmed from a 2016 vaccine campaign to
inoculate nearly 1 million schoolchildren with the said anti-dengue fever vaccine, has
since accelerated public distrust even to vaccines long proven to be effective on diseases
like polio and measles, which have since resurfaced. Health data show that from as high as
85.6% of the child population in 2010, full immunization rates dropped to 66.2% in 2018.

On June 19, 2013, President Aquino signed RA 10606 (An Act Amending the National
Health Insurance Act of 1995), which mandates the provision of comprehensive health care
services to all Filipinos, through a socialized health insurance program that will prioritize the
health care needs of the underprivileged, sick, elderly, persons with disabilities, women and
children; free health care services are provided to indigents. PhilHealth now provides the
poorest Filipino households with full coverage of expenses for medical procedures such as
maternity and newborn care packages, as well as treatment for selected catastrophic
diseases such as dengue, pneumonia, breast and prostate cancer, and childhood acute
leukemia.

PANTAWID PAMILYANG PILIPINO PROGRAM (4Ps)

Social services continue to receive the highest share of the national budget; the
Aquino administration believes that investing in Filipinos through health, social services, and
education empowers the people. At the core of these initiatives is the Pantawid Pamilyang
Pilipino Program, which provides financial support to poor households listed in the National
Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR), conditional upon their
compliance with human capital formation interventions in education and health.

Through increased budget allocation—the program’s budget increased by 343% from

P10.00 billion in 2010 to P44.26 billion in 2013—the program significantly expanded under
this administration: From the 786,523 registered households in July 2010 to 3.93 million
beneficiary households as of May 2013 (a 499% increase). According to an initial
internationally funded impact evaluation survey, the conditional cash transfer program is
achieving its objectives: beneficiary households are enrolling their children in school and are
spending more on healthcare.
 To ensure self-reliance, the first batch of households graduating from the program in
December 2013 will be covered under the Sustainable Livelihood Program, which has two
tracks: Employment Facilitation, such as Trabahong Lansangan, done in partnership with the
DPWH; and Community Driven Enterprise Development (CDED), which provides capital seed
fund to the beneficiaries.

TRANSPORTATION –

MRT derailments
In early 2011, the Department of Transportation and Communications crafted a plan
to integrate the operations of MRT-3 and LRT-1 in preparation for the eventual expansion of
LRT-1 to Cavite.

INFRASTRACTURE –

Public-Private Partnership (PPP)

 PPP School Infrastructure Phase 1

 PPP for School Infrastructure Phase 2
 Modernization of Philippine Orthopedic Center
 Daang Hari-SLEX Link Road
 NAIA Expressway

The Aquino administration has been criticized for the slow implementation of the PPP
program after bidding for several projects suffered delays.

Among the long-delayed projects completed during the Aquino administration:

1. The Aluling Bridge (P191.37 million) connecting the towns of Cervantes, Ilocos Sur and
Tadian, Mountain Province. The project was first conceptualized in 1978.
2. The Candelaria Bypass Road Project (P557.50 million), which decongested traffic along
the Daang Maharlika Highway in Quezon by 40%.
3. The Laguindingan Airport Development Plan (P7.85 billion), an international-standard
domestic airport in Misamis Oriental, which is expected to benefit 1.6 milion passengers per
year and help boost tourism in Northern Mindanao.
4. The Ternate-Nasugbu Road (P860 million), connecting the coastal towns of Ternate,
Cavite and Nasurbu, Batangas to Metro Manila.
5. The Jalaur River Multi-Purpose Project, first conceptualized in the 1960s, and which will
benefit farmer in Iloilo by providing year-round irrigation.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Under the Aquino administration, good governance is good economics: Increased

confidence in the country’s leadership and the reforms that it instituted in critical areas of
governance has strengthened and fuelled the fastest growing economy in East and
Southeast Asia in the first quarter of 2013.

The performance of the Philippine economy in 2012 and in the first quarter of 2013
indicates that it is moving along a higher growth trajectory. From the 3.6 percent growth
recorded in 2011, the Philippines’ GDP grew by 6.8 percent in 2012 and by 7.8 percent in the
first quarter of 2013. The first quarter growth of 2013 is the highest growth rate recorded
under the Aquino administration, and is faster than that of China’s, Indonesia’s, Thailand’s,
and Vietnam’s for the same period.

Remarkable growth was achieved alongside a slowdown in the increase in prices of

basic commodities. The full-year average inflation rate for 2012 was at 3.2%—the lowest
recorded inflation rate in five years and lower than the average inflation rates in Indonesia,
Singapore, India, and Vietnam. Average inflation for the first half of 2013 was at 2.9%, which
is at the lower than the 3% to 5% target for 2012 to 2013.

SECURITY, JUSTICE AND PEACE

NATIONAL SOVEREIGNITY

The Aquino administration has defended the country’s sovereignty and territorial
integrity through diplomacy, believing that adherence to international law will result not
only in greater regional sustainability but also in favorable resolutions to maritime disputes.
On January 22, 2013, the government initiated arbitral proceedings under the United Nations
Convention on the Law of the Sea to establish the Philippines’ sovereign rights and
jurisdiction over its maritime entitlements in the West Philippine Sea. The Philippines has
also actively engaged the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in underscoring the
importance of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea and in
pushing for the early conclusion of a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea.

Parallel to pursuing the diplomatic resolution of territorial disputes, the government

prioritized the building of a minimum credible defense posture for the country. On
December 6, 2012, the President signed RA 10349, which extends the implementation of
AFP’s Modernization and Capability Upgrade Program for another 15 years and provides a
five-year initial funding of at least P75 billion.

For 2013, the Aquino administration allocated a total of P28.4 billion and released
P22.7 billion for the AFP Modernization and Capability Upgrade Program; three previous
administrations (1995-June 2010) released a total of P33.6 billion. The government has
likewise acquired weather high endurance cutters, landing craft utility, utility helicopters,
field ambulances, and mobility equipment.

NATIONAL SECURITY

The government is intensifying its anti-criminality efforts and continually

strengthening the police force. The ongoing PNP Capability Enhancement Program and the
PNP Operational Transformation Plan have been ensuring police personnel effectiveness by,
among others, increasing the number of active field duty personnel and the procurement of
prescribed firearms (pistols and rifles) at a lower cost. The Philippine National Police has
likewise implemented the following flagship anti-crime initiatives:

The PNP’s Flagship Anti-Crime Initiatives

Pulis Nyo Po sa Barangay (PSBs): As of December 2012, the Philippine National Police has
deployed 33,720 PSBs to serve as focal persons and to conduct community engagement
activities in all 42,039 barangays nationwide.

The Police Integrated Patrol System intensifies law enforcement operations, like foot and
mobile patrols, checkpoint and chokepoint operations. The National Tourist-Oriented Police
for Community Order and Protection Program deployed 1,878 policemen to 1,018 Tourist
Assistance Desks established nationwide.

Oplan Katok has conducted 25,939 house visitations of identified holders of expired firearms
licenses in priority provinces. As of June 30, 2013, the PNP had conducted house visits
involving 491,929 unrenewed firearm licenses (92.29 percent of the targeted 532,981
unrenewed firearm licenses), facilitated the processing for renewal of 99,399 firearm
licenses, and confiscated 6,657 firearms.

Secure and Fair (SAFE) 2013 Elections

The PNP implemented various measures against threat groups, including private armed
groups and organized crime groups, in keeping with their mandate of ensuring a secure and
fair 2013 election. The operation of private armed groups were reduced by 63%, from 112
during the election period in 2010 to 41 in 2013; 172 members of private armed groups were
apprehended, from October 1, 2012 (the filing of candidacy) to June 17, 2013, with 339
firearms having been recovered during the same period; election-related violent incidents
recorded were reduced, from the start of filing of candidacy to the Election Day: 229
incidents with 121 persons killed in 2007; 189 incidents with 116 persons killed in 2010; 77
incidents with 39 persons killed in 2013.

In 2013, the ARMM successfully held the national and local elections, which is an
improvement over the failure of elections in 2010 and 2007 in six municipalities in Lanao del
Sur, one barangay in Sumisip, Basilan in 2010; and twelve municipalities in Lanao del Sur, four
municipalities in Maguindanao, and some barangays in Sumisip and Al Barka, Basilan in 2007.

III. Problems

Three major issues will hound Aquino from Day 1 of his presidency: Corruption, the economy,
and the peace process.

CORRUPTION

Having run on an anti-corruption and clean government platform, he must now summon
presidential power to ensure that outgoing President Gloria M. Arroyo is brought to court to
face charges of alleged large-scale corruption as well as election fraud, and culpable
violation of the constitution. This move, however, should be done along with initiating the
colossal task of weeding out corruption that has become systemic to the state bureaucracy
from the national down to the local levels.

Under Arroyo's watch, the economy went into a nosedive aggravated even further by the
global recession. There are high expectations for the provision of immediate economic relief
especially to the poor, a freeze on new taxes, a wage increase, and measures to arrest high
unemployment. The next economic program must now review erroneous institutional
policies that look at economic growth from the narrow perspective of promoting the
hegemonic interests of foreign and local investors. Economic strategies should be
reoriented toward addressing the roots of social inequality, advancing the social and
economic rights of the people, and ensuring mechanisms where the interest of those who
are less in life is reflected in policy making.

PEACE PROCESS

The government policy of forcing the capitulation of revolutionary movements as the main
track of the “peace process” and, hence, the use of military solution no longer holds. Clearly,
this track has failed for the past 25 years of peace talks with both the Marxist revolutionary
movement and the Moro rebellion. The new government should consider the peace process
as a step in the roadmap of addressing the fundamental roots of war through a
thoroughgoing social, economic, and political reform. The resumption of peace process can
be signaled with a clear and unequivocal commitment by the incoming president to stop the
political killings and, with respect to both the armed Left and the MILF, to remove their
labeling as “terrorist organizations.”

There are high expectations for Aquino to show a “reform agenda” and a presidency
different from Arroyo's. Aside from leadership, the push for a “reform agenda” needs to be
propelled by a strong, reform-oriented government. On these aspects, Aquino faces what
may emerge to be an executive department shared by contending Liberal Party factions, and
PDP-Laban headed by Jejomar Binay, the new vice president. Congress may remain under
Arroyo's Lakas-Kampi-CMD coalition unless Aquino's LP is able to increase its seats from 44
through a party-switching by members of the coalition and thus become the majority party.
A divided Congress will tie the new president's hands to exercising patronage politics
through the pork barrel mechanism in order to ensure legislative support. A Congress,
whose ability to function is generally dictated by pork barrel and other self-serving interests
with the president acting as the key provider can never be an effective forum for reform.

SAME ECONOMIC AGENDA

As the new administration machinery takes shape, current indications show that Aquino will
basically continue the same economic policies pursued by Arroyo. The cabinet faces who will
lead the economic management had served under Arroyo and previous presidents whose
pro-globalization and pro-business policies proved to be inimical not only to the economy
but the people as a whole. Right now, foreign business groups led by the American Chamber
of Commerce have offered a blueprint for the country's economic growth. The pro-
corporate and pro-foreign capital agenda of both these cabinet officials and Aquino himself
will make the electoral promise of giving up Hacienda Luisita to its rightful owners highly
remote.

In the middle of the election campaign, Aquino also said he would continue Arroyo's
counter-insurgency program ignoring the fact that it is the same coercive campaign marked
by extra-judicial killing of at least 1,000 unarmed activists that partly led to the political
isolation of the outgoing president. This commitment only means Aquino will be unwilling to
support the prosecution of Arroyo in human rights terms because doing so will also
implicate the security and military officials whose support he cannot sacrifice as the new
commander-in-chief. Backing the Armed Forces of the Philippines' (AFP) counter-insurgency
paradigm is always a guarantee to ensuring the loyalty of the military – a power broker by
itself – to the president.

Failure of the Aquino administration to make Arroyo accountable for the gross and
systematic violations of human rights will only show that a reconciliation is in the works.
Reconciliation can only mean choosing the side of repression and a readiness to part ways
with some church-based human rights advocates who had backed his candidacy.
IV. Quiz (20items)

1. Republic Act No. 10533, otherwise known as the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013

-K-12 EDUCATION

2. WHAT ARE THE 3 MAJOR PROBLEMS DURING THE TIME OF AQUINO?

-ECONOMY

-PEACE PROCESS

-CORRUPTION

3. THEY believe that investing in Filipinos through health, social services, and education
empowers the people.

-AQUINO ADMINISTRATION

4. WHAT DATE the government initiated arbitral proceedings under the United Nations
Convention on the Law of the Sea to establish the Philippines’ sovereign rights and
jurisdiction over its maritime entitlements in the West Philippine Sea.

-JANUARY 22. 2013

5. IF YOU ARE A PRESIDENT INSTEAD OF AQUINO, ARE YOU GOING TO SIGN THE
ENHANCED BASIC EDUCATION ACT OF 2013? WHY? (5 points)

6. Aside from leadership, THIS AGENDA needs to be propelled by a strong, reform-oriented

government.

-REFORM AGENDA

7. THIS VACCINE WAS A CONTROVERSIAL DURING HIS TIME.

-DENGVAXIA

8. The government is intensifying its anti-criminality efforts and continually strengthening

the police force.

-NATIONAL SECURITY

9. True or False. Pnoy is an economist by education.

-TRUE
10. True or False. He served as deputy speaker of House Representatives from 2003-2004.

-FALSE, 2004-2006

11. How many years did he serve as a President?

-6 years,

12. At what age did Pnoy died?

-61 years old.

13. Give at least 3 delayed projects during Aquino Administration

Aluling Bridge
-The Candelaria Bypass Road Project
-The Jalaur River Multi-Purpose Project

V. Reference/s

https://ppp.gov.ph/in_the_news/aquino-to-end-term-with-7-completed-ppp-projects/

https://www.bworldonline.com/a-look-back-at-the-pnoy-administration/

https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/aquino-administration/good-governance-and-anti-
corruption/

https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/aquino-administration/economic-development/

https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/aquino-administration/human-development-and-
poverty-reduction/

https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/aquino-administration/security-justice-and-peace/

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Benigno-Aquino-III