GOLDEN ERA OR RERUN OF THE CORY PRESIDENCY?
Fiery anti-Marcos emotions set forces into motion that catapulted Cory to power.
As a housewife, she came with no credentials, experience or notion of what governing a country in transition entailed.
But what she offered-- honesty -- the country accepted.
The passing of Cory unleashed endearment for her family members, especially Noynoy, who was under constant media floodlights during the wake and funeral.
Noynoy is a mirror image of his mother, offering honesty as his badge.
Drawing on the prognosis of Noynoy's supporters, let there be soul-searching covering 11 key questions about Cory's tenure:
1. Did Cory succeed in bringing unquestioned honesty to government?
2. Did she check the unbridled financial indiscretions of her kin?
3. Did she introduce a transformation of national values and ethical behavior in public life?
4. Did she eradicate poverty?
5. Did she have a strategy, policy framework and programs for rapidly growing the economy to join the "Asian Tigers" and other dynamic members of the community of nations?
6. Did she exercise Presidential power to redress the misery of the dispossessed Hacienda Luisita farmers and, after leaving office, help bring justice for the massacred victims?
7. Did she have a coherent program to address the social problems of migrant workers and their families?
8. Did she have effective executive control over government, in general, and the military, in particular?
9. Did she take notable steps to establish the preeminence of the Rule of Law?
10. Did she neutralize private armed groups and prevent them from carrying out lawless activities?
11. Did she have a notable and lasting impact on the nation other than being an instrument for ousting a dictator?
Does Noynoy have the capacity to prevail where questions about Cory's legacy linger?
If Noynoy's sole offering is the virtue of honesty, is there any assurance that history will not repeat itself?
Will the country experience a golden era or have a rerun of the Cory Presidency?
AIDA BARRIOS, a Filipino-American Dual Citizen
San Francisco
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