Transition SHE SAYS Dinah S. Ventura 06/30/2010

Transition

SHE SAYS Dinah S. Ventura 06/30/2010 Are there discrepancies between outgoing President Gloria Arroyo’s proclaimed accomplishments and the actual realities that meet incoming President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino? When President Arroyo gave her farewell speech last June 23, aired on state-run NBN 4 and sequestered television stations RPN 9 and IBC 13, she lauded the smooth transition of power through a “historic election” that enabled us to “declare winners in hours and days rather than weeks and months,” gave a brief overview of her administration’s accomplishments in the past nine years, urged the people to unite behind the new leadership and thanked everyone for giving her the honor of serving the nation. In her speech, Arroyo said that her administration was able to achieve many of its goals and objectives, as well as carry the nation through “37 quarters of uninterrupted economic growth even against the headwinds of a major global recession.” Under her watch, the country’s economy was reformed even though they had to “make unpopular choices such as raising taxes” along the way. It had to be done, she explained, simply because government needed “new money for more and better healthcare, education and job creation.” As a result, she said, “Eighty-five percent of our people now have access to Philhealth insurance, over a hundred thousand classrooms have been built and nine million jobs have been created.... MORE Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100630com7.html

COMMENTARY EDITORIAL Deliberate fraud FRONTLINE No hitting the ground running FEATURE Future looks sunny for Bangkok’s tuk-tuks MR. EXPOSE Refreshingly informal C.R.O.S.S.R.O.A.D.S Plug gaps or scram HE SAYS Our future under Noy SHE SAYS Transition