Plus ca change... AN OUTSIDERS VIEW Ken Fuller 05/25/2010

Plus ca change...

AN OUTSIDERS VIEW Ken Fuller 05/25/2010 The post-election situation may be a case of “plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose” (roughly, “the more things change, the more they remain the same”). Rather than comparing the prospective Aquino government with that of the outgoing president, this outsider is making the point that there is a real possibility that little change will occur in the economic and the broad political terrain that has existed — with the occasional blip — since 1946. The change in the counting system pleased most people, delivering the results relatively swiftly. Not so pleased were those who, finding interminable lines at the polling stations, disenfranchised themselves by returning home, and the losing candidates who complain that this denied them victory. Ironically, the claim that anywhere between two and eight million registered voters were thus affected was made by Comelec’s advisor on queue management. Equally unhappy are the increasing number who allege electronic fraud. The major change is, of course, that after nine-and-a-half years, the Philippines will have a new president on June 30. In an interview published in the Philippine Star on Feb. 21, Noynoy Aquino indicated that the “biggest prospect” on the economic front will be information technology, tourism and agriculture. Apparently as an afterthought, he expressed a desire to revive manufacturing. A leader bent on real change would have reversed those priorities. There is a glimmer of hope in that he responded to a question by saying that the Philippines is not ready for free trade. One thing that would make it ready is, of course, the construction of a manufacturing base. Or maybe it was the wrong question. Much will depend on the economic team the new president assembles. On the international front, Aquino told the Star: “There’ll be more cooperation with America to balance strategic forces within the area.” It may be assumed that the strategic force which needs to be balanced is China . Not only would this not amount to an independent foreign policy, but it takes no account of the probability that if there is ever to be a second “American century,” it won’t be this one. In any case, it would be a mistake to conclude that the electorate which gave Aquino such a decisive majority (subject to doubts about electronic fraud) on May 10 was thirsting for wide-ranging change. After all, in 35 out of 80 provinces the same electorate handed power to political families. And that was just those provinces where two members of the same family shared the governorship and a House seat between them; there were others where single dynasty members were elected to influential positions — not least the presidency and vice-presidency. (An international observer tells me, incidentally, that Liberal Party activists in Lanao del Sur were distributing sample ballots shaded for Aquino and Binay.)... MORE Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100525com13.html

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