(SPECIAL REPORT) PGMA’s BEAT THE ODDs gets 100% grade on others, no on some; 11 months more to complete most

MANILA, July 27 —- Has President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo beaten the odds against her vision of a prosperous Philippines in tune with the global community, of Filipinos being truly happy as international surveys tend to depict them?

Yes, on some, and no, on others, say both allies and foes, on the 10-point BEAT THE ODDs slogan that sums up the targets of her Presidency and which she presented to the people in her initial State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 23, 2001.

She had “substantial compliance,” rated the House of Representatives. She’s “the best President” ever especially where the economy is concerned, according to Senate President and retired businessman Juan Ponce Enrile and such business magnates as Manuel V. Pangilinan and Eduardo Cojuangco.

Even non-ally and economist Winnie Monsod gives her 100 per cent for balancing the national budget, the “B” in BEAT THE ODDS. “The Arroyo government must be given a grade of 100 per cent. The original target for 2007 was a budget deficit of two per cent and its actual deficit was only .2 or 2/10 of one per cent and, last year 2008, it kept its budget deficit on track,” Monsod said over television last week.

But the odds to completing physical projects do not seem insurmountable, given the President’s work ethics, focus and expertise. She personally believed they could be achieved. She asked for beating a more formidable enemy: the Filipino self.

"Beat the odds within ourselves," asked President Macapagal-Arroyo, apparently referring to attitude problems in her countrymen, without whose cooperation the odds can't be tackled.

In her first SONA, the President said: ”The greatest obstacle we as a nation must overcome is inside us. The enemy to beat is ourselves.”

As she also said, governance and reform take a “whole community,” observed a foreign diplomat, who asked for anonymity.

If her worst critics and enemies were more honest, they would agree with Macapagal-Arroyo that when she boldly outlined her BEAT THE ODDS policy targets, she meant not just poverty, illiteracy and lack of education, un-automated elections, unemployment, disunity, corruption, insurgency, overpopulation, bad infrastructure, low income and poor health, among others.

Macapagal-Arroyo actually asked that her countrymen “beat the odds within themselves,” continued the diplomat, who represents one of the Philippines’ major benefactors on poverty alleviation as well as “qualitative” components such as anti-corruption, good governance, and social equity, nay, “moral regeneration.”

The enemy lurks within the Filipino, she continued, “when we spread division rather than unity; when we put ourselves above country and profit above fairness; when we think the worst of those with whom we should be working for the common good, and when we wallow in despair rather than rise to achievement.”

”Indeed, when we make politics replace patriotism in our country’s hour of need,” that’s the enemy, she reiterated, considering that there are many problems that she had inherited from previous administrations.

The acronym BEAT THE ODDs stands for: Balanced budget, Education for all, Automated Elections, Transportation and digital infrastructure, Terminate hostilities with MILF and NPA, Healing the wounds of Edsa, Electricity and water for all, Opportunities for Livelihood and 10-million jobs, Decongestion of Metro Manila, and Development of Subic and Clark.

According to Macapagal-Arroyo, her Presidency had inherited 2.5 million joblessness and 4 million unemployment, a deficit exceeding P140 billion and poverty incidence of 40 per cent in 2000, among others.

Thus, as early as 2001, she asked for unity. "Let us (unite), here in the home of democracy. Therefore resolve, to grab hold of this enemy within and beat him, so we can bend our efforts to noble purposes.” She said that as long as “the internal enemy (is) engaged, the battle will not be easy.”

But as events of nine years have shown, she was never given the slack that she deserved, observed the diplomat. “She was pilloried forever as if she had, on her own, the power to perform a miracle or wield a magic wand on a highly-demanding population but simply withheld it,” the observer told the Philippines News Agency.

“But, we, in diplomatic row, did not waver in our trust in her,” added the diplomat.

On the other hand, Monsod noted that she cannot give the President the same high grade on education, election automation and transportation because they have not been completed and “can go either way.” Fair enough.

As for terminating hostilities with the New People’s Army (NPA) and Muslim Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) by 2010, Monsod said “this has just not happened,” so she “will go the middle-road between her (PGMA’s) critics and her supporters and give her a 50 percent grade –- in recognition of the administration's efforts and negotiations.”

Monsod, whose opinion PGMA respects, explained further: “Unfortunately, there is no quantitative way of determining how far along we are on the road to peace.”

Monsod was positive on PGMA on electricity by giving her a grade of 100 per cent because 98 per cent of barangays have been energized by end of 2008 and “there is every chance to reach 100 per cent by next year.”

But on water supply, “the progress has been at snail’s pace,” she complained.

On creating 10 million jobs by 2010, Monsod, extrapolating official statistics, explained that it is not possible. But the university lecturer credited her with having accomplished “42 per cent to 46 per cent of her target employment.”

As to the SCTEX, which Monsod described as “completed beautifully,” she gave Arroyo a 100 per cent grade.

Since PGMA still has 11 months to go before leaving office on June 30 next year, many more targets of BEAT THE ODDS will have been completed, and, Monsod, it is believed, will have assessed the Arroyo administration more generously. (PNA Feature)

DCT/V3/GJB

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