President faces hard questions in Europe

President Aquino embarks on a five-nation trip to Europe and the United States from Sept. 13 to 24, officially tagged as a bid “to enhance diplomatic relations and attract trade and investments.” The trip comes a year before the end of his six-year term in 2016.

In a lengthy radio interview, ostensibly to justify the intercontinental scope of his odyssey, the President took pains to explain that it is not a junket. It crams five countries in his itinerary—Spain, France, Germany, Belgium and the United States.

This will be the first time the President will visit four European Union (EU) countries. With all candor, and without embarrassment, he said the grand tour of Fortress Europa would be hectic but “will be worth all the time and effort … in anticipation of renewed trade bilateral ties.”

He added, “This will be the first time to visit these countries where we have two missions: one, as usual, enhance bilateral relations with these countries; number two, we seek to expand our trade relations.”

The President said many business companies, which he did not identify, had expressed interest to invest in the Philippines owing to its stable economic condition. He would likely stay only two days in each country to be visited.

Counting chicks

He said his entourage, the size of which he did not disclose, might only catch some sleep on the plane (in between stops in the European leg actually takes anywhere from 30 to 40 minutes), but “the effort will be worthwhile because of the anticipated entry of investors especially in the manufacturing sector,” which has yet to materialize and which is something similar to counting the chicks before the eggs are hatched.

In Brussels, where the Philippines has two embassies, one for Belgium and another for the European Union, the President said, he intended to meet EU leaders to thank them for allowing Cebu Pacific to fly on European airspace, and he would discuss with them the welfare of Filipino seafarers, as well as the Europeans’ assistance to the rehabilitation efforts in areas hit by Super Typhoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) and the peace process in Mindanao.

In this trip, the President will travel with fully loaded omnibus agenda covering a broad range of issues—both international and domestic—that could overwhelm the capacity of the most seasoned diplomat, something that one cannot expect from a national leader brought up in the wealth and landlord oligarchic culture of Hacienda Luisita, Tarlac province, one of the surviving largest, if not the largest, landed estates in the country today.

Climate change

Mr. Aquino is scheduled to speak at the Global Climate Change Summit, upon the invitation of United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

In his radio interview, the President claimed that the Philippines “has a lot of experience with global climate,” and is expected to discuss “how we can fight it, along with world leaders.”

“The Philippines, if you look at our carbon footprint, it’s very small,” he said, “but what we experience in natural disasters, is very significant,” especially our experience in bungling our response to provide relief to the hundreds of thousands of victims of Yolanda in Central Visayas—during which national government workers (including President Aquino himself) and relief were hardly visible in stricken areas where they were badly needed.

‘Political mischief’

The European trip takes off in the wake of The New York Times editorial on Aug. 28, criticizing Mr. Aquino for “political mischief” as he accused the Supreme Court of having grown “too powerful” after it voted against his economic program and hinting at extending his term beyond 2016.

In the most scathing criticism ever received by the Aquino administration from international media in recent years, the Times editorial, titled “Political Mischief  in the Philippines, said: “President Benigno Aquino III of the Philippines is now hinting for a second term in 2016, which would require a constitutional amendment. He also suggested limiting the power of the Supreme Court, which on July 1, declared parts of his economic program illegal. That, too, would require adjusting  the Constitution.” It said these were “threats that jeopardize Philippine democracy.”

The Times noted that in a recent interview in local radio, the President said he was not after a second term  but he was willing to listen to what his constituents have to say, citing how some have expressed their wish for him to extend his term to allow him to have continuity to deliver on his promised political reforms.

The editorial said: “Mr. Aquino wants more time to complete his reform programs, but there will be always unfinished business. The 1987 Constitution limits the President to a single term. The Constitution was promulgated under his mother, Corazon Aquino, after the overthrow of the 20-year dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos. Despite her efforts, the presidency remained a source of corruption.

President Aquino’s two immediate predecessors, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Joseph Estrada, were charged after they left office with illegally feeding from the public trough. Arroyo was charged with misusing state lottery funds, and Estrada was removed from office and convicted of various  corruption charges, but was pardoned in 2007.”

Questions of ‘overreach’

The Times pointed out that Mr. Aquino has been at loggerheads with the Supreme Court since it ruled that parts of the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) were unconstitutional. The Times highlighted Mr. Aquino’s claim that the court has become “too powerful” and that someone needs to reassert executive authority.

“By a 13-0 vote, the court struck down a spending program he created to stimulate the economy. It ruled that Mr. Aquino had exceeded his authority in disbursing funds and that parts of the program consisted of irregular pork barrel spending,” the editorial said.

The Times reminded Mr. Aquino that he came to power in 2010 with the promise to rid the Philippines of corruption. It said Mr. Aquino should uphold the Constitution of a fragile democracy if only out of respect for  his father, who was assassinated in the struggle against Marcos, and for his mother who died in 2009 after leading the “people power” that triumphed over the excesses and abuses of the presidency.

In practical terms, the editorial said, “that means Mr. Aquino should stop butting heads with the court and gracefully step down.”

As Mr. Aquino travels in Europe in a bid to attract investments, he will not escape the issues of constitutional change on a second term and his attempts to strip the Supreme Court of its “overreach” in the exercise of its powers.

The conflict with the court boils down to the issue: Whose overreach needs to be curtailed—the executive’s or the court’s?

The Europeans will be asking Mr. Aquino these questions face-to-face.

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