Aquino’s mettle being put to test

Two days before one of the world’s most powerful typhoons rammed into the Philippines, President Benigno Aquino had a simple but ambitious target for all government agencies: Zero casualties.
Fast-forward a week: Thousands are dead, anger is growing over the slow relief effort and Aquino’s once-unassailable popularity is under threat — along with the reforms that have helped transform the Philippines into one of Asia’s fastest-growing economies.
Aquino faces a challenge that could define and undermine his presidency in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan. The 53-year-old heir to a political dynasty appears to have been caught off guard by the magnitude of the devastation and has struggled to quell the growing frustration among survivors.
He’s appeared only briefly on TV, including once from the city of Tacloban huddling with local officials and again at the Malacanang presidential palace to announce a national calamity. Other media appearances, from both Manila and the affected areas, have been rare. “He should have grasped the enormity of the crisis,” said Ramon Casiple, executive director of the Institute for Political and Electoral Reforms in Manila. “This could be big. If nothing happens in the next week or so, and the rehabilitation goes haywire, he will have a big political problem.”
Aquino spokesman Herminio Coloma both defended the president’s performance but said criticism of the government was understandable. He had avoided visits to the hardest-hit areas so stretched local government officials were not distracted from relief work, Coloma added. “We do not deny that there may have been shortcomings but that is borne out of severe constraints ... The severity and magnitude of this disaster are unprecedented and unparalleled,” he said. Compounding Aquino’s problems is the slow delivery of aid. For the first six days, the government distributed only 50,000 “food packs” containing 6 kg of rice and canned goods each day, covering just 3 percent of the 1.73 million families affected, according to government figures. As desperation grew, local media have begun to question Aquino’s leadership. The stakes are high for Aquino — and for the Philippines, whose economy has been one of the most robust in Asia this year. Since he took office on July 1, 2010, the benchmark stock index has surged nearly 90 percent and foreign direct investment has more than doubled. But Filipino frustration, on the streets of Tacloban and in social media, could change the course of his single six-year term that ends in 2016.
Analysts say Aquino’s ratings will likely suffer in the next opinion polls, especially in the typhoon-swept central Philippine provinces that have been bastions of support. Although the government warned of record-breaking winds and a surge of seawater, evacuations were poorly enforced. And the aid, when it came, was slow. Aquino has defended the government’s preparations, saying the death toll might have been higher had it not been for the evacuation of people and the readying of relief supplies. The toll itself has been a point of contention. On Tuesday, Aquino said the number of deaths may have been overstated and could be 2,000 to 2,500. “Downplaying the impact of the disaster does not do anybody any good,” said Mars Buan, senior analyst at political risk consultancy Pacific Strategies & Assessments. Aquino has also stressed that no government could fully prepare for the scale of the disaster, comments that have drawn criticism.
At one point last year, Aquino enjoyed a 74 percent approval rating. A whistleblower revealed in July that some lawmakers, including the president’s allies, were stealing up to half the money being allocated to local projects from discretionary government funds. Aquino has since been accused of failing to convincingly tackle a culture of political patronage. His popularity rating sank to 49 percent in September. The challenge now for Aquino is to speed up the flow of aid and rebuild the confidence of a nation shattered by one of its worst natural disasters.

- REUTERS