Benigno Aquino bears Filipinos' burden of hope

The new president of Philippines inherits a range of problems, as well as expectations to carry on his distinguished family's legacy.

Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino is taking over from the country's most unpopular president ever, Gloria Marcapagal Arroyo.

MANILA // When Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino is sworn in today as the 15th president of the Republic of the Philippines he will be under no illusion about the job facing him over the next six years. The mild mannered 50-year-old bachelor told reporters: "I know a lot of people expect so much from me but I am not Superman or Einstein ? I don't have all the answers."

The man who just 12 months ago was trying to find a "polite way" of turning down an offer to run as vice president with Mar Roxas was reluctantly thrown into the limelight following the death of his mother, the former president Corazon Aquino, last August. Corazon Aquino, revered by million of Filipinos after she led a non-violent people power revolution that forced the dictator Ferdinand Marcos out of office in 1986, restored democracy to this South East Asian archipelago nation.

She too was reluctantly thrown into the spotlight after her husband and opposition leader Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino was gunned down at Manila international airport after returning from exile in the United States in 1983. His father has often been described by many Filipino commentators as the "best president the country never had". For Mr Aquino the expectations are daunting. Millions of Filipinos, especially the poor, expect him to perform miracles in a country blighted by corruption, at all levels of society, and with 28 million, roughly a third of the country's 92 million population, living below the poverty line according to the World Bank.

At a press conference near his family home in Quezon City, Manila, yesterday Mr Aquino said he expects to "experience some rough" patches. Introducing his cabinet, he said: "We have a good team of tried and tested people who think the same and have the same vision for this country as I do ? we can only try to do our best for the people." But it will not be easy. He will inherit an economy deep in debt and where education and public health services have gone backwards compared with neighbouring South East Asian nations. And he has been left with a 40-year-old Communist insurgency and a 30-year-old Muslim insurgency in the country's south.

In an interview with The National shortly before his election on May 10, Mr Aquino admitted his biggest problem would be meeting the expectations of the people. A simple man of modest tastes he does not read much but he does enjoy practical shooting in his spare time as well as the company of close friends and listening to music. Mr Aquino's record during his 12 years in Congress and the last three as a senator could best be described as lacklustre. None of the bills he authored became laws.

Despite his political critics during the election campaign, Mr Aquino spoke articulately and with a great deal of knowledge about the social and economic challenges facing the Philippines. Mr Aquino's inauguration spokesman, Manuel Quezon, said: "The people's expectations will be high ? there is no doubt about that. "While no one doubts his personal integrity, he now has to confront many problems that he's inherited and try to work it out and deliver to the man on the street," he said in an interview on ANC television's Headstart programme. He said like the US president Barack Obama, Mr Aquino will play a "big part in uniting a nation that has been divided by a widely unpopular president".

The outgoing leader, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who was elected to Congress in the May 10 elections, leaves office at midnight on June 30 as the country's most unpopular president ever, and that includes Marcos, according to opinion polls. "Just how much time the public will give him to do his job and basically get started remains to be seen," Mr Quezon said. Professor Raul Fabella of the economics department of the University of the Philippines said Mr Aquino's election as son of the country's "democracy heroine Corazon Aquino was the easy part".

"In this country, hope has often been dashed in the past. There is no guarantee it will end differently this time," he told the Philippine Daily Inquirer. A former president, Fidel Ramos, writing in the Manila Bulletin last Saturday said: "Like many Filipinos I hope he can deliver a better future for the Philippines. "After 10 years of impeachments, warlordism, cronyist-dynasties, journalist killings, corruption and budget deficits, it is about time that the Philippines moves in a more positive direction in accordance with its potential weight, given our population [projected to reach 100 million by 2015], strategic geographic position, Christian-Muslim culture, skilled workforce, English language proficiency and democratic tradition."

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