The First 100 Days For President Elect Noynoy

I am heavily investing myself in a “Noynoy watch” as well as collecting all sorts of unsolicited prescriptions for the first 100 days of President Noynoy. One important set of recommendations comes from the people’s campaign for Noynoy. CODE-NGO, the organization of NGO networks is now crystallizing these proposals from the organizations of thousands of volunteers which helped during the campaign. These proposals are roadmaps on how civil society or the private sector can engage the incoming Noynoy administration. Even as the first 100 days are so called honeymoon days because citizens will be tolerant and generally agreeable, the 100 days set the tone, somehow, for the next six years. A former president said that one should hit the ground running during the one hundred days.

On the economic front, the Arroyo regime has posted a 7.3 growth in gross domestic product during the first quarter. Of course, the lion share of this income or product comes from huge election spending and remittances from abroad. Needless to say, the more important challenge is how this growth can trickle down to the large majority. The latest SWS survey says that one fourth of our people are hungry. Food security is a clear agenda by many sectors. Modernization of agriculture as the foundation for industrial growth is very well understood. Our exports ( electronics and garments) are heavily dependent on imports of raw materials. Our neighbors are into labor intensive exports. Which is why, one major prescription is how civil society can participate in the crafting of the Medium Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP) for 2010-2016 which must be geared towards the attainment of the millennium development goals (MDGs). Accordingly, the Philippines is one of only three countries worldwide with a 10-year basic education system while the rest of the world is now implementing a 12 year elementary-high school curriculum. Anyway, during the campaign period, then Presidential candidate Noynoy has outlined an education agenda geared towards basic education as an option towards a means of livelihood.

Our economic woes are compounded by the issue of climate change. Our vulnerable sectors in the countryside are still bracing from the effects wrought by the long and drawn out drought. We still have to document the psychological trauma that typhoon Ondoy brought to bear on our children. And so, preparedness is the key through a review of the implementation guidelines of the Climate Change Act of 2009. Drafting of national disaster risk management framework and allocation of resources should be part of the 100 days as we cannot afford another national trauma.

On the social infrastructure front, one order of the day is the long overdue passage of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act. President Noynoy should certify this bill as urgent or a priority of his administration. CODE-NGO has also proposed that “while working for the approval of the FOI bill, an executive order providing guidelines on access to public information with similar provisions to the proposed law should be issued.”

On the political front, the word is people’s participation and how to transform the people’s campaign into a people’s government. As defined by leaders of the people’s campaign for Noynoy, a people’s government, is “ a government that will look at people as partners in nation building; one which will operate on the principles of genuine participation, transparency and accountability and social justice. Without such principles, true partnership for reform will not be possible. “ These are big words but in practical terms, one proposal is to reconstitute the local development councils and one fourth of its membership should come from the private sector. The head of local government units must respect this process as this is a venue where the citizenry can demand good governance such as delivery of services. For the regional development councils (RDC), the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) is facilitating the accreditation of private sector organizations and the sectors the organizations are representing.

The presumptive president elect Noynoy cannot fail in the one hundred days as the above prescriptions are very “doable” and very long overdue.