Manila Bulletin - Monday, March 1
(Reuters) - Opposition senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino, son of the Philippines' democracy heroine Corazon "Cory" Aquino, said he may consider raising taxes if elected if it was clear the budget gap was unlikely to be cut quickly.
Here are some questions and answers on Aquino and his prospects:
HOW LIKELY IS AQUINO TO WIN?
Difficult to say. Aquino has kept his position as frontrunner in various opinion polls for the May presidential election, but his ratings suffered a big blow in January when the latest survey from independent pollster Pulse Asia Inc. showed him at 37 percent, down from 44 percent a month earlier.
His main rival, billionaire lawmaker Manuel "Manny" Villar, has been closing in on Aquino's lead. Villar's rating jumped 12 percentage points in the same poll last month, helped by his well-oiled ad campaign, pointing to a close race in the May 10 poll. Analysts say the election is still wide open, and that it is still too early to establish a trend more than two months away from the actual casting of ballots.
Some believe Aquino's popularity might be borne by media hype following the outpouring of public emotion when his mother died in August 2009 and the people's respect for his namesake father, who was assassinated upon his return in 1983 from political exile during the rule of strongman Ferdinand Marcos.
The hundreds of thousands of people who came out for the funeral of Aquino's mother, former President Cory Aquino, represent a huge vote bank, some analysts say.
Aquino has no executive experience and his record in his nine years as a lawmaker is not regarded as impressive.
Funding and organization could also be a problem since most other candidates started campaign preparations as early as 2007. Aquino's Liberal Party is a small organization, and is counting mostly on volunteers and donations from civil society groups.
WHAT ARE HIS ECONOMIC POLICIES LIKELY TO BE?
Aquino vowed on Saturday to go after tax evaders and big smugglers, a campaign that he hopes would collect 150 billion pesos ($3.3 billion) and raise the government's tax efficiency rate by 2 percentage points from the current level of around 13 percent.
He said he would strengthen an existing carrot-and-stick mechanism at the country's two main tax agencies to raise the Philippines' perenially weak revenues and push for higher salaries for these agencies to prevent workers from resorting to corrupt practices.
Aquino's action plan in his first 100 days as president includes forming a group to review possible changes to economic provisions in the Philippine constitution, one of Corazon Aquino's most important legacies to the Philippines during her term in office from 1986 to 1992.
Its political provisions specify term limits for elected officials, a reaction to Marcos' two decades in power, but it also has strongly nationalist economic provisions, including restrictions on foreign investment in some sectors and on foreigners owning land.
An economics graduate from the Jesuit-run Ateneo de Manila University, Aquino is running on an investor-friendly platform of transparent and good government, raising standards in education and improving tax collection by plugging leakages instead of imposing new revenue measures.
Manuel "Mar" Roxas, a Liberal Party colleague who has withdrawn his own nomination to make way for Aquino, was the preferred choice of markets for the presidency.
Roxas has served as trade secretary for two administrations and worked in an investment bank, while Aquino has only held legislative posts.
Roxas is standing as the Liberal Party's vice-presidential candidate and is campaigning along with Aquino.
WHAT WILL BE HIS POLITICAL PLATFORM?
Aquino's Liberal Party is strongly centrist and has been likened to the Democratic Party of the United States.
He has been opposed to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, once an ally of his mother, after she became enmeshed in charges of corruption and election fraud.
He said on Saturday he believed it was not yet time for the Philippines to shift to a parliamentary system, a controversial issue due to moves by Arroyo's allies to extend her term.
Aquino is also risking the support of influential Catholic bishops, staunch allies of his mother, over his position on a controversial reproductive health bill in Congress. Aquino supports the measure being pushed by his party.
"I will not steal," Aquino has made a vow in his political advertisements aired on radio and television, promising a clean and honest government and holding the current government accountable for rampant corruption.
Source
(Reuters) - Opposition senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino, son of the Philippines' democracy heroine Corazon "Cory" Aquino, said he may consider raising taxes if elected if it was clear the budget gap was unlikely to be cut quickly.
Here are some questions and answers on Aquino and his prospects:
HOW LIKELY IS AQUINO TO WIN?
Difficult to say. Aquino has kept his position as frontrunner in various opinion polls for the May presidential election, but his ratings suffered a big blow in January when the latest survey from independent pollster Pulse Asia Inc. showed him at 37 percent, down from 44 percent a month earlier.
His main rival, billionaire lawmaker Manuel "Manny" Villar, has been closing in on Aquino's lead. Villar's rating jumped 12 percentage points in the same poll last month, helped by his well-oiled ad campaign, pointing to a close race in the May 10 poll. Analysts say the election is still wide open, and that it is still too early to establish a trend more than two months away from the actual casting of ballots.
Some believe Aquino's popularity might be borne by media hype following the outpouring of public emotion when his mother died in August 2009 and the people's respect for his namesake father, who was assassinated upon his return in 1983 from political exile during the rule of strongman Ferdinand Marcos.
The hundreds of thousands of people who came out for the funeral of Aquino's mother, former President Cory Aquino, represent a huge vote bank, some analysts say.
Aquino has no executive experience and his record in his nine years as a lawmaker is not regarded as impressive.
Funding and organization could also be a problem since most other candidates started campaign preparations as early as 2007. Aquino's Liberal Party is a small organization, and is counting mostly on volunteers and donations from civil society groups.
WHAT ARE HIS ECONOMIC POLICIES LIKELY TO BE?
Aquino vowed on Saturday to go after tax evaders and big smugglers, a campaign that he hopes would collect 150 billion pesos ($3.3 billion) and raise the government's tax efficiency rate by 2 percentage points from the current level of around 13 percent.
He said he would strengthen an existing carrot-and-stick mechanism at the country's two main tax agencies to raise the Philippines' perenially weak revenues and push for higher salaries for these agencies to prevent workers from resorting to corrupt practices.
Aquino's action plan in his first 100 days as president includes forming a group to review possible changes to economic provisions in the Philippine constitution, one of Corazon Aquino's most important legacies to the Philippines during her term in office from 1986 to 1992.
Its political provisions specify term limits for elected officials, a reaction to Marcos' two decades in power, but it also has strongly nationalist economic provisions, including restrictions on foreign investment in some sectors and on foreigners owning land.
An economics graduate from the Jesuit-run Ateneo de Manila University, Aquino is running on an investor-friendly platform of transparent and good government, raising standards in education and improving tax collection by plugging leakages instead of imposing new revenue measures.
Manuel "Mar" Roxas, a Liberal Party colleague who has withdrawn his own nomination to make way for Aquino, was the preferred choice of markets for the presidency.
Roxas has served as trade secretary for two administrations and worked in an investment bank, while Aquino has only held legislative posts.
Roxas is standing as the Liberal Party's vice-presidential candidate and is campaigning along with Aquino.
WHAT WILL BE HIS POLITICAL PLATFORM?
Aquino's Liberal Party is strongly centrist and has been likened to the Democratic Party of the United States.
He has been opposed to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, once an ally of his mother, after she became enmeshed in charges of corruption and election fraud.
He said on Saturday he believed it was not yet time for the Philippines to shift to a parliamentary system, a controversial issue due to moves by Arroyo's allies to extend her term.
Aquino is also risking the support of influential Catholic bishops, staunch allies of his mother, over his position on a controversial reproductive health bill in Congress. Aquino supports the measure being pushed by his party.
"I will not steal," Aquino has made a vow in his political advertisements aired on radio and television, promising a clean and honest government and holding the current government accountable for rampant corruption.
Source
