‘Noy aims to do better, be hugely successful’

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino intends to do better in the second half of his term, which ends on June 30, 2016, according to Budget Secretary Florencio Abad.

Abad, Malacañang’s resident political strategist, has said in a television interview that Aquino is focused on performing so well that voters would choose to support his presidential candidate in 2016 so the people would continue to reap the benefits of economic progress.

He said the President would make sure that he “becomes so hugely successful that whoever he anoints as his successor will have an excellent chance of succeeding.”

“There’s a template for this already in the case of Brazil when President (Luiz Inacio) Lula (da Silva) anointed his chief of staff who won very easily and now she – Dilma Rousseff – is performing quite excellently,” he told ABS-CBN News Channel.

Abad said Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, one of Aquino’s potential successors, supports the plan to focus on improving the President’s performance rather than on politics in the next three years.

“While it is true that many sights are pointing at Secretary Roxas, it was Secretary Roxas himself who suggested that it’s really better, less destructive if we simply focus on making the President succeed in the next three years,” he said.

He said Aquino would continue to count on his political allies as well on the broad support he enjoys from various sectors of society.

“Apart from political alliances you have to remember there are other stakeholders in society: the poor, the business community,” he added.

“I don’t think that the business community would want to see a reversal of what is happening now. There are many stakeholders in society who would want to see what the President is doing continue not just until 2016 but even well beyond 2016 because everybody is benefiting from it,” he stressed.

Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone, one of the spokesmen for the administration Team PNoy senatorial ticket in the recent elections, agreed with Abad that Aquino can do better in the second half of his term.

“The President has solid support in Congress with the victory of nine of his 12 senatorial candidates and most of his allies in the House of Representatives. He can get the legislature to act speedily on his reform measures,” he said.

He said the sense of optimism among businessmen and the people that things could still get better is at an unprecedented level.