he World Bank’s recent Worldwide Governance Indicator (WGI) that used six criteria in determining the effectivity of governments in the world, summed up the deteriorated quality of government during the nine-year administration of Gloria.
On all six indicators of governance, voice and accountability that measured freedom of expression, association, and the press; political stability and absence of violence that tracks the strength of the government; government effectiveness; regulatory quality or the ability of the government to provide sound policies and regulations; rule of law; and control of corruption, the Philippines not only received low marks but the indicators also showed progressive deterioration since Gloria took over the reins of government.
The WGI tracks 121 countries which makes it hard for the Palace to dispute the report, although Gloria’s spin doctors had twisted the same report to claim that there was an improvement in governance at least from a year ago, which was only an improvement from terrible to bad.
A comparison of the performance of the country the past years, however, showed that, expressed in percentage of the rated countries, all indicators fell miserably since 2000 with some exceptions.
The year 2000 was already when former President Joseph Estrada was under siege from allies of Gloria pressuring him to step down on made-up claims of corruption and incompetence. It was Estrada’s final year and the time when big business identified with the civil socialites of Makati and Catholic bishops were ganging up on him to create a situation of unrest and perceptions of a failing economy.
In 2000, the WGI gave the Philippines a 54.3 mark on voice and accountability or that the country received a better grade than 54.3 percent of the countries rated. The score dropped to 41.3 percent last year. Even during the first full-year term of Gloria, in 2002, she got her best grade of only 52.9.
On political stability, where the country had its worst scores indicating the level of its instability, the WGI score was 21.6 in 2000 which was understandable since it was when Estrada was impeached and his trial in the Senate court was ongoing.
The score did improve in 2002 to 26, but since then it went to 14.4 in 2003 to 10.5 last year. The score last year means the country was in the top 10 percent bracket of the most unstable countries in the world.
It was also noteworthy that in the first year of Estrada, in 1998, the country received its best score of 40.4 percent on stability.
On the control of corruption, which was the argument that Gloria and her cabal used to overthrow Estrada and install her as President, Gloria received a score of 26.1 last year with a best of 36.9 in 2003 compared to the Estrada period of 41.3 in 1998 and 36.4 in 2000.
Gloria’s performance in rule of law was also unimpressive with a score of 39.7 in 2008 and a best of 44.8 in 2006 against a 52.9 score in 1998 and 36.7 in 2000.
Even on regulatory quality, which should have been "economist" Gloria’s strong point, the Philippines received a score of 51.7 last year and 52.2 as her highest score in 2003 against 62.4 in 1998 and 56.6 in 2000 during Estrada’s watch.
Gloria, nevertheless, scored a 55 on government effectiveness the highest since 1996, when the country scored 58.3, mainly because of the supposed cash transfer programs whose beneficiaries for its effectiveness were hard to determine.
Overall, however, the WGI was proof of the raw deal that the nation got from the civil socialites, the Catholic bishops, the Ayala Avenue big business, Gloria’s generals and her cabal in the 2001 power grab.
The nation is scheduled to troop to the ballot again next year to choose a leader.
The nine-year unwanted President, however, is giving her best shot to thwart the democratic process and impose her perpetual rule on the nation.
The country’s welfare is the least of the objectives of Gloria’s efforts. Just look at the dismal record of Gloria on governance in the WGI report.
As the numbers show, Gloria has plunged the country headlong to oblivion.
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