Sunday, June 27, 2021

DRILON: P-NOY’s DEATH CAN RESHAPE 2022 RACE

A BURST OF SMILES It’s that time of the year when sunflowers are abloom on University Avenue of the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City, a perfect backdrop for selfies of families and friends out for a quick getaway.

World

COVID cases pop up across Australia

MELBOURNE—Australia reported on Sunday one of the highest numbers for locally acquired coronavirus cases this year, triggering lockdowns in the cities of Sydney and Darwin and forcing tighter restrictions in four states. —REPORTS FROM REUTERS AND AFP

Regions

COA raps 21 Cebu towns for P38-M COVID aid to ‘ineligible’ recipients

CEBU CITY—The Commission on Audit (COA) has called the attention of 21 towns in Cebu that released a total of P38.79 million of COVID-19 cash aid to over 6,000 “ineligible” persons, including some village officials. —Story by Dale G. Israel

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Banner Story

Drilon: P-Noy’s death can reshape 2022 race

The death of former President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, who is widely seen to have left a legacy of honest governance, is bound to reshape the 2022 elections and could be a positive driver for the scattered forces opposing the Duterte administration, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said on Sunday.

But whether such influence bodes well or ill for the nation will depend on the electorate, he said.

“Certainly, if it would have an effect, it will be positive for the opposition because people would realize and begin to look inward,” Drilon told the Inquirer in a phone interview.

Aquino, 61, the country’s 15th president, died on Thursday due to renal disease secondary to diabetes. An urn containing his cremated remains was interred two days later beside the tombs of his parents, the late President Corazon Aquino and the late Sen. Benigno “Ninoy’’ Aquino Jr., at Manila Memorial Park in Parañaque City.

His sudden demise sent shock waves across a highly polarized nation that, over recent years, seemed to split itself into two unyielding ideological camps—the Dilawans (“Yellows,” or Aquino followers) versus the DDS (Diehard Duterte Supporters)—that spar over who has done the most for the Philippines.

Drilon, a vice president of the Liberal Party (LP) that Aquino once chaired, said he shared Inquirer columnist Randy David’s hope that the former president’s death “will fuel a powerful drive for the return of decency, dignity and diligence in government.”

“The best we can do is profit from [Aquino’s] good example,” Sen. Risa Hontiveros told reporters on Thursday.

Editorial

The PNoy-era economic high

Entrepreneurs, investors, and the business community will remember the late president Benigno Aquino III as the chief executive who steered the Philippine economy through six years of consistently high economic growth, finally allowing the country to shed its label as “the sick man of Asia.”

Read full story: opinion.inquirer.net