So it was recently announced that President Noynoy Aquino is, for sure, the President of the Philippines. After nearly 2 months of counting, re-counting, answering questions, arguing with Smartech (the company who supplied the Philippines with the ballot counting machines), and fending off people who claimed the election was rigged, which they simply dismissed after all the media hype, the Philippines announced its new leader and proclaimed the success of progressive democracy through automated elections.
Estrada also finally conceded his loss after persisting that irregularities existed in the voting system and demanding a recount and investigation into the situation. He was just a few votes away from winning the election. This was surprising considering he was an ousted leader and YET the masses still favored him over Villar (who spent millions on campaigning and TV advertisements). During Estrada's brief term, he proved to be a legitimate leader. He was a pro-poor leader and he brought a semblance of peace amongst communist rebel groups and Muslim extremist in Mindanao. However, his gambling vices got him into trouble, which ultimately led to his impeachment.
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President's track record so far:
On Anti-Tobacco Day, President Aquino refused to discontinue smoking (even for a day).
On Philippines Independence Day -- he refused to attend a national parade in his country's honor because he had already made plans to attend a christening.
I mean, these aren't really bad things that should be blown out of proportion because non-president people would do the same. However, the media has been showing him in a semi-bad light for his past two actions. Hopefully, in the coming months his policies would speak for themselves and prove worthy of praise.