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Critics often denounce Aquino's first creation in office, the Presidential Commission on Good Government, as a bastion of ineptitude. Charged with the recovery of up to $10 billion that Marcos is said to have looted from the treasury, the commission has recovered nearly $1 billion so far but has been accused of abusing its powers. In one case, for example, Ricardo ("Baby") Lopa, an Aquino brother-in-law who controlled a profitable Nissan auto- assembly plant and 38 other companies before they were seized by the Marcos regime in the early 1970s, was allowed to buy the firms back for only $227,000 within days after Aquino became President. A public outcry forced the commission to re-examine the deal with Lopa, who died of cancer last November. It found no evidence of improper behavior.
That Aquino has at least partially delivered on her "no favors" pledge is generally overlooked. She has cut into Marcos' "crony capitalism" by dismantling sugar and coconut monopolies and beginning -- however clumsily -- to privatize government-owned companies that produce everything from cars to cement. But she has been unable to dispel some well-entrenched assumptions. "For any average Filipino, if he gets a good job, his family would expect to benefit," explains Jose Luis Alcuaz, a longtime ally of Aquino's assassinated husband Benigno.
Yet tradition hardly absolves the President. By failing to attack corruption head on and thus clear up a growing list of allegations, Aquino risks damage to her most valuable asset: her moral authority.