MANILA, Philippines — Benigno S. Aquino III won the Philippine presidency on a battle cry to crush corruption and ease deep poverty, but a year into his term he is seen by many to be straining under the weight of his own promises.

At a creek-side slum in the outskirts of Manila’s financial district where Aquino was hugely popular during last year’s election, residents said his vow to lift them out of their misery appeared to have fallen by the wayside.

‘’We thought we had found a savior, but one year after we voted for him to win, what do we have? Nothing,’’ said Jennifer San Gaspar, a 36-year-old mother of nine children.

San Gaspar said she remained an Aquino supporter until a few months ago when she and her neighbors were turned away from a government welfare scheme that distributes billions of pesos to poor families on condition they get health checkups and the children go to school.

‘’They did not tell us why we were disqualified, the social worker who interviewed us never came back,’’ she said.

‘’So here we are, nothing has changed. We are still poor.’’

San Gaspar’s sentiment is apparently shared by many across the impoverished nation as the 51-year-old bachelor president prepares to mark 12 months in office Thursday with his popularity still high but dropping steadily.

After recording the biggest landslide win in Philippine election history, Aquino’s popularity rating dropped from a peak of 74 percent in November to 64 percent in June, pollster Social Weather Stations said.

While his ratings are still relatively strong, analysts said the slide reflected disappointment that he had not done more to fulfill his chief campaign promises of eradicating corruption and ending poverty.

Nevertheless, they pointed out that it was impossible for anyone to quickly fix the enormous economic and corruption problems that festered under his predecessor, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, during her nine years in power.

‘’The bar was set very high for him, and from the very start the cards were stacked against him,’’ said Antonio Contreras, a political scientist at Manila’s De La Salle University.

‘’He was painted as a symbol of clean government, a hope for a country after a disastrous administration.’’

Contreras said that while he was disappointed overall with Aquino’s first-year performance, the president had at least brought back a sense of ethics and professionalism in public service.

Aquino remains almost unanimously regarded as personally incorruptible and voters feel comfortable he will not use his six years in power to build a personal fortune.

This holds particular importance in the Philippines where leaders from national to village level have for decades sought to pilfer state coffers for personal benefit.

Global corruption watchdog Transparency International, which ranks the Philippines as the 44th most country in the world, rated his administration’s first-year efforts an eight out 10.

He has also proved his leadership mettle for many by standing up to the powerful Roman Catholic Church and backing a controversial reproductive health bill that seeks to promote the use of contraceptives for the poor.

On the economic front, Aquino’s team has so far been given credit as solid managers, with global rating agencies Fitch and Moody’s recently upgrading their investment outlooks for the Philippines.

Economic growth has slowed but remained strong with an expansion of 4.9 percent in the first quarter, while two interest rate hikes have for now put the brakes on inflation.

Nevertheless, Contreras and other analysts said Aquino had not yet started to tackle the roots of the country’s corruption and poverty problems, and those were the issues he would ultimately be judged on.

‘’All he has done is to start off his year with symbolic stuff, crushing corruption, but nothing really concrete yet,’’ Contreras said.

Political analyst Ramon Casiple said the public should have patience and realize that a president’s first 12 months in office were a learning curve, a time to consolidate power and lay the foundations for the next five years.

‘’However, people will want to see real progress from the second year,’’ said Casiple, executive director of Manila-based think-tank Institute for Political and Electoral Reform, giving Aquino a passing mark of six out of 10.

‘’What people are waiting for is a real program of governance. He needs to focus.’’

Meanwhile, a migrant workers’ welfare group said Aquino’s first year in office “is arguably the worst year for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).”

Migrante International said in a statement that under the Aquino administration, “OFWs have experienced unforgivable government neglect, the biggest budget cut for OFW services, more exorbitant state exactions and fee impositions, diplomatic blunders that have placed their welfare at stake and unending price hikes that continue to cripple OFWs and their families.”

“Since Aquino took his oath it has been especially more grueling for OFWs and their families. He specifically promised to give special attention to OFWs in his inaugural speech, but what we have experienced is the complete opposite,” said Garry Martinez, the group’s chairperson.

“Aquino’s first year may just be the worst year for OFWs and their families, and policy-wise, there are no indications that things will get better,” Martinez said.

The group enumerated the following “failures” of the Aquino administration in promoting the welfare of OFWs.

* The failure to address the immediate evacuation and repatriation of OFWs affected by the conflicts in Libya, Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East-North Africa region, and also those affected by calamities and disasters in Japan and New Zealand;

* Government neglect and insensitivity as highlighted by the case of abusive Hong Kong Labor Attache Romulo Salud, as well as the failure to hold accountable erring and negligent officials and ambassadors under the previous administration;

* The execution of three Filipinos in China, and the increase in the number of Filipinos in death row from 108 to 122;

* The unprecedented decrease in the budgets for the Legal Assistance Fund (LAF) and Assistance to Nationals (ATN) in the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) budget, while 7,000 Filipinos are languishing in jails abroad without legal assistance and at least 20,000 are stranded and awaiting repatriation;

* Inconsiderate blunders and diplomatic faux pas that threatened the well-being of OFWs in Hong Kong, Taiwan and China;

* More fee impositions and state exactions such as the mandatory PAG-Ibig contribution, e-Passport fee increase, mandatory insurance, affidavit of support, among others;

* The failure to investigate allegations of misuse and corruption of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) funds, and;

* The lack of a comprehensive and sustainable program for returned OFWs and their families.

“These are glaring examples of how insincere, insensitive and inept the Aquino government is in upholding and securing the protection and welfare of OFWs, while ironically also showcasing a more blatant and unapologetic labor export policy that exploits OFWs’ cheap labor and foreign remittances. Through these all, it has become more apparent that Aquino is no different from Arroyo,” Martinez said. (With a report from JC Bello Ruiz)