From a tough, hardworking yet unpopular US-educated economist, the country will soon be led by another political heir, this time a quiet and modest bachelor with little administrative experience.

The incoming president smokes, enjoys music, loves guns and billiards, and plans to limit foreign travels, far different from the outgoing leader – a golf and diving enthusiast and perceived frequent and extravagant traveler.

By noon of June 30, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo will hand over the keys of Malacañang to President-elect Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino III.

Aquino, son of the late Senator Benigno Aquino Jr. and President Corazon Aquino, comes to the fore as the nation longs to replace the scandal-tainted Arroyo administration rocked by coup attempts and protest actions. He has capitalized on his clean public image, inherited from his popular parents, to propel his presidential candidacy despite his lackluster legislative record.

The outgoing leader claims to leave a legacy of stable economic growth after nine years in office while the incoming leader promises to wipe out lingering problems of rampant corruption and widespread poverty to realize the country’s full economic potential.

Aquino virtually assumes the role as the country’s savior from the ruins of a turbulent Arroyo presidency.

With a huge popular mandate, some groups say Aquino must now step out of his family’s shadow and show strength to pursue his anti-corruption and anti-poverty agenda in the next six years.

President Arroyo, on the other hand, is not about to retire from politics, even as she ends her term with a reputation as the country’s most hated leader due to persistent charges of election fraud, corruption, and human rights abuses.

Arroyo, who said she was not ready to step down from public service, has clinched an easy win as congresswoman of the 2nd District of Pampanga. Her allies have been trying to convince her to seek the House Speakership but she has so far declined.

Despite tensions between the two camps, the President has promised a smooth transition of power, offering her government at full disposal of the incoming leadership.

Executive Secretary Leandro Mendoza said the President is also open to giving Aquino a tour of the Palace along with some advice on how to run a country, or even fight a destabilization plot if asked.

Political pedigree
Although they appear to hate each other, Arroyo and Aquino are similar in some areas.

Arroyo and Aquino are children of the country’s most beloved and respectable Presidents.

Both leaders, coming from families that dominated the country's economy and politics, are also triumphant in rise to power, promising to follow the footsteps of their parents in public service. Their successes were attributed to their ideas and politics largely influenced by their famous parents.

Arroyo, daughter of the late President Diosdado Macapagal, was swept into power following a popular uprising that led to the downfall of the Estrada regime in 2001. Armed with an impressive academic and administrative background, she won another six-year mandate in the 2004 elections although her victory was marred by election fraud.

Early in her term, Arroyo claimed her role model was her father, who served the country from 1961 to 1965, and promised to follow his footsteps by doing what is right, doing one's best and letting God take care of the rest.

Macapagal, a lawyer-economist, kept a simple yet dignified lifestyle during his tenure. As the country’s ninth leader, pursued land reforms by eliminating centuries-old tenancy, abolished foreign exchange controls and advocated Asian solutions to regional problems.

Like her father, Arroyo worked diligently on improving the plight of the poor by reforming the economy. Despite a growing economy, her leadership has been burdened by political unrest, domestic terrorism, and armed insurgencies. Although she was unable to replicate his father’s feat to place the Philippines next to Japan back in the 1960s, she wants to be remembered as the president who placed the country on the path to First World status.

During her term, a number of infrastructure projects, such as international airport, roads, bridges, and hospitals, were named after the late President Macapagal.

“I’m certain that Cong Dadong and Doña Eva are looking down from above even now on their daughter with a lot of pride and satisfaction,” Deputy Presidential Spokesman Gary Olivar said.

“President Arroyo has contributed her own polished stone to the edifice of the nation we are building, and history will remark the achievements of both Macapagal presidents together as a unique and substantial contribution to our people,” he added.

Carmen Suva, a retired government employee who served 42 years spanning the Macapagal administration to the Macapagal Arroyo government, remembered the humility and friendliness of the late President and the good work ethics of his daughter.

“He used to walk around the Palace garden and drop by to play billiards with some reporters during Sundays,” said Suva, who served as assistant of then Press Secretary Virgilio Reyes during the Macapagal administration.

Suva, now a senior vice president for public relations of the Manila Bulletin, said the late President Macapagal had a “fatherly” image and often showed his concern for the employees at the Palace.

His daughter, President Arroyo, on the other hand, is an intelligent and results-driven leader but appeared distant from the people, according to Suva. “She has done many things for the country and I hope people will also appreciate her accomplishments," she said.

Aquino, the country’s 15th President, on the other hand, is the son of the country’s two national icons widely recognized for fighting to topple the Marcos dictatorship.

The late President Aquino is deeply regarded with near saint-like status for playing a key role in the first EDSA People Power revolution that forced Marcos to go on exile in 1986. She inherited the mantle of her husband, Ninoy, an opposition senator gunned down in 1983 after returning from US exile to lead the democracy movement against Marcos.

While remembered for promoting probity and restoring democracy, the Aquino presidency was still rocked by several coup attempts to overthrow her. She was also perceived to have permitted dominant families to take back the political and economic clout seized by Marcos.

Despite his years as a lawmaker, Aquino was reluctant to run for president like his mother.

He changed his mind when his mother died last year which triggered an outpouring of grief and public clamor for him to run for president.

The President-elect has divulged plans to emulate his mother and continue her work promoting the nation’s democracy. Like Arroyo shortly after she assumed the presidency in 2001, Aquino has also championed an anti-corruption agenda his bid for highest public office.

With their similarities limited to political pedigrees, Arroyo and Aquino appear polar opposites, especially when it comes to their personality and leadership skills.

Aquino is considered a wholesome and likeable person while Arroyo is often portrayed as too remote and unpopular. She is the only president in history who posted record-low public dissatisfaction ratings in opinion polls.

Unlike Arroyo's impressive academic and administrative background, Aquino, a marksman, audiophile and history buff, has a modest track record to indicate how he plans to run the country.

Aquino, former economics student of Mrs. Arroyo before he became one of the President’s critics, served as congressman of the 2nd District of Tarlac from 1998 to 2007. He then won a seat at the Senate where he chaired the Senate Committee on Local Government. His camp said Aquino, feeling there were too many laws, focused more on the fiscalizing role of a legislator.

Aquino, who ran on a campaign slogan “kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap,” also plans to live a simple life, opting to stay at his family’s residence on Times Street in Quezon City rather than stay in Malacañang once he takes his oath as the country’s new president. To save money, he also intends to limit foreign travels.

This was in contrast to Arroyo. While she promised to govern as humbly as his father, she was implicated in several corruption anomalies and even criticized for her extravagant trips abroad.

Despite a strong opposition against her rule, the President is widely recognized as tough and driven, apparently unlike her successor.

She survived several attempts to oust her in office over a series of scandals even though she had a hard time restoring public trust in her government.

Apart from facing down opposition moves to dislodge her from power, she also made painful yet crucial decisions that were credited for enhancing the country’s fiscal growth and keeping peace and order in the country.

Recently, she shocked the nation when she declared a week-long martial law in Maguindanao following a gruesome massacre in the area. Arroyo landed several times at the prestigious list of the world’s powerful women in Forbes Magazine.

In the middle of the euphoria over his landslide victory, there are now some concerns how Aquino, better known for his parents’ legacy rather than his own achievements, will manage the top office often embattled with corruption and inefficiency.

Aquino has a long and hard mission ahead as the country faces a host of problems, a swelling budget deficit, rampant corruption, and lingering threat of the armed insurgencies and other al-Qaeda-linked terrorists in Mindanao.

Some groups say Aquino may be too nice for the job while others claim he should toughen up like the outgoing leader to pull it off.

Even President Arroyo advised her successor to be ready to make unpopular choices that would benefit the country. “We call on those aspiring for the highest office of our land to always put the right thing for the country ahead of political expediency," she said a few weeks before the May automated elections.

“It doesn't matter how popular you are if the economy is not providing the broad based opportunity the people deserve,” said Arroyo who ends her term with a reputation as the country’s most hated leader due to persistent charges of election fraud, corruption, and human rights abuses.

Mendoza also agreed that Aquino should take cue from the President’s hard work and intelligence particularly her “economic competence.”

Mendoza, a former police chief, said Aquino should also toughen up to enable him to face political, security, and economic challenges in his six-year term. “The presidency is very challenging so you should be tough and ready to make unpopular decisions,” he said in an interview.

All eyes are also on Aquino if he could fulfill what his mother could not in distributing family-owned Hacienda Luisita estate to agrarian reform beneficiaries. Recovering the Marcos wealth and bringing the killers of his father to justice would also likely be high on the agenda of the incoming president.

Aquino has also divulged plans to launch an investigation into her alleged involvement in fraud during the 2004 presidential polls. The looming investigation of Arroyo could be a major test of Aquino’s political skills.

His plans to probe Arroyo came shortly after she appointed her former chief of staff, Renato Corona, as the country’s new Chief Justice in a move critics say would protect herself from investigation after leaving office.

Olivar, however, urged Aquino “to stop being a candidate, start being a President” by pursuing national unity and reconciliation. He said Aquino, the emerging winner of the polls, must also focus on building coalitions in the new Congress to advance his legislative agenda.

The next president should always be in favor of unity and reconciliation and moving forward because he would need the support even of his political enemies to push his agenda forward, he added.

In her waning days in office, President Arroyo meantime has created a team to govern a smooth transition to the next administration in the aftermath of the elections.

A blueprint, that includes inventory of programs, properties, and vacant government posts, has been prepared for seamless handover of power.

Presidential Management Staff (PMS) chief Elena Bautista-Horn said she believes the two leaders would transcend their political differences to ensure a smooth transfer of power by June 30.

Bautista-Horn, in an interview, said the two leaders are expected to behave as “professionals” in the interest of the country amid glaring hostilities between the two camps.

Despite the tough challenges her administration went through, Mendoza said President Arroyo has no regrets in her nine-year leadership, knowing she has done her best for the country. Mrs. Arroyo is leaving the Palace in high spirits, especially as she looks forward to being a congresswoman of the second district of Pampanga in the next three years, according to Mendoza.

Once proclaimed by Congress, Presidential Spokesman Ricardo Saludo said he believes the incoming Aquino administration would "do justice to the mandate."

"Once he takes office, we believe the next administration will give its best shot and we hope for the best for the next administration, and for our nation under the new president," Saludo said.