SONAfagun! When a priest advised President Benigno Aquino III to just skip his State of the Nation Address (SONA) before the joint session of Congress and instead go down first to the masses to know the real condition of his “boss” I still kept my enthusiasm to listen to what he will say. The priest bluntly said that the President would just lie again. It was the same consensus among administration critics and the disenchanted. While not feeling optimistic about the President proving them wrong I still wanted to hear how the President will dispute the clearly defined accusations against him and tackle relevant issues raised with respect to his performance as the country’s chief executive. I also wanted to know if there will be something new in the line of thought that never changed in his previous SONAs. So I listened. In particular, I wanted to find out if President Aquino would again blame the Marcos years and his predecessor for the problems his administration is facing and having difficulty to solve. After I saw the President walked in with the yellow ribbon on his breast I anticipated the usual slant against the opposition and non-believers in his speech. At the start he only mentioned the need to look back to trace where the problems started to be able to solve the same. I had no problem with that. However, his conclusion that those criticizing his administration are “kontra” to the people smacked of the same old line. His appeal to the emotions by adopting the multi-media testimonial insertions in his speech and recounting the struggle of his parents and the threat to his life that once came his way was well applauded by his supporters. All these including the President’s voice breaking with emotions transpired while the militant protesters outside were being held in their position by water cannons. UNA Secretary General and Representative Toby Tiangco thought the SONA was the Presidents best so far while Senator Bongbong Marcos felt it was conciliatory. For this year’s SONA, recent developments have focused public interest on how the President will defend his Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), something that the administration has now been touting as the central engine of its drive “to sustain growth and accelerate progress” in the country. So I wanted to find out how the billions from DAP spent to pay landlords including the owners of Hacienda Luisita, the billions allocated for pet projects of lawmakers and local executives a few months before the 2013 elections and immediately after the ouster of Chief Justice Renato Corona, the billions given to the AFP and PNP, the millions given to COA and the House of Representatives benefited the economy and the President’s “boss” and how they merited transfer from other budget items at the risk of violating the Constitution and their prioritization over other needs such as salary increase of teachers. The few references to DAP did not give light on any of the above. Instead there was an indication that DAP has been stopped and requests to Congress will be made for a supplemental budget and for an act to clarify contested terms and procedures in the use of the budget. The Chief Justice who attended the SONA seemed to have welcomed this. It was expected that President Aquino would give a long list of programs and projects that have been accomplished or being implemented by his administration. I wanted to find out, with not so much hope though but more from my wishful thinking, whether the same programs and projects were distributed according to planned development based on real needs of the people or according to planned retention of political power based on partisan allegiance. Of course I got nothing in this regard. However, President Aquino enumerated a sample list of major projects that mentioned again the proposed Green City in Clark, something he described to be bidded out during his term with an insinuation that such planned project like the others will be accomplished by his anointed successor. I wanted to hear also how his administration would address the country’s nagging problems in its remaining two years, like the still growing unemployment, the creeping power crisis and the stagnating agriculture, just to name a few. The President mentioned a big number of new jobs created but never said if this number reduced the rate of unemployment. He promised instead a more inclusive economic development in the future. In response to the power crisis he pointed out that adding hundreds of megawatts is not like buying from a “sari-sari” store and takes long to plan and implement. He announced his order to study the power situation in order to come up with the right solution to the power supply and cost problems. In agriculture, the successive storms that hit the country apparently set aside the promise of rice sufficiency as the President revealed the importation of some 1.3 million metric tons of rice. I agree with Senator JV Estrada who said the accomplishment report part of the SONA will have to be double checked for accuracy. I remained unsatisfied with what I heard but SONAfagun the speech was better delivered than the previous ones. I have to give that to the President. Leny Manalo Columnist Gut Feel/Contributor Headline Gitnang Luzon (headlinegl) Pampanga, Philippines Sent from my iPad,
Posted on: Mon, 28 Jul 2014 23:55:52 +0000
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