By Karl Sheen Ates(Vol. XXVI No. 7, Editorial Cartoon)
Thus, said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) in her 58-minute State of the Nation Address (Sona) last July 29, 2008, interrupted 104 times by the applause from her allies in the Congress.
Analyzing GMA’s fourth Sona after she assumed the position in 2004 and the eighth since she took over former President Joseph Estrada’s administration in 2000, it is very apparent that instead of laying the true state of the nation, what she did was to deliver her general situation report on the economic and political condition of the nation that tells of the accomplishments of the government in the preceding year. More than a report to the people, it appears more to be a report of the accomplishments under her administration and what auxiliary legislation and judicial actions may be needed to attain her administration’s objectives for the coming year.
A Pulse Asia survey showed that only 14 percent of the Filipino people expected the Sona to be truthful. With these findings, we cannot help but wonder: Is the recent Sona of GMA credible? To be fair, the Sona should be credible enough because they have thousands of supplementary documents to support their specific claimed accomplishments that can be easily verified. The accomplishments that were tackled are really factual. What can put it to ridicule is if certain aspects of what was promised in the previous Sona was not realized and fulfilled.
But then, weighing over the credibility of the Sona would still always depend on one’s political orientation – whether he or she is pro or anti-administration. If the GMA administration failed to fulfill its promises in the previous Sona, her supporters can always say that the failure will be attributed to something beyond the control of the administration or circumstances beyond reasonable expectations. On the other hand, for the anti-GMA, no amount of excuses will do and no explanations are needed.
Sona is credible insofar as it concerns the specifics of accomplishments. On the other hand, it does not represent the true state of the nation. Why?
It is simply because the true state of the nation address should have focused on the real issues that concerned the Filipino people. Issues on poverty, hunger, crime rate, employment, education, health, justice, and most especially, corruption, should have been the center of GMA’s Sona. These burning issues that befuddled the nation for so long must be answered, not ignored. These must be given attention.
GMA, being too optimistic, overlooked that the following is the true state of the nation: A Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey said that after eight years under GMA’s administration, 50 percent of the population of 88.6 million rate themselves “poor” in March 2008. In another survey of SWS in June 2008, it was found out that about 2.9 million families or 14.5 million people experienced involuntary hunger between April and June.
As to the crime rate, although the Philippine National Police authorities claimed that the total crime volume in the past three months of the year decreased, an SWS survey published last February said that 10.5 percent of Filipino families lost properties in a house break-in; 8.6 percent encountered pickpockets; 1.9 percent had their vehicles stolen; and 1.3 percent suffered physical violence. In health, Asian Development Bank reported that despite the presence of a few modern medical centers, health conditions in the Philippines remain the poorest in East Asia with an estimation of one doctor for every 9,689 people and only one hospital for every 809 patients.
Moreover, in the area of corruption, the Philippines appeared No.1 in Asia. A World Bank study released in June said that the Philippines is now at the bottom of the list of East Asia’s 10 largest economies when it comes to control of corruption, edging out Indonesia which scored the worst in the region in the 2007 survey. It was estimated that the Philippines loses more than $2 billion (about P88 billion) a year to corruption.
These representative figures should give us a general picture of the true state of the nation today. Unless, these issues are addressed in the Sona, the report of the President will be taken as nothing more than self-praise and window-dressing. To quote famous American football coach John Madden, “Self-praise is for losers. Always have class and be humble.”
“We have come too far and made too many sacrifices to turn back now on fiscal reforms. Leadership is not about doing the first easy thing that comes to mind; it is about doing what is necessary, however hard.” Thus, said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) in her 58-minute State of the Nation Address (Sona) last July 29, 2008, interrupted 104 times by the applause from her allies in the Congress.
ReplyDeleteAnalyzing GMA’s fourth Sona after she assumed the position in 2004 and the eighth since she took over former President Joseph Estrada’s administration in 2000, it is very apparent that instead of laying the true state of the nation, what she did was to deliver her general situation report on the economic and political condition of the nation that tells of the accomplishments of the government in the preceding year. More than a report to the people, it appears more to be a report of the accomplishments under her administration and what auxiliary legislation and judicial actions may be needed to attain her administration’s objectives for the coming year.
A Pulse Asia survey showed that only 14 percent of the Filipino people expected the Sona to be truthful. With these findings, we cannot help but wonder: Is the recent Sona of GMA credible? To be fair, the Sona should be credible enough because they have thousands of supplementary documents to support their specific claimed accomplishments that can be easily verified. The accomplishments that were tackled are really factual. What can put it to ridicule is if certain aspects of what was promised in the previous Sona was not realized and fulfilled.
But then, weighing over the credibility of the Sona would still always depend on one’s political orientation – whether he or she is pro or anti-administration. If the GMA administration failed to fulfill its promises in the previous Sona, her supporters can always say that the failure will be attributed to something beyond the control of the administration or circumstances beyond reasonable expectations. On the other hand, for the anti-GMA, no amount of excuses will do and no explanations are needed.
Sona is credible insofar as it concerns the specifics of accomplishments. On the other hand, it does not represent the true state of the nation. Why?
It is simply because the true state of the nation address should have focused on the real issues that concerned the Filipino people. Issues on poverty, hunger, crime rate, employment, education, health, justice, and most especially, corruption, should have been the center of GMA’s Sona. These burning issues that befuddled the nation for so long must be answered, not ignored. These must be given attention.
GMA, being too optimistic, overlooked that the following is the true state of the nation: A Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey said that after eight years under GMA’s administration, 50 percent of the population of 88.6 million rate themselves “poor” in March 2008. In another survey of SWS in June 2008, it was found out that about 2.9 million families or 14.5 million people experienced involuntary hunger between April and June.
As to the crime rate, although the Philippine National Police authorities claimed that the total crime volume in the past three months of the year decreased, an SWS survey published last February said that 10.5 percent of Filipino families lost properties in a house break-in; 8.6 percent encountered pickpockets; 1.9 percent had their vehicles stolen; and 1.3 percent suffered physical violence. In health, Asian Development Bank reported that despite the presence of a few modern medical centers, health conditions in the Philippines remain the poorest in East Asia with an estimation of one doctor for every 9,689 people and only one hospital for every 809 patients.
Moreover, in the area of corruption, the Philippines appeared No.1 in Asia. A World Bank study released in June said that the Philippines is now at the bottom of the list of East Asia’s 10 largest economies when it comes to control of corruption, edging out Indonesia which scored the worst in the region in the 2007 survey. It was estimated that the Philippines loses more than $2 billion (about P88 billion) a year to corruption.
These representative figures should give us a general picture of the true state of the nation today. Unless, these issues are addressed in the Sona, the report of the President will be taken as nothing more than self-praise and window-dressing. To quote famous American football coach John Madden, “Self-praise is for losers. Always have class and be humble.”
(Editorial, The NORSUnian, Vol. 26, No. 7)
can i ask how you did these? do you draw on paper then photoshop the work,i'm interested cause i used to do some for an amateur school paper
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