STATE OF THE NATION ADDRESS OF GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO

State of the Nation Address of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo during the 3rd Regular Session of the 13th Congress of the Republic of the Philippines
July 24, 2006




Some things are so much a part of our lives that we don’t even become aware of them. For instance, most of us take breathing for granted but if you study singing you will learn the mechanics of breathing so you can become a better singer. Most of us take eating for granted, until we want to improve our diet. Like breathing and eating, what is happening in our government right now is an essential part of our daily lives, so significant that we shouldn’t miss the news about our government. We need to be updated of the latest comings and goings and issues in it taking into consideration the fact our parents are paying taxes and that it is our right to know whether or not their money is in good hands or in the pockets of our corrupt government officials. We cannot deny that we just take this thing for granted, but we never comprehend that there are so many people paying taxes and if we will sum it up that is when we realize that it is a big amount of money. On the other hand, there are also people who are concerned and they take this thing critically most of these people are seen in the streets, end up shouting because, they are against certain course of action of the government particularly when it comes to proposing a certain project, especially when it comes to the talk of the corresponding budget, in which they find it not agreeable or questionable if I may say so. If you will just envisage the scenario people in the streets with their banners, red t-shirts, and with matching mascot pictured as a certain government official, hoping that their sentiments will be sent out to the government officials. One of the best examples wherein you will see lots and lots of activist in the streets is when our president will give a state of the nation address.



 Last July 24, 2006 at Plenary Hall, Batasang Pambansa, Her Excellency President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had her state of the nation address which has the following points; First, to unveil massive spending program to jumpstart economy, second, vows to establish economic “super regions” to spur development in countryside, third, it urges amendments of the constitution, fourth, pushes peace in Mindanao to promote development there, fifth, vows to end communist insurgency, sixth, condemns spate of “political killings” of left-leaning activists, seventh, the local governments praised for role in development and lastly, achievements of Filipinos in sports and other fields cited. However, I would just like to make comments on the five comprehensive strategies that she talked about in order for us to be world class and globally competitive.

 First, make food plentiful and affordable to keep our labor cost globally competitive she cited “ Mindanao is mostly fertile and largely typhoon-free; exporting coconut products and high value crops and from its waters came 40% of the country’s fish catch.” I strongly have the same opinion that they can really produce good and high-value crops, coconuts, considering the fact that they are typhoon-free and they are pollution free. On the other side, how can our nation produce plenty of food with in fact Luzon and Visayas are prone to typhoon and how can we produce plenty and high value sea foods the fact that we have polluted seas. She must have included the strategy for proper disposal of garbage to keep away from pollution which hinders the production of plenty foods. She also cited that “ Mindanao ’s number one export, coconuts has been growing continuously for the last three years, at that rate 10% a year. The coconut farmers deserve a portion of the peace dividend.” The farmers are really worthy for that because they helped boosting our economy.

 The second strategy is to “Reduce the cost of electricity to make our factories regionally competitive. President Arroyo said that “To lower power costs we introduced the wholesale electricity spot market last month. Let’s give it a chance to work. And we would like big consumers like electronics, our number one exports to avail of lower power rates from the national power corporation. On coco-biodiesel we now have enough capacity for the proposed 1% blend just waiting to be passed into law.” Good point with regards to lowering of the power expenses. All we have to do is to support the proposed 1% blend in order for it to become a law. Our president also emphasized that we have geothermal fields in Palimpinon Negros, ethanol projects in San Carlos City and Tumbang Valley , one the biofuel is passed.” Its good to hear those things but must need proper financial support from the government in order for the said projects be developed more so that we will attain the reduction of the electricity costs, because it would be of great help for us, and that is for our own good.


 Third strategy “Modernize infrastructure at least cost to efficiently transport goods and people.” The president made mention of so many proposed projects with regards to this strategy; we have “To bring the beltway to the west we will connect the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Road to Dingalan Port through Nueva Ecija, and the Marikina-Infanta road to the port of Real.” “Connect MRT and LRT from Monument to North EDSA .” “We will build a roll-on-roll-off port system to link Lucena, Quezon to Baac, Marinduque, like the Batangas-Mindoro RORO.” “We extend LRT to Southrail to Lucena and on to Bicol, and upgrade the link between them.” “Helping our infrastructure upgrading, is the fall in bribery for public sector contracts in Metro Cebu, from 62% of companies in 2004 to 47 today.” She made mention a lot more projects with regards to the strategy. I am glad and at the same time sad, happy because at least we can minimize the traffic problems which is one of the present problems we are facing and with the RORO port system, goods will be directly transported to a certain place to avoid spoilage and to boost economy in so many barangays and towns. I am on the other hand sad because if you will trace the proposed widening of infrastructures and with the expressway projects etc. you can observe that there are residents who will be affected in the said development. I have so many questions in mind; First and foremost are there relocation sites for these affected families? Second, is there any refund of the damages that the project would cause them? These are just some of the few questions I have in mind. And that these questions must be answered for the reason that in the SONA as I go over I did not read about these things, mentioning things about the relocation sites for the families affected. I am also doubtful if we can find the money for this kind of project considering the fact that we still have so many debts from other countries.


 Fourth strategy, “Mobilize, upgrade and disseminate knowledge and technologies for productivity.” Our president mention about “Cyber Corridor will boost Telecommunications, technology and education.” “The cities of Davao , Tagum and Samal Island Garden all operate electronic government accounting systems.” “In the cyber corridor, the English and Information and communication technology skills of the Youth give them a competitive edge in call centers and other business process outsourcing.” It is worth bearing in mind that we are not behind from other countries when it comes to technologies. But unfortunately, we have heard some news about cyber sex and that is due to the boosting of technologies which some people abused and the most horrible thing is most of them are minors I cannot picture out these young women posing nude in front of the webcam, but it’s a fact. I know our president is aware of this thing but why is it that she did not mention the disadvantages of having too latest technologies. What I am trying to insinuate is that she must to open to it and that she must give importance to this. The last strategy which is to reduce red tape in all agencies to cut business costs. It is also tiring on our part because we need to get done lots of requirements and that we need to go places so that following people can sign the fact that it is tiring we need also to invest our time money and effort to this. President Gloria really urges to amend the constitution because the most prohibitive red tape is in our outmoded constitution. We need constitutional change to bring our rules of investment into the new millennium. I agree with the purpose of the amendments of the constitution I myself really would have wanted to change the constitution. But, I was not happy with how Gloria manipulated the people with regards to the signature campaign to amend the constitution. I observed last summer when I was in our province there are some local government officials somewhat threatening people to sign the said signature campaign for the constitutional amendments they said to the people that if they will not sign their Philhealth ng Masa will not be renewed. And for the people who have no enough knowledge about what they are signing they just sign for the sake of their Philhealth ng Masa to be renewed. We are a democratic country in which the law resides for the people, by the people and of the people. We must practice our right to be free and that no one will command what we will do. In conclusion the idea of the state of the Nation Address with its strategy was good but let us remember what Sir Winstan Chuchchill said “However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results”. The strategies were good but we people think and perceive things in a different way and for this reason we also make comment to other people differently. Let us just say for example our president so many people don’t like her as our president because for them she is a liar that she has nothing to do with our government and to our country. There are some people who like here and believe in her capabilities as a president. If I were to choose I will not go for the two options because I am open to the imperfections of a certain individual. I know our president just like our previous presidents has lapses and weaknesses in which we must not tend to contrast each of them because they do have different ways of running our government or country. I know our President Gloria just consider that what she is doing is for the goodness of our country and we people blame her if a certain project of her is not successful nor if it has questionable financial statement it seems that we, ourselves want to run a government, we want everything to be perfectly manage which we all know very impossible. Let us take for example SONA states so many proposed projects to name some we have the road project, the RORO projects, the reduction of the costs of electricity, the update on our technologies and a lot more. I am happy for the said projects for the reason that it can help boost our economy which is our number one problem. In contrast to that, I also want that our President must open to the possibilities whether it is positive or negative if she will pursue those projects. She must have open to all the advantages and disadvantages to those projects. We can level and that people can suggest that there will be more important to those projects, because if she had given us the disadvantages we can picture out what will happen in the near future to those projects. What our president did was that; she just presents all the positive side of the projects and we all know that it is important to see the both sides of the coin so that we will be open to some possibilities, and to avoid regrets in the future.