SONA 2008

The State of the Nation Address is an annual event in the Philippines, in which the President reports on the status of the nation, normally it is delivered on the 4th Monday of July to the resumption of a joint session of the Congress (the House of Representatives and the Senate). This is a duty of the President as stated in Article VII, Section 23 of the 1987 Constitution: “The President shall address the Congress at the opening of its regular session. He may also appear before it at any other time.” (source wikipedia)

The constitution is clear in saying that only the President has the right to issue the SONA. The broadsheets, tabloids, militants and opposition leaders who are against PGMA have no right to issue any SONA. If they really want to issue SONA ‘Mag presidente muna sila’.

Here are the major points that a leading broadsheet (it’s actually a tabloid pretending to be a broadsheet) says are the true SONA.

1. Poverty. It is just a convenient excuse to blame rising poverty in the Arroyo Administration. Statistical data can be manipulated and the sample size does not represent the whole segment of the Philippine population. It is therefore inaccurate and must not be used as a basis to a conclusion.
2. Hunger. The president must do everything she can to alleviate the poverty and hunger but she should not be held responsible to the indolence of her people. Lazy people who are hungry because of their indolence have no right to blame the president because they are lazy. They should find work in order to put bread in their tables. Sadly, poor people have more children that they could not even feed.
3. Crime rate. We have to blame the sensationalize type of journalism that is practiced by our media people. Our media is guilty of highlighting the gruesome deaths; rapes and bank heist stories and often blame it on the law enforcers. Effective law enforcement and government control on the media should be put into place for our country to be a better place.
4. Employment. Our government’s effort to bring in investors does not work since abusive media and obstructionist opposition parties are projecting a bad image to our country. The investors often believe the very worst in the Philippines when in fact, in reality we’re better off than other third world countries. The lost of investors trust means no investment to our country and no employment. Filipinos have to go to other countries to find job.
5. Education. Let’s face it, if you are not schooled, nobody will hire you. We’re living in a competitive world. People have access to education or vocational courses like in TESDA. It’s up to them if they want to enroll or not. They should not blame the government if they can’t find job because they lack the qualification.
6. Health. Our media would always paint a bad picture of our health sector. They just can’t help it. They always want to put the government down. They overlooked that the poor are given free PhilHealth coverage.
7. Corruption. Corruption is a way of life. It’s deeply rooted in our culture and can never be eradicated. Corruption can be found from root to the top in government service and even in private sectors. It’s not the President’s fault if people are corrupt. She did everything she could to combat it but regardless, corruption will never be erased in our consciousness. We need a national renewal if we want to get rid of this bad attitude.

People have the wrong notion that the President can do everything. She’s blamed for everything from typhoon to flash flood, from Batanes to Jolo, from corruption to the clothes she wear. Believe me; the next President will inherit all the blame. Opposition leaders and militants would still rally and chant “Ibaba ang Presidente! No to Imperyalismo! Talamak na katiwalian! Tuta ng mga Kano!”.