PRESIDENT Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III. I still have a very hard time saying that, and I can't even begin to think of referring to him as "PNoy" like just about everyone else. For me, the election was a disaster - I did not want another Aquino in Malacanang.
And the recent State of the Nation Address (SONA) did little to change my mind.
I admit, I was impressed by the speech. The delivery was excellent; it was forceful, direct to the point, and there were no paper boats or Powerpoint presentations, just the cold and hard facts. It was full of figures showing a government on the edge of bankruptcy, and numbers showing anomalies within the past administration.
A lot of problems the Aquino administration inherited from Arroyo were bared for everyone to see. I was shocked to see how the national budget was gutted, to hear about how the Arroyo administration manipulated NAPOCOR and the NFA, and to learn about all the money being wasted at the MWSS.
Aquino did not just stop at revealing the problems and anomalies discovered by his three-week old administration, he also gave some solutions for some of them. I especially liked how he would go into public-private partnerships, like leasing land owned by the Philippine Navy to fund the modernization of the Armed Forces, and the building of a new highway to the north without the national government having to spend a single centavo for it.
He also praised the efforts and accomplishments of the members of his Cabinet, who in just three weeks seem to have done a lot already.
I also think that the establishment of a "Truth Commission" headed by former Chief Justice Hilario Davide is a good thing.
And this is where the praises end.
My first impressions of the speech notwithstanding, I found some big holes in Aquino's SONA.
Aquino stated at the beginning of his speech that the nation was at a crossroads. There were two roads: a crooked one with a government driven by self-interest and political expediency, and a straight one where principle and the interests of the many were given priority. It was a fitting start to a long litany about the problems and anomalies of the Arroyo administration, but...
HOW does the President intend to bring us to the straight path? And when we get there, WHERE will that straight road lead to?
There was a long list of problems, but there was a substantially shorter list of solutions. And piecemeal, short-term solutions at that. How many ships can we hope to buy with the 100 million dollars we will get from the lease of military land? And after that, where will we get the money to maintain them? One new expressway linking the provinces of Luzon is well and good, but it is just one road. Are there no plans to build better transportation infrastructure for the islands, maybe a railway system or more ports, airports, and highways?
How does the President plan to fix the anomalies he bared in his SONA? How does he plan to prevent these from happening again?
Besides verbally slapping down the Communist insurgency (and that was one sweet move by the way), how does he intend to solve the root causes of that problem? How does he plan to end the fighting in Mindanao, aside from bringing everyone involved together to talk?
What policy will his government have towards poverty? Land reform? The economy? Education? Health? Population? Foreign affairs? If America asks us again to join them in a war, will we come?
What is his vision for the country? Where would the Philippines be in a year? Two years? At the end of his term? What should we as a nation have achieved by then?
In closing his speech, Aquino said
"Puwede na muling mangarap. Tayo nang tumungo sa katuparan ng ating mga pinangarap."
We can dream again, he said.
Dream about what?
Granted, this administration is barely a month old. And yes, too much damage has been done to the country by years and years and years of corruption, war, mismanagement, and misplaced priorities.
President Aquino has one hell of a problem on his plate for the next six years. He has already done a good job at identifying the problems the last administration left for him. While he is off to a good start, he should do more to identify the root causes of poverty and corruption - the two major problems stunting the country's growth.
I also believe that this SONA should be the end of all the Arroyo-bashing that appears to have won the election for President Aquino. He has the ball. It's his administration now, not Arroyo's.
He won on a platform of change and, I admit, he's really off to a good start at reforming the government and bringing about change in the country. But there is more to the Presidency than cleaning up the mess of the past administration and going after the people behind all the anomalies and scandals of the previous nine years.
President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III's State of the Nation Address last Monday did give us a picture of where the Philippines is right now. However, it failed to tell us where our new President plans to take us.
What President Aquino needs to give us is a road map that will lead us to the straight path. He should tell us what to aim for, what to work for in order to get there. He should tell us why we should work to get there, what lies at the end of the straight road.
Mr President, where do we go from here?
And the recent State of the Nation Address (SONA) did little to change my mind.
I admit, I was impressed by the speech. The delivery was excellent; it was forceful, direct to the point, and there were no paper boats or Powerpoint presentations, just the cold and hard facts. It was full of figures showing a government on the edge of bankruptcy, and numbers showing anomalies within the past administration.
A lot of problems the Aquino administration inherited from Arroyo were bared for everyone to see. I was shocked to see how the national budget was gutted, to hear about how the Arroyo administration manipulated NAPOCOR and the NFA, and to learn about all the money being wasted at the MWSS.
Aquino did not just stop at revealing the problems and anomalies discovered by his three-week old administration, he also gave some solutions for some of them. I especially liked how he would go into public-private partnerships, like leasing land owned by the Philippine Navy to fund the modernization of the Armed Forces, and the building of a new highway to the north without the national government having to spend a single centavo for it.
He also praised the efforts and accomplishments of the members of his Cabinet, who in just three weeks seem to have done a lot already.
I also think that the establishment of a "Truth Commission" headed by former Chief Justice Hilario Davide is a good thing.
And this is where the praises end.
My first impressions of the speech notwithstanding, I found some big holes in Aquino's SONA.
Aquino stated at the beginning of his speech that the nation was at a crossroads. There were two roads: a crooked one with a government driven by self-interest and political expediency, and a straight one where principle and the interests of the many were given priority. It was a fitting start to a long litany about the problems and anomalies of the Arroyo administration, but...
HOW does the President intend to bring us to the straight path? And when we get there, WHERE will that straight road lead to?
There was a long list of problems, but there was a substantially shorter list of solutions. And piecemeal, short-term solutions at that. How many ships can we hope to buy with the 100 million dollars we will get from the lease of military land? And after that, where will we get the money to maintain them? One new expressway linking the provinces of Luzon is well and good, but it is just one road. Are there no plans to build better transportation infrastructure for the islands, maybe a railway system or more ports, airports, and highways?
How does the President plan to fix the anomalies he bared in his SONA? How does he plan to prevent these from happening again?
Besides verbally slapping down the Communist insurgency (and that was one sweet move by the way), how does he intend to solve the root causes of that problem? How does he plan to end the fighting in Mindanao, aside from bringing everyone involved together to talk?
What policy will his government have towards poverty? Land reform? The economy? Education? Health? Population? Foreign affairs? If America asks us again to join them in a war, will we come?
What is his vision for the country? Where would the Philippines be in a year? Two years? At the end of his term? What should we as a nation have achieved by then?
In closing his speech, Aquino said
"Puwede na muling mangarap. Tayo nang tumungo sa katuparan ng ating mga pinangarap."
We can dream again, he said.
Dream about what?
Granted, this administration is barely a month old. And yes, too much damage has been done to the country by years and years and years of corruption, war, mismanagement, and misplaced priorities.
President Aquino has one hell of a problem on his plate for the next six years. He has already done a good job at identifying the problems the last administration left for him. While he is off to a good start, he should do more to identify the root causes of poverty and corruption - the two major problems stunting the country's growth.
I also believe that this SONA should be the end of all the Arroyo-bashing that appears to have won the election for President Aquino. He has the ball. It's his administration now, not Arroyo's.
He won on a platform of change and, I admit, he's really off to a good start at reforming the government and bringing about change in the country. But there is more to the Presidency than cleaning up the mess of the past administration and going after the people behind all the anomalies and scandals of the previous nine years.
President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III's State of the Nation Address last Monday did give us a picture of where the Philippines is right now. However, it failed to tell us where our new President plans to take us.
What President Aquino needs to give us is a road map that will lead us to the straight path. He should tell us what to aim for, what to work for in order to get there. He should tell us why we should work to get there, what lies at the end of the straight road.
Mr President, where do we go from here?
