GMA's 2008 SONA ♥

2008 SONA of PGMA

I’m not viewing things negatively but I don’t think GMA really know what she’s talking about. I mean for the past years, Philippines instead of rising up keep on falling and having more and more debts that is semi-impossible to be paid but it’s as if she’s paying no attention to it telling people that Philippines is making it’s way to the top. She also mentioned something about her 10-point agenda which are steps to make Philippines a better country in the future. There she enumerated things like creation of six million jobs to somehow decrease poverty by giving every single Filipino income, constructions of building, classrooms and scholarship for poor families, some sort of balancing on the budget, the provision of electricity and water supply to baranggays nationwide, the decongestion of Metro Manila, automation of electoral process, peace progress and thing related to that, but I think nothing would ever come true to any of this promises she made, I mean I heard that too many times before still nothing’s good is happening, we are still the same country suffering from poverty until now.

What I’m trying to say is walk the talk or just not talk at all. She’s only giving people false hopes. I’m not being bias or anything, It’s just that I think Gloria Macapagal Arroyo should strive harder to be a good president and to make Philippines truly a better country, It’s never too late for things to change anyway, she should only be good in planning things and make sure that all those things she said would come to life and not only live in people’s thought forever.

State of nation of domination

State of The Nation of Domination

We are all aware that a State of The Nation Address was help by our very own President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and there were a lot of reactions towards this. As usual there will always be both sides of the people on how they accept the address given.
I think that it is already normal that there will always be violent protesters that would always try and maul the event. To be honest, I was not able to watch the SONA because we had our classes in school but I will still have to read the details over the weekend. I assumed that every year this has always been done and as what I can see, it is just always the same. The president would surely fabricate most of the achievements he/ he has done. In my perspective I would believe her when I see it with my own eyes. There would not be a change if people would not act on it. Before some people say anything for or against anyone, instead of just talking, better act on it.

I would be supporter of our president if I can see the change within the society and yeah I have seen some changes that is why I keep my mouth shut against her and yes I do give her slack because making a change around hard headed Filipino people living in the 21st century third world country is not that easy to do. All I can say is that before people judge and blame some people, we better look at the mirror and ask if we are doing what we are suppose to do. If you want change we better start on ourselves.

OKI NA SANA PERO SANA SONA

The President’s 8th State of the Nation Address was quite deceiving yet improving. I watched the SONA in the YouTube and my ears got tired hearing the crowd’s applause every now and then. The loudest applause was made during GMA’s announcement of the 50 centavo cost per text message between networks. But sad to say, it seems that the President became too excited to announce good news for the people that she falsely announced the granted request from the Telecoms networks. The Telecommunication networks immediately explained and cleared the President’s statement through the news programs that the 50 centavo per text message is just a three months promo by Globe, Smart and Sun. (Sayang, hehe)
This year's SONA appeared to be more of a persuasive speech than an address for the nation. Puro pampalubag-loob sa mga tao. Syempre nakakatuwa at nakakabilib nga namang marinig na dahil sa VAT nasialba ang Pilipinas mula sa lumalalang pandaigdigang krisis; nakakabilib nga namang makita ang mga pangkaraniwang taong patunay ng tagumpay ng kanyang mga programa? Ngunit ilan lang ba sila? Puro positibo lamang ang nabanggit. . . parang nasa langit. . . ngunit ang totoo'y paralamang panaginip. . .
But I must also say that this year’s SONA improved (at least in its format and presentation). It is a lot better compared with the previous years. It can be observed that while the President was doing her speech, a video presentation served as a visual aid to help the audience clearly understand the information stated in the SONA but still the viewers at home wasn’t be able to see it. Another improvement that I was really hoping to happen in a SONA is to deliver it in a way or in a language that larger number of people, including most especially the masses would understand. The President did a Taglish delivery of the SONA which I think was good. I could say that because of this, more people were able to understand and catch the message of her SONA. But there’s one thing that I observed while she did this strategy of delivering the SONA. Most of the time she spoke in straight Filipino when she is explaining or saying good news, accomplishments, future plans of her government. She spoke in Filipino when she told the good things that people can look forward in the government for the years to come but when she was explaining the global crisis that covers the country today and the reality that prices of food and fuel will still stick to high costs, she plainly and purely used English. Is that a strategy for the people to retain the Filipino words stated in the SONA which were purely good news? Still, I am hoping that there will be a Philippine President who will do a SONA in pure Filipino and will let the subtitles do the job for the rest who only understands English. (hehehe)
One thing that I disliked in the SONA was the fact that the President took a bunch of the time enumerating the benefits that VAT gave the people, to a point of attributing the country’s survival in the global crisis because of it. I would like to believe that but still the food commodities’ prices are too high for many people. For this year’s SONA, it is surprising that I would site a favorite line by the President, a statement that can be powerful to move the country and its leaders, “Leadership is doing what’s necessary however hard it is. . . We are one nation with one faith.” I guess in these words of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, finally, no one would ever try to counter.

what the president had to say..again

I am not anti-Gloria. I am just not interested in politics. I think the politics and the state of our economy are tiring to talk about. Every time I go out and see the situation of our country – poor roads and bridges, dirty public restrooms, the slums, and all the corrupt officials – it’s disheartening. I wish I am living somewhere else like in the US or Europe where you can see where our money is going.

When I spent a year of studying in the US, I realized that only if the government cared too much about our people then there would be enough chairs and teachers for one classroom or that every child will be educated. But it isn’t like that and I hate to know that the government only made promises but was never faithful to them. I lived in the state of Washington where they include taxes for anything you purchase. That was okay I guess because you can see where those taxes go. But to do taxing here in the Philippines would not be good. I mean can you actually feel that our economy is improving? Pres. Arroyo had this statement to say about denouncing the issue of scrapping Value Added Tax (VAT) in our country: "If we remove the VAT, business confidence will decline, interest rates will go up, the more the value of the peso will fall, and the more commodity prices will rise. If we remove the VAT on oil and electricity, we will lose P80 billion for the poor. It will strip the majority of our people of the means to ride out the world food and energy crisis." Oh yeah P80 billion for the poor? Like where did that money come from? And how come the poor have not benefited from that still? In my opinion, there is no way that poverty will be diminished in our country if the government will not do anything about corruption. I think they should practice honesty and sincerity.

The president also mentioned that she would impose stricter policies on the Anti-Graft Law. I think she should do that in her family as well. I don’t mean to be really cynical about this but if I were the president and I knew I did something really bad to our country, I wouldn’t have the guts to speak in front with the whole Philippines as my audience and boast about the improvements I’ve done in the country. I mean people do not want to hear promises anymore. We want action and making sure the promises will be done.

On the other hand, one good thing I heard is that the cost of texting has gone down to 50 cents but would only last for three months. And this would be effective starting last night. I tried it actually but I guess the telecommunication companies have forgotten what the president ordered them or they completely ignored it. Anyway, at least that would be a good change.

A president could keep having speeches as such every year but what should matter is that these plans would become a reality or else she just wasted the people’s time in listening to her speech. I really hope good things will come.