PNoy's Second SONA

When he assumed presidency, President Benigno Aquino 3rd blamed the past administration for failing to make the Filipino people at ease with the government.

Today, two years and two state of the nation addresses after, the Aquino administration has managed to lessen self-rated hunger from 20.5% last March 2010 to 15.1% this June 2011. Confidence of rating agencies and investors has increased, and there were already 31 human trafficking cases filed, deleting us from the Tier 2 Watchlist of the Trafficking in Persons Report.

Bills that would make the Philippines self-sustaining were turned into laws. Former Supreme Court Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales was proclaimed Ombudsman.

Some students can now avail scholarships through the Department of Science and Technology. The necessary jobs will also be studied so that these students can prefer to work here.

The country will build another power plant in Luzon in 2014. Government institutions such as the Bureau of Corrections, the National Bureau of Investigation, the National Electrification Administration, and the National Broadcasting Network will be strengthened.

His administration would also continue fighting for the Recto Bank, which was the Reed Bank in international circles renamed after the late senator and Filipino nationalist Claro M. Recto.

But…

For the second time, PNoy did not mention the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). Does this means that he does not intend for the ‘trend’ of seeking fortune abroad go on in his administration or does it suggest the seemingly deliberate lack of attention of his administration to OFWs?

No public-private partnership project has also been bidden out yet. Nearly half of the new jobs created were in the agriculture sector, which are “low-paying, part-time and poorly productive,” and hardly the jobs the Filipinos will choose over going abroad.

The Libyan civil war still rages on. What would happened to those who were repatriated? What had happened to those who preferred to stay? There is unrest in Syria. There is economic crisis in Europe. There is the US dollar that continues to devalue.

What became clear, though, is his quest to combat corruption. Aquinomics, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima explained, ‘is about good governance.’ It has four pillars: fiscal sustainability and macro-economic stability, reduction of the infrastructure gap, reduction of the cost of doing businesst

This was why the government was proud that the total expenditure this year lessened (from 3.5 percent in 2010 to 3.0 percent of GDP this year). This was why he lauded Sec. Rogelio “Babes” Lazo Singson of the Department of Public Works and Highways for eliminating patronage politics. This was why the doling out of P1,400 a month to poor Filipino families was a big deal.

Those seen in his inauguration as president were present during his second SONA except for Prospero Nograles, former Speaker of the House.


References