No, I did not open my television to watch Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo deliver her last (?) state of the nation address. But my neighbor’s radio was open and the volume was up for everyone to hear, disturbing my concentration as I attempted to come up with a coherent report. So I brought out my trusty Bose headphones, listened to Antonio Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and saved myself from further irritation. I needed to write, and Mrs. Macapagal-Arroyo’s SONA was the last thing I wanted to hear.
When I finally opened the TV for the evening news, it was her face I saw, and the voice that I earlier managed to shut off reverberated through my ears and started to annoy the hell out of me.
But I did not put off the TV. I watched as my president smiled and smirked, as she criticized her critics for criticizing her, as she spoke of strong economic fundamentals, as she harped about the gains of her budget-busting foreign trips, as she praised Manny Pacquiao to high heavens.
I watched as my country’s lawmakers applauded, like puppets on strings, their ring leader’s every word. I watched as the congressional and senatorial wives scramble for the best positions during the photo-ops, sashaying in their fabulously expensive gowns like there are no starving children in their husbands’ constituencies.
When the circus was finally over, I found myself staring at the TV screen, wondering how on earth we got to this.
How indeed? Don’t we have a land rich in natural resources? Are we not a nation of smart and skilled people? Why are we being left behind by our Asian neighbors? Until when are we going to suffer the indignity of being called the “sick man of Asia”? Maybe, when Laos has overtaken the Philippines, we will finally do something.
“I did not become President to be popular,” Mrs. Macapagal-Arroyo said in her speech (which I’m quoting from the transcript I found in GMA 7’s news website). Of course, she did not – she wanted to become the most powerful and very, very rich.
“To work, to lead, to protect and preserve our country, our people, that is why I became President,” my president in pink added. I have no problems with the first two verbs, but the third and fourth? To protect and preserve our country and our people from whom? From her? From her greedy husband and her arrogant sons?
“When my father left the Presidency, we were second to Japan,” Mrs. Macapagal-Arroyo, the ex-president’s daughter, beamed with pride. But she forgot to mention how her father also left the nation with tons of toxic foreign debts, and how he handed Sabah to the Malaysians.
“I want our Republic to be ready for the first world in 20 years,” the little president with the gargantuan temper went on to say. With the current state of politics, I wonder how the Philippines will be ready for the first world in 50 years. From the look of things now, my future son or daughter will, heaven forbids, more likely be living in a fourth-world country.
My president also talked about the Securitization Law, the Special Purpose Vehicle Act, the Rent Control Law, the EPIRA, the Cheaper Medicine Law, the Economic Resiliency Plan. Big words pleasant to the ears, but to a development worker who had witnessed the plight of the urban poor in the slums of Malabon and Navotas, they are devoid of meaning until the most marginalized communities start gaining substantially from them.
And yes, my president talked about stepping down from the stage after her speech, but she forgot to mention – explicitly - that she is going step down from her post when her term expires. She reminded everyone that her presidency is not due until next year, but she failed to make it clear that she is going to hand over the position to the next elected president come June 2010.
“We can and we must march forward with hope, optimism and determination,” Mrs. Macapagal-Arroyo urged her long-suffering people at the end of her SONA. I will remain hopeful, optimistic and determined, but I am begging my president to not pussyfoot and leave Malacañang when she must, because I don’t know how I can march forward with her leading the procession.
No comments:
Post a Comment