State of the Nation: GMA excited over final SONA

MANILA, Philippines - President Arroyo is “excited” to deliver her final State of the Nation Address (SONA) before a joint session of Congress on Monday and would not be distracted by protest actions, Malacañang said yesterday.

Speaking to reporters yesterday, Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said Mrs. Arroyo would make an accounting, not just of the year past, but of her entire term of office during the SONA.

“It is a highly anticipated address because for the first time, th President will be giving an accounting, not just of the year past, but of her entire term,” he said.

“It will be an opportunity for her not just to recount the very long list of achievements on her watch, but also to commend her unfinished legacy to her successor in office, and to remind our people of her vision for the country that has inspired and guided her from the very start of her presidency,” he said.

Remonde asked critics to give the SONA the respect and attention it deserves.

“Sadly, the prophets of pessimism, as usual, are jumping at this opportunity to debase what should be an inspiring moment in our history,” he said.

“They will not spare us, even at this time, from their unceasing, unfounded, and unhelpful attempts to advance personal and ideological agenda, at the expense of national optimism about our prospects for the future.”

Remonde is confident the people will see through the political noise and dismiss it for what it is — nothing but a “charade of smoke and mirrors.”

It was under the Arroyo administration that the country was placed on the path of economic recovery, he added.

Gabriel Claudio, presidential adviser for political affairs, told reporters Malacañang does not expect the protest rallies to be any different from those staged in previous SONAs.

“In the spirit of democratic space, we allow and tolerate those activities as long as they are within the bounds of the law,” he said.

“The President has always given great importance to the SONA, not only as a speech, not only as a report but as a tradition and institution that is so much part of our democratic process.”

Remonde and Claudio said they expect some political issues to be tackled in the SONA to clarify some matters.

The SONA would tackle political issues at “a higher level of discourse,” according to presidential economic spokesman Gary Olivar.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said politics is something that cannot be totally dissociated from the speech of the President. “Remember there are people with divergent political beliefs, so I think it’s within her right to prove critics wrong and to that extent it cannot be avoided (that she) address the issue of politics,” he said.

Foreigners warned vs joining protests

Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan warned yesterday foreigners of arrest and deportation if they join the protest actions against Mrs. Arroyo on Monday.

“The moment a foreigner is caught holding an anti-State of the Nation Address placard or steps on an anti-Arroyo stage, that could earn his or her ticket out of the country,” he said.

“We would also ban them from re-entering the Philippines by putting them in our blacklist of undesirable aliens.”

Immigration intelligence chief Faizal Hussin said 16 BI agents with film and video cameras will document the actions of foreigners during Monday’s rallies.

“There should be evidence such as if they are holding placards, shouting (anti-government statements) or speaking on the stage,” he said.

Hussin said BI agents will gather information for purposes of identification through photographs, passports, residence addresses and immigration status of foreigners taking part in mass actions.

In past rallies, sites, the BI had difficulty separating rally participants from onlookers, he added.

Taking part in mass actions is tantamount to interfering in the country’s internal affairs in violation of immigration laws, Hussin said.

Meanwhile, Libanan has ordered the BI law enforcement division to investigate nine Belgian activists who allegedly took part in a protest march in Bacoor, Cavite Wednesday night.

Wilfredo Poquez, Law Enforcement Division acting chief, will coordinate with the Bacoor police in verifying the immigration status of the Belgians and in tracing their whereabouts, he added.

A report from the Bacoor police identified the Belgians as Johan Demettenaere, Mario Alessander Bauwens, Stefanie Devloo, Nicky Broeckhoven, Marlies Geldof, Jelle Eeckout, Oreet Vantieometi, Mattia de Pauw, and Chiara Donadoni.

‘Millions are now hungry’

Sen. Francis Escudero disclosed yesterday millions of Filipinos have become hungry under Mrs. Arroyo’s watch.

“This is deadlier than climate change for its effects are immediate and devastating to millions of families who have no other recourse but to beg, steal, or borrow, as the song goes, because they cannot turn to government for help,” he said.

Escudero said a Social Weather Stations survey showed that while the incidence of hunger fell to a certain extent from 1998 to 2003, the number of Filipinos experiencing hunger began to rise from 2005.

“There was, as the SWS chief Mahar Mangahas said, an unfavorable change in the hunger climate which would require radical changes in the policy and governance environment which this administration failed to undertake,” he said.

Escudero said the next administration must launch key reforms in the agriculture sector to eliminate hunger, ensure food security, and break the cycle of grinding poverty in the country.

“The fight against poverty will be won in the countryside,” he said.

“We need to focus on programs that will transform our depressed rural communities into growth centers. Then development will radiate from the countryside to our cities.”

Escudero said the government must focus on expanding irrigation, build more post-harvest facilities, extend financial and technical support for farmers, and gather data to determine what crops to plant and when and where they should be planted to maximize the use of agricultural lands.

“After winning the peace, the next administration must focus on agriculture from day one so our country and people will overcome the challenges that lie ahead,” he said.

Escudero said while Vietnam and Thailand had expanded the number of irrigated lands to as much as nine to 11 million hectares, the irrigated lands in the Philippines declined to 1.38 million hectares this year from the 1.4 million hectares in 1986.

“Our population almost doubled since 1986, but instead of expanding the number of irrigated lands for rice, we experienced instead a contraction and became one of the world’s biggest importers of an essential staple,” he said.

‘NEDA figures not realistic’

Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay said yesterday the rosy economic figures being presented by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) do not provide the true State of the Nation.

“The economic numbers may look good on the charts of (NEDA), but if it’s not making an impact on the lives of the people, then the government has failed,” he said.

Binay said the economy is not working at all if every time the numbers on NEDA’s charts grow and the amount of food on our tables shrink.

“It means the economy is being kept afloat by the suffering of our people,” he said.

Binay said the last eight years under Mrs. Arroyo have been characterized by the administration’s abuse of power.

“(They) subvert our democracy, subvert our economy and subvert our national patrimony,” he said.

“But what rankles most is not so much the abuse as the arrogance with which the abuse is perpetrated, the contempt for our democratic institutions, the insult to our intelligence.”

Binay said under Mrs. Arroyo’s watch, war has been rekindled in Mindanao, and rebel groups appear indisposed to peace talks. 

“The people are losing faith in the judiciary as our refuge from injustice, and legislature has abandoned all pretensions of independence from the executive,” he said.

GMA’s ‘menacing’ effigy

Veteran and award-winning artists are to put up “one of the biggest and most menacing” effigies of Mrs. Arroyo for her final SONA on Monday.

Renato Reyes Jr., Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) secretary- general, said award-winning artists Iggy Rodriguez and Buen Calubayan, together with veteran visual artist Max Santiago, are currently working on this year’s SONA effigy.

“For the last eight years, the artist collective Ugatlahi has labored every July to build effigies that have become attractions at protests during the SONA of President Arroyo,” he said.

“This year, after having built eight Arroyo effigies since 2001, the artist group hopes to build its last for Mrs. Arroyo.”

Reyes said professional and student artists are also helping in the creation of the 12-foot tall image, which will roll down Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City on Monday.

“The effigy has been the main visual for protest actions,” he said.

“Through the different SONAs, the effigy captures the theme for the protest and the burning issues of the day.”

Reyes said for Mrs. Arroyo’s final SONA, the artists would put together a “Gloria Forever” effigy to underscore her “persistent attempts to stay in power.”

Rodriguez said the effigy would feature “a rotting Arroyo” on a throne mounted on a tank or bulldozer to portray a “decaying president on life support wishing to perpetuate herself in power.

“The tank symbolizes her reliance on military might,” he said.

“The life support system is a symbol of US support for her government. The decaying or rotting Gloria refers to her eight to nine years in power.”

Santiago hopes that this would be their last attempt to construct an effigy of Mrs. Arroyo.

“We made eight Gloria effigies already and this would be the ninth,” he said.

“We hope we don’t have to do another Gloria effigy next year.” — With Evelyn Macairan, Aurea Calica, Jose Rodel Clapano, Katherine Adraneda