'Fighting GMA' to focus on education, economy

MANILA, Philippines – Filipinos will see a “fighting and determined” President Arroyo when she delivers her final State of the Nation Address (SONA) today, according to Malacañang.

Her SONA will focus on education and the economy as well as address some critical issues that have been hounding her administration in the past eight years, Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said yesterday, adding that contrary to expectations, it will not be about “politics as usual.”

“I can promise you that you are in for a very interesting SONA where you will see a fighting and a determined President,” Remonde told government-run dzRB.

Mrs. Arroyo herself addressed journalists yesterday at the Palace in what officials described as a “pre-SONA event” where she gathered education experts for last-minute consultations to firm up the administration’s agenda for the sector in its remaining 11 months.

The President said she had tapped experts across the government to crosscheck “every conceivable issue that will be discussed in the SONA; national security; the economy; social services and healthcare; infrastructures, and more.”

“The economy has been the central organizing principle of my administration,” Mrs. Arroyo said. “Without a good economy, we cannot have a high quality of life, and only way for our hard-working citizens to take advantage of a strong economy is through attaining a sound education.”

She also underscored the importance of a giving good education to every Filipino.

“No issue is more important to me than education. Our children are our future. Education is the ticket to better life,” she said.

Education experts and officials present at the last minute consultations in Malacañang reported to Mrs. Arroyo that there is a significant drop in the incidence of malnutrition among public elementary school children from 21 percent to 17 percent in 2007 due to the school-feeding program, according to Presidential Task Force on Education (PTFE) head Mona Valisno.

“School attendance has improved from 90 percent in 2006 to 95 percent in 2007. To date, 10,768 schools benefited from the program involving 921,084 pupils,” Valisno said.

Also, two of the three boys presented by Mrs. Arroyo in her first SONA in 2001 visited her at the Palace on Sunday to personally thank her for the scholarships they received from her. It was learned that some 500 other children whose families were living at the Payatas dumpsite were also granted scholarships by the President.

The three boys, Jason Vann Banogan, Jomar Pabalan and Erwin Dolera, known as the “Bangkang papel boys” belong to thousands of families left homeless when Payatas collapsed and buried some of its 1000 residents in 2000.

The three boys were given the monicker after they wrote their aspirations in paper boats they floated in the Pasig River to reach Malacañang in a symbolic ceremony.

Pabalan, 18 and Dolera, 17, decried allegations that they have been abandoned by Mrs. Arroyo after their much-publicized appearance in her first SONA, a Palace statement said.

They defended the president, saying she grant them scholarships.

The Palace said Jomar is now in his second year, taking up Bachelor of Science degree in Information Technology at the AMA School in Fairview while Erwin, also a sophomore is taking up Bachelor of Arts in Broadcast Communications at the Trinity University of Asia in Quezon City.

Their parents too were given jobs after undergoing livelihood skills training.

GMA to put closure to some critical issues against her

Remonde also said Mrs. Arroyo would also address and put closure to some critical issues hurled against her administration while at the same time elevating the political discourse.

He noted the country has “a vicious opposition that does nothing but to hit the President full-time.”

Remonde cited President Arroyo’s accomplishments and said the country’s economy expanded under her watch despite the growing population, high oil prices, and the global economic crisis.

He said the value of the country’s Gross National Product (GNP) grew from $74 billion in 2001 to 184.6 billion in 2008.

Per capita GNP in 2001 when the population was 76.5 million was at $967 and is now at $2,051 in 2008 with the population at about 90 million or an increase of 149 percent in eight years.

He said the value of the Gross Domestic Product more than doubled from 2001 or from P3.63 trillion to P7.42 trillion in 2008 or an equivalent of 13 percent gain per year.

He also said under the Arroyo administration, infrastructure expansion was also unprecedented, with the establishment of three nautical highways connecting Luzon, and in central Philippines to Mindanao in the south.

He also said 98 percent of all barangays already has electricity while 98 percent of the archipelago has cellular phone signal.

Meanwhile, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) was not convinced that the Arroyo administration made inroads in improving the country’s state of education and said they would give her a failing grade of “5.” — With Rainier Allan Ronda