EDITORIAL - State of the nation

With the war in Iraq, the emergence of SARS and the persistent terror threat, the Philippines hasn’t done too badly in the past year. That is a reflection of the performance of the Arroyo administration, which has managed to rack up modest gains in the past two and a half years despite the difficult and unusual circumstances of its birth.

Tomorrow President Arroyo will present her annual report card to the nation. If we are to believe her stunning announcement last December, it will be her last State of the Nation Address. Her third SONA will be delivered amid coup rumors that refuse to die down, fueled by a red alert in the military and police since the start of the week. And it will be delivered amid conspiracy theories regarding the escape from police custody of Indonesian terrorist Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi.

The escape has placed the head of the Philippine National Police chief on the line and added to the political instability that has marked this administration from the start. While President Arroyo has projected herself as a staunch ally of the United States in the war on terror, maintenance of peace and order remains one of her administration’s weakest points. An administration congressman who chaired the oversight committee on the commitments she made in her SONA last year gave her a passing grade of 7.8, with minuses heavy on matters of peace and order.

Other targets where the administration underperformed in the past year, according to the committee, include bringing down the prices of medicine and electricity, increasing the supply of textbooks for public schools and the construction of school buildings.

Meanwhile, businessmen continue to complain about poor infrastructure and corruption. It took many months before the lifestyle checks on public officials finally yielded results. With only four officials caught in the net, however, and the President trying to make everyone forget that the call for lifestyle checks started with questions about the lifestyles of certain officials at Malacañang, there are suspicions that the four executives now facing graft charges will be the first and last in this campaign, trotted out in time for the SONA.

The President must fend off such suspicions and battle cynicism as she rallies Congress and the nation to support her agenda in her final year. There is so much work ahead, and all well-meaning initiatives could be easily wasted as the nation becomes bogged down in politics and intrigue.