State of nation address our guide to our future

We must admit that we had never listened to a State of the Nation Address that thoroughly captivated us than President Gloria Macapagal’s SONA last Monday. Watching her on TV gave us the feeling that she was addressing us personally right in our living room. She did not sound like a head of state delivering an address to the nation. She gave the impression that she was the head of a family who was showing the love and care that she had for all her children.

The way we saw it, she literally got an applause for every statement she made. This was despite the fact that she began her state of nation address by forgetting that all SONAs start with the singing of the national anthem. She was applauded no less than 166 times and was twice given a standing ovation. If you ask us, it was the most captivating State of the Nation in our history. The reason why it is hard to make such a claim is the truth that television is a fairly new thing. There was no television in the past, so how can we compare SONAs? Radio is one thing and television is totally another. The world is now a global village and television brings everything — even the destruction of New Orleans — right into our living room.

We learned about Gloria Macapagal’s program for the whole nation just by watching and listening to her for about an hour. And we must admit that we were thoroughly absorbed.

What impressed us most was her call for unity. She made it clear that she would not shirk from a fight, but really believed that we would all be best serving the nation if we all joined hands and worked for the survival and progress of our one and only country. In short, we don’t want winners and losers. We should all work together for a win-win situation.

We agree with President Macapagal-Arroyo that the Philippines can regain its stature of being the Pearl of the Orient. We could be a first rate nation and she has a plan to achieve this within two decades. Two decades is something that this columnist cannot expect to last. Not at our age. But it is great to know that our children and grandchildren will have a world with more opportunities.

What we need is leadership and after watching President Macapagal-Arroyo deliver her SONA, we are truly and sincerely convinced that we are under the right leadership. First, she knows the state of the nation. Second, she has a ready plan to go from where we actually are to where we could be at the shortest possible time. Can anyone present a better alternative? That is what we should reasonably expect from the opposition. A better alternative to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s plan to rise from a third rate to a first rate country. An alternative plan – not Gloria Step Down!