The many faces of SONA

Was that a cheering squad, or was that a cheering squad? With the crowd clapping virtually after each sentence, including routine introductions of dignitaries in attendance, the President was "interrupted" no less than 166 to 168 times, depending on which media count you use.

One newspaper (not the STAR) just gave up after the 150th round of applause and reported "more than" that number. It’s a minor discrepancy. No matter what number you rely on, the 2006 State of the Nation Address of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo set a record of sorts, apparently twice the number Cory Aquino received in the 1986 SONA delivered in the afterglow of EDSA I, and a gazillion more times than FVR ever got in his plodding, if earnest and fact-rich, addresses.

Did you see, apart from certain majority coalition congressmen flashing their Cheshire cat grins, those governors, mayors, other local officials and AFP generals smiling broadly or rising triumphantly and waving vigorously at the audience when their names were mentioned? Obviously expecting to be called, they were dressed to the nines for their five seconds of fame on national television.

Victorious athletes too were among the "human props," one TV reporter’s pointed characterization, for GMA’s performance of a lifetime. The Filipino conquerors of Mount Everest, Manny Pacquiao and some gold medalists in our recent ASEAN Games outing were there to underscore the President’s peroration, to wit: "Individually, we’ve taken the world on and won; together, we must take on the challenge of creating a new, peaceful, humane and competitive nation, and prevail."

No one can argue with that, I guess. But Minority Leader Chiz Escudero counters that she should emulate those athletes: "They all won fairly," he insists, and didn’t "hide behind the referee." We don’t have to guess what the opposition stalwart means.

But let’s not dwell on the externals, breathtaking for her supporters as they were, and focus on the substance. First, I disagree that the SONA was a mere wish list and ignored the state of the nation. A cursory review of the text of the speech reveals that aside from telling the people what she plans to do, GMA did list certain alleged achievements of her administration. However, she didn’t limit that list to 2005 but included claimed achievements in previous years.

Many might have fixated on that list of projects still to be undertaken but she did include projects started in previous years such as the "giant investments" in the Subic Seaport, the Clark Airport and the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway, as well as Roll On-Roll Off seaports already in place in the Central Nautical Highway, and completed portions of that "continuous highway" from Clark to Metro Manila to Batangas Port.

Moreover, in her assertion that "we now have the funds" for various undertakings, she argues that the country is in a better financial condition. That description, naturally, invites rebuttal but she did say we have the funds for, among many urgent matters, the fight to "stamp out terrorism and lawless violence," "to address social inequity and economic disparity," and to implement the Medium Term Public Investment Program. Now, there can be strenuous argument over these broad claims, but she did make them and they are on the record.

And there really was an extended wish list of projects still to be undertaken, including new highways, airports, seaports, railways, and more water, irrigation and flood control facilities. There was also a timeline for those projects which is acknowledged to be "ambitious." Some critics call both the projects and their deadlines "unattainable." The list was long enough, and "democratic" enough, to cause the assembled local officials to jump for joy, and their level of expectations to zoom to heretofore unimagined heights.

After all, GMA’s promise is that when she relinquishes the presidency "after three years, eleven months, and six days," i.e. June 30, 2010, she would have completed "much, if not all, that I have outlined." That’s a clear dig at incorrigible skeptics who say she’s planning to stay beyond 2010 and can’t possibly deliver the committed projects.

While she did mention at the start of the SONA that she wasn’t going to talk politics, the political opposition says her whole speech sounded like one she would deliver on the stump. Puro pangako (all promises), they huff. Well, she certainly didn’t forego the opportunity to make another pitch for Charter Change, the main topic of her SONA last year. At the time, Speaker Joe was on his feet during most of the speech. This time, he was more restrained, but his utter delight at the proceedings was manifest.

But what about virtually everybody’s question: Do we have the money for all these projects? It’s not too encouraging when her economic managers, principally Finance Secretary Gary Teves, Budget Secretary Rolly Andaya and Economic Planning Secretary Romy Neri, tell people they will still "meet" to figure out how to get the money for the President’s "wish list." Didn’t they meet before the speech?

Still, the three managers project confidence about sourcing the money from a combination of allocations from the national budget, contributions from local governments (evidently from their "blocked" Internal Revenue Allotments), more government loans (allegedly on "soft" terms), foreign investment, and private initiatives through such "proven" devices as Build-Operate-Transfer arrangements.

According to Romy Neri, domestic and foreign investors will be assured of predictable revenue streams by making sure they encounter "no surprises." Even if he can do that, which is concededly not impossible, it will be a first in the legal and financial annals of this country.

Rep. Joey Salceda, another economic adviser of the President, assures us that the one thing that won’t be a source of funding will be new or higher taxes for companies and individuals. Read his lips, he says. Actually, we would prefer to read GMA’s, Joe de V’s and Manny Villar’s lips, not Joey’s. He’s not always been right.

The jury’s still out on whether GMA’s recital of those undeniably worthwhile projects was an exercise in realism or fantasy. Moreover, while rousing calls to togetherness and unity play well on radio and TV, the rhetoric doesn’t amount to too much, unless the touted projects see the light of day. The thing about messiahs is that when they give a glimpse of the Promised Land, people actually expect to be led there.