P.Noy's SONA: Looking forward or backward?

Our special presentation tonight on our talkshow Straight from the Sky is the second part of our postscript on the May 10 elections. We ask the poignant question, “How reliable was the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machine used by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in the first ever automated elections?” With us is Mr. Emmanuel Amador, IT chairman for the Ang Kapatiran Party who was in the forefront of the turmoil that persisted right after the elections.

Mr. Amador knows exactly what happened to the 60 PCOS machines that were uncovered in Antipolo, something that the Filipino people are still in the dark, as to why they were in the house of a Smartmatic technician. Were these machines used to transmit votes is something a lot of people would like to know, especially that there were also several PCOS machines found in a house in Cagayan de Oro City. So watch this very interesting show on SkyCable’s channel 15 at 8:00pm tonight.

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The 15th Congress of the Philippines opens today and it is time for Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III to make his “State of the Nation Address.” Since I began writing columns more than 20 years ago, I have heard all the SONAs from Pres. Cory Aquino, Pres. Fidel V. Ramos, Pres. Joseph “Erap” Estrada and many SONAs from Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. A little research on their respective SONAs would show that we never heard one lousy SONA. Indeed, the speechwriters of all our Presidents have done their job very well.

So why is the Philippines still behind our ASEAN neighbors? Notice I mentioned ASEAN? In the past, we would say that we are getting far behind Japan. That was because most of the countries in the ASEAN were still far behind us. Now, the majority of our ASEAN neighbors except for one or two are now far ahead of the Philippines. I guess that’s because Philippine Presidents never follow what they say in their SONAs.

A case in point is the famous “Walang kaibigan, walang kamag-anak” statement in the SONA of then Pres. Joseph “Erap” Estrada. Erap’s SONA gave the Filipino people great expectations of change in this country, a change that should have lead to good governance. But in just a couple of years, Erap was removed from power, sent on a house arrest and eventually convicted for the crime of plunder. And in the most frustrating event in Filipino history, he was pardoned by Pres. Arroyo, a move that made her the most unpopular President since Pres. Marcos.

I’m sure that the SONA that Pres. Noynoy would give before the 15th Congress would be well-applauded and accepted and as he already announced “shocking”. Let’s expect a litany of all the sins done during the term of Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA). We have scrutinized the GMA presidency with a fine-tooth comb and I submit that we’re already a bit jaded. Nothing should shock us anymore. Unless of course, P.Noy comes up with a new set of problems that the Filipino people haven’t yet seen or heard before, then that would truly be shocking to us.

In short, we can expect a SONA that will be looking back at the mistakes or “crimes” of the previous administration, just like what happened during the time of Pres. Cory Aquino. But look, the Marcoses are still very much around. What this country needs is a SONA that should be the nation’s road map for the next six years, now that is looking forward, not backward!  

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Last Thursday, I was invited to attend the 7th SunStar Economic Forum held at the Parklane Hotel and the focus of this forum was on Community Based Tourism for Cebu, which was the topic of Mr. Ludwig Rieder President of Asia Pacific Projects. Before his speech, our good friend Prof. Fernando “Perry” Fajardo rattled of the economic statistics especially about Cebu versus the National Capital Region (NCR) and the rest of the Philippines and it was clear that tourism is still a bright spot for our country especially when we experienced a strong growth in tourist arrivals even at the height of the world’s financial crisis.

What the audience learned was that, the Suroy-Suroy tourism campaign of the Province of Cebu, which is the backbone project of Gov. Gwen Garcia has spurred a Community based Tourism industry. It is not just an ordinary “Suroy-Suroy” as other people would say… but a real tourism program that has made Cebuanos who live in the far-flung areas proud of their culture and heritage. Of course this tourism program also exposes the negatives when tourists come to their localities, like the lack of hotel facilities… something that can hopefully be addressed in the near future.

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