Expecting too much from the SONA

Those who expected too much were bound to be dismayed. Those who expected too little were up for a pleasant surprise. After all has been said and done, after all the praises and criticisms, the disappointments and exhilarations, the labor front was left asking for more. They expected too much from the President who just had barely a year to go through a learning curve, too little time indeed with too much problems and too limited tolerance from a somehow impatient, angry and hungry citizenry. This administration ignited too much expectations after nine years of a callous, uncaring and, with due respect, highly irresponsible governance. The labor sector, like everybody else, was waiting for a concrete roadmap to the promise land of deliverance from poverty, social conflicts, crimes and hopelessness. They were waiting for real programs and projects that are time-bound, with targets that are quantifiable and verifiable by the people.

 The people were downright wrong. The SONA is not the forum for the action plans. The task of a leader is to inspire his people, and give them hopes, and to rally them around a vision for change and emancipation from, among others, poverty and social injustice. The task of translating the vision to concrete plans belongs to the Cabinet members and the bureau directors and agency heads. And the task of implementation belongs to the rank-and-file, under the direct supervision of the regional directors and division chiefs, and the first-line supervisors in each agency and instrumentality of the government. The people cannot expect the president of the nation to micro-manage, to man the traffic, to catch the criminals, to collect taxes and make the government machinery run smoothly, with limited resources.

 The people are dismayed because they expect too much from a President who has the uncompromising honesty of his late mother but does not have the fire in his belly like his late father. He does not have the passion, the dynamism and the tenacity of a Ninoy Aquino. And Ninoy’s charms, grit and communication skills were all inherited by his sister, Kris.He has the character of a Diosdado Macapagal but he has no appetite for operating details like GMA. The common man was perhaps disappointed because they expected the clarity of vision statements as FVR would say VISION 2020, or FM would wax eloquence that THIS NATION CAN BE GREAT AGAIN. PNoy could speak Tagalog as fluently as Erap but he does not have the spontaneous audience impact of Pres. Estrada, nor does he possess the magic presence of the guy, Pres. Magsaysay. That is why the people are dismayed because he is compared to dyed-in-the-wool politicians, which PNoy is decidedly not.

 Pres. Aquino could not have touched agrarian reform without opening a can of worms. The Hda Luisita case is an irritant and a major hurdle. He could not openly endorse the RH Bill without declaring war against the already agitated bishops. Instead, he appeased them by praising Cardinal Rosales and Cardinal Vidal and by extending a hand of peace to incoming CBCP President, Archbishop Jose Palma. The truth of the matter is that the State is afraid of the Church. PCSO Margie Juico should have known better than starting the Pajero Bishops controversy. Neither could PNoy touch the Freedom Of Information Bill without further courting the ire of the military and the police and the defenders of the status quo who are being threatened by“too much licentiousness of the Philippine press.” Thus, Noy had a very slim area to touch on his SONA.He was being very careful to keep the socio-economic equilibrium, not rocking the boat too much. And if we are not extremists, like the militant activists, we would understand where he was coming from and where did he bring us in his SONA.

Apart from a PAGCOR coffee costing a billion, and the overpaid GOCC executives, and the many shenanigans of the past administration, the President was taking it easy while doing a difficult balancing act. He was just doing a shooting target practice, with GMA as his favorite bulls-eye. GMA somehow cooperated by having herself admitted at the St. Luke’s Hospital minutes after the SONA. Meanwhile, if we did not expect too much, we would have enjoyed the SONA and its 50 or so interruptions by applause, and we could have enjoyed it indeed, enough to look forward for the next year’s SONA again. Bitaw no?