PNOY VS. PGMA

Last Monday July 26, President Benigno Aquino III will delivered his first State of the Nation Address (SONA). His first SONA was sort of an exposé on “irregularities in the previous administration that were uncovered by the new Cabinet”.I think, Filipinos, however, are more interested to hear what Aquino plans to do to immediately change the country’s course. It’s not that they do no want to know the real state of the nation. It’s just that they are already very much aware of the mess left behind and crimes committed by the Arroyo administration.
Philippines is now one of the most corrupt nations in the Southeast Asia and Noynoy is trying to gain back the dignity of the Filipino or the Philippines as the most respectable nations in the past.

Preident Noynoy’s SONA can be divided into two parts; the first part enumerates the sins, incompetence and the alleged anomalies of the past administration. The second part includes the solutions and strategies he want to adopt to solve the perceived problems in order to promote prosperity and peace for the nation. But most of it focuses on expose of the past administration.

I believe that, instead of an expose, the SONA must illustrate how the Truth Commission will make Arroyo and others accountable. Aquino must provide indicators to measure the success of this commission such as specific targets and specific deadlines.

Aside from corruption, there are other problems that Aquino will have to take up in his SONA. Job scarcity, poverty and inequities in wealth distribution, insecurity in resources like energy, water, and food, fiscal deficit, agrarian unrest; human rights violations, climate crisis and environmental destruction. In his SONA, Aquino should not use Arroyo’s corruption to conceal the inadequacies of his own policies and vision for the country.

On the positive side, I like his straight-to-the-point speech but he must be discreet in his accusations. I pray that his doable solutions to the country’s problems of having public-private partnership or BOT were sincere and not offered by imperialist countries that merely want us to be perpetually dependent on them. The first SONA of our newly elected President reflects his strong desire for change and as citizens, we should participate and contribute.

On the other hand, P-Noy’s SONA renews the hope of every Filipino in attaining a clean government, quality life, and a healthy and peaceful environment. His SONA also provided hope to those who are unemployed to find jobs and livelihood and be motivated to stay in our country. More importantly, it assured us that the horrors that the GMA administration had inflicted upon us are things of the past. Which I believe that, we could craft a good policy if we use past as our basis.

PNOY’s first SONA was different from PGMA’s first State of the Nation Address last July 23, 2001. PGMA started his first SONA before using Jayson, Jomar and Erwin 3 young boys who sent her a letter using paper boat and soar it in Pasig River. PGMA had these as her basis. Her vision was to fight against poverty for a decade.
PGMA believed that Unity for the country’s recovery will set the stage for national mobilization needed to undertake the great and difficult tasks ahead. She emphasizes her belief that, to succeed on our National Agenda or problem we have to apply these four components; the first is an economic philosophy of free enterprise appropriate to the 21st century. The second component is a modernized agricultural sector founded on social equity. The third component is a social bias toward the disadvantaged to balance our economic development plan. And the fourth component is to raise the moral standards of government and society.

To cut it short, I believe that, PNOY and PGMA’s vision were more likely the same. What is important is that, our newly elected President Noynoy Aquino should be able to accomplish his vision and promises. And prioritize our countries welfare and development. So as to not experience another failed administration. And truly reduce corruption and win our fight against poverty. Which both PNOY and PGMA aims for.