SONA and the TV camera

Tuesday, 26 July 2011 02:36

Written by Danilo Araña Arao

There is no denying that the state of the nation address (SONA) last July 25 is a made-for-TV production and that President Benigno Aquino III spends most of the time playing to the camera.

All the necessary elements for TV audience consumption are there –non-text visuals (e.g., pictures, tables, graphs and charts), sound bites (i.e., one-liners and so-called quotable quotes) and the delivery of the speech in Filipino (highlighted by colloquial expressions every so often).

Because of these elements, I assume that many Filipinos had the patience to listen to the 53-minute speech which could be summed up using two adjectives: “telling and promising.” Depending on your political beliefs, you may want to add a third one: “condescending.”

Of course, the more politically astute are wont to use two adjectives to describe the SONA: “delusional and illogical.”

The more media-savvy audience, however, may see through the fluff and conclude that, as in many events covered by the media, the SONA is a spectacle that is strong in form but wanting in substance.

While statistics are used to back up the claims of a “telling” present and a “promising” future, the arguments, for the most part of the SONA, are strengthened not by persuasion but by speculation.

In exposing corruption, it may be surprising to know that the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) reportedly spent P1 billion on coffee alone. But the details behind this alleged expenditure is not clearly explained in the SONA. Was this spent for only one year or a period of nine years (particularly 2001 to 2010 during the previous administration)? Was this consumed by only the employees or the GOCC’s clients? The context is important to better appreciate the alleged corruption at the PAGCOR.

What proves to be worse in failing to provide the context is the President’s resort to speculation: “Baka po kahit ngayong iba na ang pamunuan ng PAGCOR ay dilat na dilat pa rin ang mata ng mga uminom ng kapeng ito.” And mindful that coffee helps keep people awake, the allusion of how certain corrupt individuals at PAGCOR could sleep soundly at night proves to be the President’s sensible transition (even if there is no logic in the argumentation): “Hanapin nga po natin sila, at matanong: Nakakatulog pa po ba kayo?”

Can you relate to the Filipino colloquial expressions that peppered the text of the SONA? Just to cite a few examples: Naman. Oks lang. Tongpats. Did you also like the one-liners used by the President? In protecting the government’s territory, for example, he said: “Ang sa Pilipinas ay sa Pilipinas; kapag tumapak ka sa Recto Bank, para ka na ring tumapak sa Recto Avenue.”

The use of colloquial expressions and one-liners fulfills, on one hand, the objective of making the message understandable to a broader audience. However, they could also compromise the formality of the tone and end up trivializing the serious issues being discussed.

In the case of the SONA, the use of the word “wangwang” to refer to the prevailing culture of corruption ends up oversimplifying the issue and provides a hasty generalization of the problem. It is nothing but a useful sound bite as it gives a new definition to the word. Just to cite an example: “Ang panlalamang matapos mangakong maglingkod—iyan po ang utak wang-wang.” Aside from “utak wang-wang,” the President also introduces new phrases (e.g., kampanya kontra wang-wang, pagwawang-wang sa mga ahensya ng gobyerno, nagwawang-wang sa pribadong sektor).

That the word “wangwang” (spelled “wang-wang” most of the time) was used 19 times only means one thing: The Aquino administration has intended to make the SONA memorable by virtue of its merely being quotable. The officials, particularly the President, need to play to the camera as they deliver what audiences want to hear even if the message is not necessarily the truth.

Indeed, the SONA sacrifices content to focus more on the form. So what does the SONA stand for at present? The letter S stands not for state but for “spectacle” and the N stands not for nation but for “nothing.”