Sana

Sunday, 08 August 2010 00:00

Written by Malou Tiquia

It has been two weeks since the SONA of President Benigno S. Aquino III or what I would rather call PBSA3 rather than the propaganda name of PNOY. His propaganda machinery has often said PBSA3 is not into sound bites and he delivers what he wants to say straight from the heart. A careful review of the Inaugural and the SONA would show his penchance, or is it his speechwriter’s license to use sound bytes. Hence, after the “walang lamangan, walang padrino, at walang pagnanakaw. Walang wang-wang, walang counterflow, walang tong. Walang maiiwan, kayo ang boss ko.” Where are we now?

The tagalog word “sana” means fervent wish or hope as opposed to the abbreviation SONA which means State of the Nation Address. With BSA3 having an 88% approval and 85% trust ratings respectively, the hard decisions and the hard legislative measures should have been front and center of his SONA. “Kung walang korupt, walang mahirap” and “tuwid na daan” should have been concretized and delivered a year after. It’s a perfect case of dissonance from campaign promises to legislative agenda. PBSA3 should have told Congress, a year after these bills should be enacted into laws. Use his political capital to make the hard decisions but alas, he went on and on re things that may have been raw information without much CSW.

Though he called to mind instances of “purported” sweetheart deals alleging graft and corruption, not much mention was made on concrete steps he will take to get the “perpetrators” under the law. What he revealed was nothing new. Shock? I believe that people are already immune from such shocks. As one observer twitted, “that’s the same group clapping last year for PGMA and are now part of the coalition.” They too appeared to be immune from shocks.

PBSA3 talked of the 2010 budget being siphoned off by the previous dispensation. Is he referring to the cash budget or obligation budget? The Treasury and the Budget are two different things. But in the same breath, PBSA3 did not asked for a Supplemental Budget. What gives? Again, this is nothing new. When PFVR took office, there was a shortfall. When PJEE took his oath, there was a budget gap. Nothing new. Every leadership coming from an election year will have to face this reality. Its is not good that is why the framers of the Constitution wanted a single term of 6 years so that taxpayer’s money are not used for election purposes.

PBSA3 appears to have said don’t blame me because this is what I inherited or lower your expectations because I don’t have the money to pursue reforms. That is not leadership!

What got my goat really was when he started talking about public-private partnerships as the solution to our economic problems. We have seen that this model has not worked for us. With its adoption, the social divide has grown over the years. Now you see people living in pushcarts. You see families eating noodles and rice unlike before there was galunggong and rice. His economic advisers should probably study the Brazilian model of economic development under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and how it became part of the BRIC. Latin America offers several models from Peru to Venezuela. But the heart of the matter is that Government is there for the marginalized in society not for the economic powers of a nation because they can very well take care of themselves for so long as policies are stable and predictable.

Lastly, as a member of the community of nations, PBSA3 has been silent on foreign policy. Our historical partners – US, Japan, Spain; our geographical allies, such as the ASEAN, Asia Pacific and of course, the biggest market of them all, China are important in charting our course. The flashpoints in our national security notwithstanding, a worldview has to be enunciated since regional blocs whose relevance is again being reviewed in the light of the experience of EU have replaced political boundaries.

I hope in the 100th day of PBSA3’s administration, the directions will be clearer and the leap will be bolder cause this is our last chance of building our nation, of making accountability and transparency the order of the day, and of having leaders responsible enough to face the people and carry a collective dialogue to solve poverty and corruption in a decade’s time.

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