Pinoy bloggers and the Sona

SOME Filipino bloggers did not mince words, as they blogged about the recent State of the Nation Address of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Former journalist Anton DeLeon’s Slap Happy was not very happy about Arroyo’s speech. He writes:

Things are not definitely getting better. Seriously, if things were booming and zooming and talk of all this economic activity was real then i wouldn’t be holed up here in Dubai, of all places, if the prospects of all economic progress are pointing to the Philippines.

DeLeon is currently working in Dubai as a media executive. He continues:

Noted as one of the least applauded speeches of Arroyo, the statement of a “President being as strong as she wants to be” did not appeal to my fancy. I actually found it uh…droll.

However, i do agree with the proposals for the anti-terrorism law, which i think should be neatly put in place and all that needs to be done should be done.

And to summarize what i thought of during the hour long speech; i was looking forward to hearing something different–specifics– and not the usual vision, mission, expectations we get every SONA. I am just too tired of it.

Coming from someone who just left the government for better things elsewhere, i am really just too tired of it.

Fellow journalist and blogger Manuel Quezon III cited Pinoy bloggers who made interesting comments about the Sona.

Quezon found Philippine Science High School teacher Martin Perez’ blog entry at Akomismo noteworthy.

Perez writes:

Last year, the President debuted the ambitious “Super Regions” infrastructure framework. This year she takes it ten steps further by bannering a new ideal — that we become a first world country in 20 years. And in her speech today, she outlines how she plans to contribute to that vision in her last three years.

While I can’t comment fully on the speech yet due to obvious reasons, I also wouldn’t want to say how unrealistic her vision is. Everyone deserves the chance to dream. However, I would like to raise an important point made by the Inquirer’s editorial today — that our country needs a leader, not a manager. We don’t need just a checklist of accomplishments and goals; we need a direction, a vision and a dream. PGMA may dream all she will, but to get our people sold on that dream is another matter. Having our people believe in her and work with her on this requires the talents and charisma of a leader that this manager of a President has yet to or may never even become. How she attempts to do this in the SONA will be one thing I’m looking out for.

Quezon then went on to link to an exercise Perez conducted in his class. He later posted the result in an entry, titled “What my students taught me about the Sona.”

Tingog.com lists 10 key highlights in the Sona. One highlight says:

The last part of her speech was full of hidden clues, agendas, and wink wink type of sentences. She said, “They say the campaign for the next election started on May 15, the day after the last. Fine. I stand in the way of no one’s ambition. I only ask that no one stand in the way of the people’s well being and the nation’s progress. The time for facing off is over. The time is here for facing forward to a better future our people so desperately want and richly deserve. Uulitin ko: Hindi ako sagabal sa ambisyon ninuman. But make no mistake. I will not stand idly when anyone gets in the way of the national interest and tries to block the national vision. From where I sit, I can tell you, a President is always as strong as she wants to be.”

From the Bayanihan Blog Network, Sasha adds:

I get the feeling that the SONA here in the Philippines is much more closely watched by its citizens than in other countries. That’s because for both the administration and opposition—and their supporters—President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s annual speech determines the points and issues to argue over. Which usually boils down to question of whether the Philippines has improved under her direction.

What struck me, however, was the observation made by Quezon. He says,

Body language says a lot. The President looked tired and drawn when she arrived at the Batasan; keeping control of things that day obviously wasn’t easy. Compared to last year’s triumphalist, even gleeful, delivery, she seemed to falter and stumble over the words a lot. And despite name-dropping like crazy, she garnered less applause than last year: and it was the loyal NBN people who did the counting, mind you.

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