Natividad, Mharion R.

ECE 43

The 2011 State of the Nation Address

Last July 25, 2011 at the Session Hall of the House of Representatives his
Excellency, President Benigno S. Aquino delivered his State of the Nation Address to
the Congress of the Philippines. The speech was indeed an impressive work itself since
like his inaugural speech it was in Filipino, thus the majority of the citizens was able to
relate to what he is saying and able to either agree or contradict to his report. As
expected, the President put the best face he could on the accomplishments of his
administration, but were this accomplishments he stated about accurate?

President Aquino focuses on what he called "wang wang. He said that "Kung sa
trapiko nga ay di masunod ang batas, paano pa kaya sa mga bagay na mas malaki ang
makukuha, tulad ng sa mga proyektong pinopondohan ng kaban ng bayan?. This
words coming from our president gives us the faith in him that we are all equal that he is
just like an ordinary citizen that shall obey the rules of this constitution to act as role
model to for us.

President Aquino presented to the nation an all-time high in the stock market,
improved credit ratings, and investor interest in oil and gas exploration in the country.
He said that these are indicators that the economy has indeed improved and still
improving. He also said that the upgrade in our credit ratings is a huge accomplishment
since most countries had a downgrade from Moody's, Standard and Poors, Fitch and
Japan Credit Ratings Agency. As normal citizens would see, indeed this could mean
economic growth yet if we think about it, it has a bigger effect on the point of view of
investors rather than usual citizens who merely earn minimum wages and is ignorant of
economic transactions and effects of which
The President also mentioned ghost schools and teachers that are burdening the
government and the students as well since it reduces supposed budget for education.
However he forgot to mention budget-cuts in education which created many issues in
many State Colleges and Universities. Education has been a great issue during his
term, according to a report the budget of education department's school-building
program halved during his administration. The Php.2 billion in 2010 was cut down to
Php.1 billion in 2010, the 13,107 new classrooms that will be built this year will not even
match against the 113,000 deficiency in public school classroom.
An improvement in employment situation was also reported. A count of 1.4
million jobs created and a lower unemployment rate. The government are working with
DOLE, CHED, TESDA and DEPED to guide students in their studies, reducing the
underemployed citizens, the president added. But if we look closely, as the job
opportunities increase, the labor force increases as well thus off-setting the available
jobs.


President Aquino also claimed that the CCT (Conditional Cash Transfer) program
reduced poverty in the country. Even if these families are relieved from poverty which
think is an exaggeration since being a beneficiary of CCT or any other grants doesn't
technically mean you are not poor. The more important aspect here is for the
beneficiaries to be productive and contribute to the demands of the economy. t's either
a prospect job or livelihood for them after the said program.
The food security was also tackled by the President, basing on the improved rice
production due to the actions implemented by his administration, proper irrigation,
excellent choice of seeds etc. However he failed to mention expansions on areas
planted to rice and a more favourable weather with no adverse El Nio. Projected rice
productivity of 3.8 MT/ha in 2011 is virtually unchanged from 2009.

The SONA also did not mention problems faced by tens of millions of our people
low salary wages, continuing landlessness, burdensome tax systems and increasing
crimes and violations of human rights. These omissions and lack of further details
presented made the "optimism of the SONA hollow and uncertain. While it is true that
no one would hold that one year is enough time to resolve social and economic
problems, yet a year is certainly long enough to set strategic directions for the
Philippines economy that are firmly biased for the poor majority. Furthermore there are
still couple of years to fill in and see where this "Tuwid na Daan lead us.