Philippines: Toddling the Straight Path

Contrary to the typical and patterned State of the Nation Address, his Excellency President Benigno Simeon “P-Noy” Aquino Jr. delivered another unexpected speech, which stirred the House of Representatives. During his first SONA, he was faced with a forked road- standing between the divergence of the crooked road of corruption and the straight path of honest-to-goodness righteousness. This time, he proved that taking the one less traveled by has made the difference. 

            Critics, who buzzed around commenting and laughing about his first SONA which contained no more than just mere status quos and visions of an effective government, were again looking-forward for his plans for the future legislations. But then again, disappointment wrapped them after hearing his “wang-wang” speech. Commentaries about him not mentioning about the status of some house bills, especially the Freedom of Information Bill, immediately boomed in the internet and blogspots. Critics claimed that his well scripted, self acclaimed and “hope for the poor” speech which was sugar coated made him sound like he is the leader we’ve been waiting for.  But then, of all the presidents who came and went, who among them did not sugar-coat their respective speeches?

The able visionary

            Unlike the previous presidents who delivered their speech in front of the congress, P-Noy is fond of delivering the simplest speech. His SONAs are generally composed of unsubstantiated visions; visions that were not rationalized nor provided with a step-by-step course of action.  His version of SONA is a bombshell which makes it justifiable to say that he is indeed as controversial as her showbiz sister, Kris. By exposing the clandestine anomalies in the past government, he was able to divert the attention of the mob making his shortcomings unnoticeable.  Conrado de Quiros of the Philippine Daily Inquirer even stated that “Whatever the P-Noy government’s failings, it is far, far better than the one it replaced”.

            In his almost one hour speech, he spent almost a third of it discussing about his visions of good and effective governance. Like the other SONA’s, wishful promises were made but his version is different.  His promises were pragmatic and not just a stereotypical promise of improving the infrastructure, health care, education system and what not. Although at one point, he made an overrated promise of putting an end to corruption, but his way of doing it was done in a realistic and catchy manner.  He made less and simple promises compared to the previous administration but he was able to prove to his “bosses” that he is more effective as a leader by fulfilling them. He was a living proof that making simple and few fulfilled promises are better than numerous unmet promises of grandiosity. 

Dealing with wang-wang

            From the beginning of his speech, it was very noticeable that P-Noy kept on mentioning about “wang-wang” which he used to symbolize the perverse ingenuity and abuse of authority by the allegedly “public servants”. He pointed out that by abolishing the wang-wang system of the society, being the mindset of entitlement, has yielded good results in our economy. Along with wang-wang is the culture of patronage or the “whom you know” culture of the Filipinos which he intends to stop. His great repulsion against wang-wang was escalated when a woman told him, “It won’t matter who wins these elections. Nothing will change. I was poor when our leaders campaigned, I am poor now that they are in the office, and I will still be poor when they step down”. That statement echoed in him which he took as a challenge.

            In his speech, he made a threat against those who intend to lead the nation astray. His strong conviction against this ingenuity was supported by his revelations about some government offices and private sectors guilty of having an underground agenda.  He further remarked “What is wrong remains wrong regardless how long it has been allowed to persist. We cannot simply let it pass because if we ignore the crimes of the past, they will continue to haunt us”. Indeed, the revelations about the anomalies in the PAGCOR, PNCC, DPWH, and agricultural sectors, along with the allegations about ARMM elections has niggled those who are taking part of these anomalies.   He even mentioned the evident loophole in our local government wherein patronage is highly practiced. True enough, in our local governments we can see public officials and their family indulging in their affairs by making use of the government facilities and attending some private gathering aboard a “red-plated” vehicle. It is no longer a strange thing to see officials who allow their wives and children to use the patrol car or the ambulance as personal service to get rid of traffic. Hence, the word “wang-wang” also signifies the sound of the sirens of these vehicles which are supposedly for public use.  P-Noy, in his speech, even iterated a portion of the law which states that “The law authorizes only the President, the Vise President, the Senate President, the Speaker, the Chief Justice, and police vehicles, fire trucks and ambulances to use sirens in the fulfillment of their official duties- no one else.”

What the main problem is

            By P-Noy’s effort of getting rid of wang-wang and scrutinizing the questionable government-funded projects and programs, he was able to point out the hole in our system. During his speech, he was able to banner the amount of questionable funds which cannot be justified by the output of different sectors wherein an appalling amount of government funds allocated to different projects was spent over questionable items. In his speech, he even stated “If those funds had not gone waste, a child could have gone to school. Instead, we built ghost bridges to reach ghost schools where only ghost teachers went to work.”

            By diagnosing the main problem, P-Noy was able to put an end to it. Instead of waiting for the questionable projects to be justified, he withheld the funds intended for these projects and reallocated it to other programs such as the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, making sure that more and more indigent families can avail of the government’s assistance. After all, the tax we pay to the government is intended for the Filipino people. If we pay them taxes, then our hard earned money should go to where it should be.

Washing the laundry

            Clear enough, P-Noy’s second SONA was fashioned to covertly reveal PGMA’s excellent words and mediocre works.  Despite the allegations that PGMA laid a strong economic foundation which P-Noy is now enjoying, he is up to prove himself to his bosses that his way is different from the previous administration for he chose to toddle the unfamiliar and experimental way of governance- the straight path. Regardless of the criticism hurling against his doorstep,   he is still bold and robust in facing these obstacles for he is deviating from the crooked road and taking the first step to lead the nation along the straight path.  He even ended his speech by showing his confidence about the capability of the Filipino people to put an end to the wang-wang culture and keep the country alive, truly alive.

Edited and Published as:

SONA 2011: Toddling the Straight Path
National Interest

Capitol Chronicle vol. 23 No.1
June-August 2011 issue
“Engage and Experience”