The sorry state of our nation
Perspective
Visayan Daily Star
Rowena V. Guanzon
The Sorry State of the Nation
The State of the Nation Address (SONA) of the president said nothing on health. Nothing on maternal and child care. Nothing on reducing infant mortality. Nothing on gender equality in education.Nothing. Nothing.This is the sorry state of our nation.
This is what we get after the “I’m sorry” speech – a road map to GMA’s political survival through a constitutional change, peddled by primus traditional politicians Jose de Venecia and Fidel Ramos.These old men will soon face the dawn of their lives so they want a “one for the road” with the Filipino people.Can’t these people see we are fed up with old traditional politicians? If they succeed in amending the Constitution through a Constitutional Assembly, we might as well get the dog houses ready because we will have more of these dogs but with different collars.
GMA is buying time and slowly but surely, will erode the political power of her enemies.Do not be surprised if Secretary Raul Gonzalez makes good his word to file charges against GMA’s enemies, starting with the Hyatt 10 group of Dinky Soliman. Why GMA cannot fire him even after he bad mouthed former President Cory Aquino is obvious.She thinks she needs his protection. GMA is feeding the patriarchal beasts of these old politicians, and it is a shame that they are probably gloating about it when her back is turned, saying, “see, a woman cannot run this country without men like us.”
GMA’s protectors want a unicameral parliament, dissolve the Senate which is home to their obstructionists like Senate President Franklin Drilon. Then the Members of Parliament will not only make laws, they will also participate in running the government.Heaven forbid, with the level of intelligence quotient in Congress, that we will be ruled by these people who do not know what happens to investments when interest rates go up, and what happens to a country that is politically divided.All they want is to stay in power, and many of them figure that the safer side to be on is Malacanang.
The mayors, with swollen palms after the SONA address after all those standing ovations, are very pleased.No other president has given them so much attention,treat them like royal guests in Malacananang, and speaks to them in their own dialectsFederalism will give them more power, and soon political parties will be dominated by mayors, not by those legislators and businessmen from Manila who cannot even win in their own towns. When the die is cast, the local politicians will shout, “A whole new world! Power to the provinces!”
What the SONA was about was all promises and more lies.The people, no thanks to our politicians, have become wary of promises and can smell a rat a mile away.Nothing can be more discerning than a people who have long waited for reforms, and whose children have no future in sight in this country.Take the physician from Iloilo whom I met last week for example.He said that all that GMA said is that we are “poised for economic recovery,” as if prosperity is just outside our doorstep.In Ilonggo, he said, the promise is that “manog manggaranon na ako” (I am about to get rich). It’s hilarious.I am about to rich! Our country is about to get rich!Maybe some other people out there are about to or are already very rich, but not us.
No, we are not “poised for economic recovery.”We are already the laughing stock of our ASEAN neighbors.Filipinos cannot hold their heads high in foreign lands where they sweat it out and bear the prejudice and abuse just so they can send dollarsand pounds home.If, heaven forbid, all those countries that host our overseas workers will hire their own people or other people at cheaper cost next year, we will be doomed.
We have a president who is accused of cheating the elections but is doing everything to obstruct the truth.We have a country so divided – from businessmen to the religious that we cannot gather three people without an argument.We have economic instability and the government’s creditors worrying about their money.We have a Secretary of Justice who would rather do injustice that dispense justice.We have a Commission on Elections that is the prime suspect in rigging the presidential elections.We have poor people dying of diseases, infants dying before they could reach the age of one, and our women are trafficked for prostitution.If the president has any love left for the Filipino people she should tell us the truth instead of lies.
We have a president whom we cannot believe. We have a president who cannot give us hope. This is the sorry state of our nation.
