ABDUL-AZIM D.

ONTOK

5BSCE

07272011

A Reaction Paper on Philippine Presidents SONA 2011

The State of the Nation Address (SONA) by President Benigno Aquino III last Monday, July 25, 2011 was not inferior but not outstanding either. From a one to ten basis of evaluation, with one as the lowest and ten as the highest, I rate it as 5. He missed to mention and to give his outlook on many current issues and as well as updates to some of the proposed bills. Starting his speech with his tagline "Kayo ang aking boss" was a little uncomfortable for me. I am so sick of hearing those phrases in his press conferences. He always speak of those phrases to make him sound a down-to-earth leader. He always does make people believe he is someone they can depend on when what realistically is happening is that the people actually depend on themselves. I do not mind him using utak wang-wang to describe the political trait of selfishness. The most observable focus of his SONA was the still blame game to the former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. As what he did on his first SONA, he kept on punching and spitting the previous administration. It is not that I am pro-GMA but I do not like the way he's misleading the people of the nation. He should have focused on the advances made by his administration on the fight against poverty, crimes, climate change, terrorism, and many others instead of attacking the past administration. Why does he keep on telling the negative side of PGMA? His SONA seemed to be biased. Instead of telling his own mistakes, he kept on barking GMA's dirt. He should have spoken of the solutions made by the PNP to resolve hostage crises like the one that happened last August 2010.PNoy must have not used the mistakes of PGMA as an excuse for the failure of his plans and projects. With what PNoy has spoken of about PGMA, he obviously broke his statement to end the culture of negativism. PGMA was no exception in being uplifted by appreciating her good deeds. President Aquino did not declare his stand on issues such as revision on human rights law, land reforms, terrorism, and climate change. He should have cleared the issue about the Hacienda Luisita. He should have also mentioned developments on the fight against terrorism not only in Mindanao, but to the entire nation. He must not be proud of the construction of new power plant in Luzon. This plant will consume fossil fuels that will worsen the climate change in our country. President Aquino must not have sensationalized the giving of financial assistance to poor people. It can't be used as a measurement of success of the country. It would have been much better if he laid the budget for CCT on to development of jobs for those poor families. In this way, the money will continually grow rather than spending it on a one time basis. The best side of his SONA was his recognition of the efforts of some government offices such as DPWH, PAGASA, AFP, and CHED in enriching our country. It would be much better if he mentioned efforts of each department of government.

It was good that he told of his stand on Spratlys Island. Those artillery advances by the AFP is good news for each and every one. I hope that PNoy walk his talk. I hope that on his SONA 2012, he would not attack the previous administration. But that he would rather discuss concrete plans on the economic development of our country.