Monday, July 23, 2007

Bago MagSONA

Hours before the "President" delivers her seventh State of the Nation Address, Philippine broadsheets and their online editions are teeming with news items and editorial columns dedicated to the event.

Before every opinion maker comes up with his own analysis of the 2007 SONA, I ventured to look back at how the previous report card was delivered on 24 July 2006:

We now have the funds to stamp out terrorism and lawless violence. May pondo na tayo para labanan ang katiwalian.

Our reforms have earned us P1 billion from the U.S. Millennium Challenge Account for more investigators, prosecutors, and new technology to fight corruption. We are matching this with another billion from our fiscal savings.


Well, terrorism is still here- and the spin? Funds alone are not enough. I am quite expectant that the same sentence will find its way to this year's SONA. Just substitute funds with HSA.

May pondo na raw para labanan ang katiwalian. More investigators, prosecutors and new technology to fight corruption? We only managed to fight those who used to be above us in the rankings of Asia's most corrupt governments. Guess what? This is probably the only fight Aling Gloria won. Now, nobody else is above the Philippines in terms of corruption in Asia.


In the harshest possible terms I condemn political killings. We together stopped judicial executions with the abolition of the death penalty. We urge witnesses to come forward. Together we will stop extrajudicial executions

Between 26 June 2006, or two days after the 2006 SONA, and 17 July 2007, a full week before the 2007 SONA, 50 lives had already been lost extrajudicially. Who's responsible? Was it the usual suspect? Aling Gloria did not leave anything to speculation:

...And we will end the long oppression of barangays by rebel terrorists who kill without qualms, even their own. Sa mga lalawigang sakop ng 7th Division, nakikibaka sa kalaban si Jovito Palparan.

Ang tanong ko lang bago magSONA, buhay pa kaya si Jonas Burgos?


2 comments:

neonate said...

One of the legacies of Ate Glue will be “the most corrupt nation in Asia”. This is highly embarrassing to OFWs and émigré Pinoys. But to the stay-at-home it is much more than shame, it can mean a medical alert. ATTN all ye that abhor corruption: Smugglers and their Bureau of Customs partners could be dangerous to your health – tainted Chinese food and medicines smuggled into the Philippines are showing up in local groceries. These items include candy, toothpaste and foods without the BFAD imprint. Some deaths abroad have been reported after consumers used such tainted Chinese imports.
In the smuggling of luxury cars (yes, Virginia, Subic is a favorite smuggle port, but Manny P. paid his tax ‘balance”) there is a hint that Mistahs are deeply involved forming a chain extending from port of entry, customs, clearance, and registration. Since our Sen Trillanes is a Mistah, we must be alert on the manner he will handle the smuggling issue.

Ka Enchong said...

ikaw ba yan, neo? salamat sa pagdalaw.

how right you are regarding these tainted chinese goods. heard that cheap second hand "surplus| car are indeed cheap in subic.

senator trillanes can easily pass our test when it involves our common "foes". the true test of his character is when the people involved are close to him- his mistahs being among those. let's see.