P-NOY 2nd SONA HIGHLIGHTS STAMPING OUT 'WANG-WANG'
[PHOTO - President Benigno Aquino 3rd delivers his second State of the Nation Address at Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City on Monday during a joint on of Congress presided by Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile (left) and House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. MALACAÑANG PHOTO]
MANILA, JULY 27, 2011 (MANILA TIMES) THE "wang-wang" (siren) again hogged the State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Benigno Aquino 3rd—his second—on Monday before a joint session of Congress.
Picking up where he left off in his first SONA in 2010, President Aquino this time around silenced critics who have expected him to fail in his promise to rid his administration of the wang-wang, a symbol of abuse of authority by the powerful and seemingly untouchable officials and politicians in previous administrations.
The President, in his second SONA, also seemed to have quieted other detractors who saw him as a pushover when it came to standing up to China over conflicting claims of Manila and Beijing to territories in the South China Sea.
By citing accomplishments of his administration, he indicated that he had succeeded in stamping out the noisy wang-wang.
"We have put an end to the culture of entitlement, to wang-wang, along our roads, in government, in our society as a whole. This will bring confidence that will attract business, this will also ensure that the people's money is put in its rightful place, funding for infrastructure that will secure the sustained growth of the economy, which will then give rise to jobs, and public service that guarantees that no one will be left behind," the President said.
Hunger wanes
Among the accomplishments he cited were the decrease in the number of self-rated hunger from 20.5 percent in March to 15.1 percent in June, the Philippine stock market reaching seven record highs in the past year and the improved credit ratings resulting from the governments "prudent use of funds and creative financial management."
"These improved credit ratings mean lower interest on our debts. Our innovative fiscal approach has saved taxpayers P23 billion in the first four months of this year. This is enough to cover the 2.3-million conditional cash transfer beneficiaries for the entire year," Mr. Aquino said.
The country's energy sector has revived confidence of foreign investors, with 140 countries ready to participate in exploring and strengthening the country's oil and natural gas resources, the President reported.
According to him, his administration has employed zero-based budgeting to review programs.
"For this year and the last, zero-based budgeting has allowed us to end many wasteful programs," he said.
The President noted a 15.6-percent increase in rice production as a result of the government irrigating an additional 11, 611 hectares of fields and rehabilitating around 212,000 hectares of land.
"We envision two things: First, an end to over-importation [of rice] that only serves to benefit the selfish few. Second, we want rice self-sufficiency, that the rice served on every Filipino's dinner table is planted here, harvested here and purchased here," he said.
Mr. Aquino accounted some 1,400,000 jobs created last year from an unemployment rate of 8 percent in April 2010 down to 7.2 percent in April this year.
He said that he has tapped various branches of the government to look into the case of job mismatch in some 500, 000 jobs not filled every month, according to Philjobnet.
"We will not allow this opportunity to go to waste, at this very moment, DOLE [Department of Labor and Employment], CHED [Commission on Higher Education], Tesda [Technical Education and Skills Development Authority], and DepEd [Department of Education] are working together to address this issue," the President added.
"Curricula will be reviewed and analyzed to better direct them to industries that are in need of workers, and students will be guided so that they may choose courses that will arm them with the skills apt for vacant jobs," he said.
Crab mentality
The President ended his speech by calling on Filipinos to end the culture of negativism and crab mentality and to recognize instead the good that is being done to give the country a much-needed lift.
Earning him the loudest applause in his nearly one-hour SONA was his assertion of the Philippines' rightful claim to the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.
"What is ours is ours," Mr. Aquino said of the country's claim and in possibly the strongest challenge to Beijing's perceived bullying of Manila and other claimant-countries to the contested territories.
"Now, our message to the world is clear: What is ours is ours; setting foot on Recto Bank [in the South China Sea] is no different from setting foot on Recto Avenue [in Manila]," he added.
"We do not wish to increase tensions with anyone, but we must let the world know that we are ready to protect what is ours," the President said.
He added that the government was looking at the possibility of elevating the case in the South China Sea (West Philippine Sea) to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea to ensure a peaceful approach to the raging dispute.
Mr. Aquino assured the nation that the country's Armed Forces would be ready to respond to threats of invasion as upgrades and modernization of equipment will soon be at arm's reach.
"At this very moment, our very first Hamilton class cutter is on its way to our shores. We may acquire more vessels in the future—these, in addition to helicopters and patrol craft, and the weapons that the AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines], PNP [Philippine National Police], and DOJ [Department of Justice] will buy in bulk to get a significant discount," he said.
"This [purchase] goes to show how far we can go with good governance, we can buy equipment at good prices, without having to place envelopes in anyone's pockets," the President added in his SONA that was applauded at least 40 times.
Fewer protesters
The number of protesters during Mr. Aquino's second SONA was smaller than that of last year.
As early as 7 a.m. anti- and pro-administration groups representing different sectors of society started to occupy a stretch of Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City.
The public assembly peaked at 2 p.m. with close to 5,000 participants converging along the northbound lane of Commonwealth Avenue, from an area near Ever Gotesco that was mostly occupied by militant groups to an area near Sandiganbayan, where pro-administration groups led by the Black and White Movement were allowed to hold their programs.
Last year, police recorded at least 6,000 demonstrators along Commonwealth Avenue. WITH REPORTS FROM LLANESCA T. PANTI AND JEFFERSON ANTIPORDA
----------------------------------------------------------
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2011 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
All rights reserved
----------------------------------------------------------
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE [PHNO] WEBSITE
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/phnotweet
This is the PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE (PHNO) Mailing List.
To stop receiving our news items, please send a blank e-mail addressed to: phno-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
Please visit our homepage at: http://www.newsflash.org/
(c) Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------
