President Aquino will take the podium today to address a nation wanting more than what he had achieved in the first two of his six-year Malacañang journey.
Noy, the underachiever of Congress and the Senate, is proving to be the least achiever among all presidents counting his late mother. And today, he is expected to juxtapose his what has been becoming an uneventful journey with what he thinks are the hallmarks of his presidency, with an expected aside against his favorite scripted villains.
It is not the people’s fault if they want more from Noynoy than all other past presidents have achieved. Noynoy got more numbers than any other past presidents have garnered. He did because he promised more than what others could not and the people believed him.
In his inaugural address, Noynoy called the people his boss. That is ideal.
A true democratic nation of the people is always for the people and by the people. Noynoy tried to give the impression that he will stay loyal to the people when he wooed their votes in 2010.
He had Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to serve as a fodder for the angry voters to gnaw at. But we have unexpectedly consumed more of Gloria than we should.
Gloria was Noynoy’s campaign’s exhibit A for his promise of a straight path in 2010. She served among Noynoy’s alibi for a weak leadership in 2011. And then now.
Noynoy’s team had paved his path, straight or otherwise, toward today’s state of the nation address with scenarios that would build the contents of his speech.
The Philippine economy is now fundamentally sound. From being a borrower, the Philippines is now a lender. A small time lender at that, but a lender still.
That is how Noynoy’s team wants us to believe.
We have seen countries with far better economies. And we know the Philippines is far, far away from where they are at this time.
Labor and peasantry still raise the same issues they did in the past three decades.
Minimum wage is not a living wage.
The tillers remain landless and are losing farming lands to newer developments that put food production in peril.
I don’t know where Noynoy’s team will pluck the numbers, but recent developments have exposed the vulnerability of Philippine labor against competition from our neighbor countries.
Ford has recently pulled out of the country in favor of Thailand, where other automotive and parts manufacturers have settled in favor of its more sound economic and political environment.
The country still relies on its human exports to strengthen its dollar reserves. Production no longer seems to be by-word among our economic planners.
We import more, we export less. And just recently, we have been on the brink of losing a major economic partner in China, which is now flexing its muscle in sending the Philippines down on its knees in its claims over several water and land territories.
It is not sure how far Noynoy would issue statements against China. Or maybe he won’t as he was advised against it.
There are so many factors to consider before we can even touch China’s finger. It is an attacking dragon, a bad one at that, and the Philippines, under Noynoy, is just waiting for the fire to burn its head.
China could be a big issue for Noynoy. It remains an external threat during times when Noynoy cannot even finish the vows he made nto put our internal affairs in order.
Noynoy had spent so much time running after Gloria, and then Merceditas Gutierrez, then Renato Corona, and then lately the former top officials of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office led by Rosario Uriarte.
These are many names which Noynoy would like to count for achievements. But I’m sorry Mr. President, your mandate is far bigger than just chasing after crooks. And it seems our Chief Executive is looking far beyond his realm, he’s turning a blind eye on those near his vision.
It is also funny how the president’s men could have a disjointed view of the justice system that Noynoy could use the judiciary to go after his personal targets while letting his hands off on issues like human rights.
The rate of crime has been on the rise. And if Noynoy would really like to be known as a hands-on leader, he had better chastise his police and security leaders before kidnapping and bank robberies again become the leading cottage industry among armed men, some of them coming from or protected by the police and military themselves.
Noynoy’s only popular project is the conditional cash transfer. But it is also a tainted one.
It also teaches our poor folk to become mendicants. The CCT is there because there is no job available for the poorest of the poor.
Hunger persists because there are not enough jobs to cover the growing population.
Philippine population grows because Noynoy does not have the balls to go against the Catholic church’s wishes.
For Noynoy, the Cojuangcos and the Aquinos would not have been back on top of the political wheel without the churn’s help, so why fight it?
He won’t touch these issues if he could. But the nation would be kept waiting and wanting.