To, it’s the poor again.And again, it’s Gloria.Again, it was Marcos.
President Aquino’s third state of the nation address did not deviate much from the first two, but last Monday was full of promises that even seasoned political analysts dubbed it ambitious.
They stopped short of calling Aquino’s promises unachievable. A number of these promises in the President’s vision could be done, really, as they have been in the groundwork since many presidents ago, like the new LRT line and the modernization of the Armed Forces, as examples.
What was glaring in the President’s speech, however, was his silence on matters he used to champion in the past, like the Freedom of Information bill and the Reproductive Health bill.
Mr. Aquino was guarded in his mention of “responsible parenthood,” which could take on many meanings. It was even just a brief mention, in passing to close his argument on his achievements in narrowing the gap between the number of students as against books, chairs and classrooms.
He mentioned numbers, lots of them. They were used to compare his first two years with the wasted (in that we must agree) nine years of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
These numbers —  one of which focused on Mr. Aquino’s supposed economic achievements — should be commendable if they are being felt through the lowest of economic strata.
But they are not.
While Mr. Aquino could beat his chest in claiming to have pushed the Philippines a notch forward in its economic standing, maybe he should start looking outside of the Philippines to really know if his numbers have indeed brought changes to the lives of the many Filipinos still seeking their fortunes elsewhere.
Former national treasurer Leonor Briones is right in putting these numbers in the proper perspective when she said “there was no way to go but up,” after almost a decade of wastage under Gloria.
But six plus in the gross domestic product growth and in one quarter  does not mean much to the people if they could not benefit from it.
According to Briones, not much of this is trickling down to the poorest of the poor. Monies are retained in the hands of a few.
Mr. Aquino did not deviate much from his past reports. The Chief Executive seemed to be living in his past while he speaks about the future and not achieving much in the present because of this.
He is blaming much of history for the country’s slow-motion advance toward progress. Yes it is true, in a way, but we do not have to be reminded of Gloria and Marcos in every occasion the President speaks.
It is not a secret his family did suffer under martial law. But there are other families who have lost more when Ferdinand Marcos’ iron fist was all over the archipelago.
There are those who have lost not one but many of their fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters. There are those who have lost much of their properties and have not been able to get them back.
Noynoy’s family got everything back except the life of his father. Ninoy was acknowledge a hero. That’s why the late Cory became a president. That’s why Noynoy is now the president.
Cory had the chance to shove the Marcoses and their cronies down their rightful dungeons but did not. And so they are back, and it’s Noynoy’s time to remind us once more that their rival family had abused this country and its people once upon a time.
Perhaps, Noynoy had learned for Cory’s mistake. He is sending Gloria and her ilk to jail. He deserves applause for doing so, but his men also deserve our watchful eyes because sending crooks to jail does not mean there are no crooks within his circle.
But while he’s at it, did the country change much as he claimed it had?
Not much. Again, Briones summed up the Juan de la Cruz’s need as simple as having a secure job.
Aquino’s much-brandished Pantawid Pamilya Program is a patch-up work on a badly paved road. It is even just a continuation of one of Gloria’s much-maligned advocacies.
Briones said it only targets families with children still in school, and mothers and expectant mothers needing medical care. Yet, despite the amount of money being used to finance with loop-holed project, it also denies support to the real poorest of the poor who do not have children in school, who are old and really destitute and others who have failed to qualify because of the program’s limitations.
And while the President is upbeat on what he thinks are his administration’s successes and targets, our work force continues leaving in batches by the day.
Our professionals continue seeking greener pastures elsewhere, and given the opportunity, would rather embrace foreign citizenships than return to a country without much hope of improving their lives.
P-Noy has his numbers, but compared with our neighbors we are still lagging way, way behind.
He mentioned an increase in tourism. But he also mentioned, in a way of admission, that we could not even reach half of the tourists lured by Malaysia or Thailand to visit their beaches and temples.
He mentioned guns and boats and planes for our security forces, but they are not fast in coming as against the number of crimes perpetrated by crooks and goons everyday. As he was delivering his sona, fellow journalist Nixon Kua lost his life after he fought against four stick-up men who victimized his daughter.
Yes, the president is right when he said we should not forget even if we are forgiving.  
Yes, we should not forget that Mr. Aquino had made lots of promises and we should wait for him to fulfill at least a majority of them.