His Excellency, President Benigno S. Aquino III

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The usual blame game also made its appearance when the President talked about the MRT problem. He made a point about the private maintenance provider passing the work to the government then blocking their solution which sounded like him complaining to us when it should be the other way around. I mean they are the government and he is the top executive, he has the final say and should find a way for the private sector to work with them. But at the very least he ensured us they are taking the necessary steps to solve the problem.

D.) Analysis

A lot of negative reaction on the SONA revolves around the President chastising the previous administration. If his sole purpose for criticizing his predecessors is in order to bad-mouth them, then once would have been enough. But the fact is, this has been going on since he became president. That said, I would like to believe that in constantly emphasizing the wrongs of the previous administration, he reminds all politicians and also the people of what happened and what will happen not just with corruption but also the people who gets involved. Corruption in our government in the past was extremely rampant it almost became a norm. People have to be reminded that corruption IS evil and will never go unpunished, that justice will always be served one way or another. Ultimately he wants to remind us that we do deserve better. The politicians in the end who booed and waved their placards did not do anyone any favour. The only showed how divided our government is.

President Aquino is no perfect president. But he became the president when we needed someone like him. Every president has their strengths. President Marcos had his brilliance and even President Arroyo too but President Benigno Aquino III gave us back what we lost. He brought back the people’s trust in the government through his “daang matuwid” administration. The “daang matuwid” showed us that any form of corruption has no place in our government by setting an example of big time offenders like impeaching a supreme court justice, ostracizing a former president and putting behind bars three known senators.

This being his last state of the nation address, the president opted to do a summary of what his administration has done ever since he stepped into office. This is different from the previous SONAs where he talked about the year’s important issues. He also took this opportunity to thank everyone for the team effort.

E.) Recommendation

I stand by Mayor Rodrigo Duterte when he said that it would have been nice if President Aquino also included in his state of the nation address his plans for there on out until his last day as president. We need to know what he ultimately hopes to accomplish and the steps his going to take to realize his goals. Also if worse comes to worst, what are his contingency plans.

If only those politicians who booed during and after the SONA could find a way to work with the administration for the common good then that would be great. They’re not fooling anyone with their antics. If the President asked them right then and there what they have done for our country I bet we could hear crickets booing them.

The path has been set straight. Now it is our job as citizens of this country to make sure that we do not stray from this path by being responsible voters and see to it that the one who succeeds President Aquino shares his point of view on corruption or else we would be doomed to see our history of corruption to repeat itself.

Pocholo C. Hernandez August 1, 2014

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