Glaring omissions in Aquino's last state of the nation address
Philippine President Benigno Aquino's last State of the Nation Address (Sona) was riddled by glaring omissions, chief among which was poverty, which has fueled social unrest and insurgency in the country since it gained independence in 1946.
The Sona swept poverty under the rug, the most critical issue, worse than corruption, that has blighted the republic for more than six generations.
The Sona was top-heavy with the administration’s claims of accomplishments during its five years in office, ignoring the assessment that it has failed to deliver on many key promises made by the president in his previous Sonas, including one on eradicating widespread poverty among Filipinos.
There was not a single word of reference to the state of poverty in the 27-page text that took more than two hours to deliver. The Sona also omitted mention of some of his earlier promises, including the completion of the redistribution of land from the 4,000-hectare Hacienda Luisita owned by the Cojuangco-Aquino clan in Tarlac to its farmers under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law.
Social-reform legislation took a back seat in the Sona. There was heavy emphasis on economic gains during the past five years, as the president is struggling to leave an enduring legacy in order to ensure the election in May 2016 of a successor that would institutionalise his reforms on good governance.
In the Sona’s selected presentation of accomplishments, there was absolute silence, if not indifference, vis-à-vis an accounting of the issue of poverty. In particular, it evaded telling the people whether it had significantly reduced the number of Filipinos living in wretched conditions below the poverty line during the past five years, despite the government claim of fostering 6.2-per cent average annual economic growth.
