The ninth and the last STATE OF THE NATION ADDRESS OF President Gloria Macapagal -Arroyo for 2009

was delivered at the joint session of the Congress of the Phili ppines on July 27, 2009. The SONA can be summarized into her accomplishments despite the criticisms and h er challenges to the presidential wannabes. Since this is her last term, instead of her scorecard for one year, she enumerat ed the long term projects that she started, inherited and finished her during the term together with the policies that she implemented concerning education, environmen t and economy. These are important developments because whoever will become the leader next yea r will be inheriting the benefits or the problems brought by GMA s legacy. She did complain that her popularity was low because of the decisions that she h ad to adopt despite its being a bitter pill for Filipinos. In closing, she expressed her belief on the resilience and unity of the Filipino s to weather the storms that may come by in our shores. I feel that she had done her best fighting the critics as well as her political adversaries and at the same time trying to lead a country so divided as many as political parties there are and hopeful heirs to the throne that speculations ab out her perpetuating her power are like ghosts that haunt them until she has rea lly step down. THE BODY OF THE REACTION PAPER Yes, I weighed everything what have been written in the SONA and looked at the i nfrastructures that she mentioned. I would not delve in grading her achievements in terms of percentages like what others would do and I would not succumb to th e gutter mentality of come critics that even her eyebags were not spared from th eir harsh remarks. 1. On Economy: She said that the Philippines is the country that overcame the gl obal crises brought about by the financial meltdown all over the world. I agree with the President on this issue. While other neighboring countries were experiencing negative growth in the GDP, the Philippines merely suffered a decl ine in the growth reducing it to a still positive growth rate. Still on economy. She announced that the administration cut the debt of the gove rnment corporations from 15 to 7 per cent and foreign debts from 73 to 32 per ce nt. We cut in half the debt of government corporations from 15% to 7%. Likewise fore ign debt from 73% to 32%. In my opinion, this is the most significant achievement that she can crow about. Having been burdened with foreign debts since the Marcos administration s foreign borrowings That ballooned every time the foreign currency fluctuated and which was honored by Cory Aquino government I feel that the weights are a little lighter. But the newborns will still greet the world with the IOUs stamped in their foreheads. On New Taxes: According to her new tax revenues were put in place to help pay fo r better healthcare, more roads, and a strong education system.

This is one issue which I can not agree on. A day ago, I just read from the news paper that the BIR failed to meet the goals by several billions. This means less revenues going to the government coffer. This means that no matter how much taxes we imposed to the public, the governmen t s needs for cash or revenues to finance its government programs will not be enou gh because of incompetence and corruption in the collection of taxes. What expla nations can they offer for not reaching the goal? On infrastructures: GMA claimed that : The Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway is a prime example of building better roads. I t creates wealth as the flagship of the Subic-Clark corridor. We have built airports of international standard, upgraded domestic airports, bu ilt seaports and the roll on/roll off transport system. Airports are the first things that tourists see in their arrivals so I could giv e her credit for that. I read that tourism industry has grown for years now. On People Assisted by the government programs: 1. Cash handouts give the most immediate relief and produce the widest stim ulating effect. Nakikinabang ang 700,000 na pinakamahihirap na pamilya sa progra mang Pantawid Pamilya. 2. Sa pagpapamahagi ng milyun-milyong ektaryang lupa, 700,000 na katutubo at mah igit isang milyong benepisyaryo ng CARP ay taas-noong may-ari na ng sariling lup a. Hinihiling ko sa Kongreso na ipasa agad ang pagpapalawig ng CARP, at dapat ma -condone ang P42 billion na land reform liabilities dahil 18% lamang ang nabayar an mula 1972. I am just wondering where she got the number 700,000. Were they the target to be nefit from the emergency programs like Pantawid ng Pamilya and the same number o f indigenous people who were awarded their own lands? For a country with almost half of the population are living in poverty, the numb er is small when compared to millions. Does it mean that her harshest critics are correct in saying that the economic b enefits did not trickle down to poorest of the poor. I would like to see the bas is of the claim that the statistics of people under the poverty level were signi ficantly reduced from 58 to 47 per cent. On Education: She enumerated the development on education such as increase in nu mber of school buildings, number of teachers, government scholars and the plan t o increase college to five years; two pre-university and three professional year s. I am not in favor of additional year for College. For private universities, thes e will mean additional courses which may not be relevant in the profession. What should be strengthened is the quality by monitoring the performance of the universities in the licensing exams for professionals. With this monitoring, the universities which do not deliver quality education should be promptly closed. There are universities which passing percentage in the board exam is zero and ye t they mass produce college graduates who in turn do not get employment. On her travels; She justified her travels by mentioning the economic benefits that she brought h ome in terms of foreign investments and OFWs who were prisoners in other countri

es and were given pardon. She reiterated the efforts that she did in order to en courage the overseas pinoys to bring in more remittances for investment. I do not see anything wrong with this but almost being away most of the time and incurring billions as travel expenses made her a target of criticism. Well, man y elective government officials like senators and congressmen were also in their travel junkets but the public were not informed as to the nature of the travel. As Fidel Ramos had said, it is not the number of travels that matter, it is the result of the travel which is important. On cheaper medicines I can say that this benefits the poor as well as the senior citizens who are con stant need for maintenance prescriptions. On her critics: She lambasted two or three of her very vocal critics who are eyeing the presiden tial election next year. For a woman, I admire her for being strong and not declaring emergency powers de spite the harshest criticisms that bordered to country s destabilization. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, I stand on my opinion that GMA who is known to be a hard worker d espite the negative public perceptions had done something which the successor ca n continue or to drop. In all outgoing administrations, whatever is visible is what is considered a leg acy. We will be remembering her by the infrastructures that she built . It will be long before the next president can duplicate this and by that time, these inf rastructures need already some repair or renovation. The policies that she had recommended may not be adopted or carried out by the s uccessor because the latter may want to have a legacy of his or her own. After GMA who expressed her thanks for allowing her as the president, she may no t have achieved her goal for 100 per cent but is leaving something to the people . And I am wondering if the next president would be able to solve the proverty pro blem in their governance. So what do you think?