By Terence Eyre Belangoy
Here’s the usual anecdote that passes around every
time there’s a State of the Nation Address (SONA), whether of the current
president or previous presidents, that would serve as an ice-breaker to
President Noynoy’s (PNoy’s) long speech crammed with facts and figures: The president cleared his (or her, as the
case may be) throat and opened his speech folder, signaling the commencement of
his speech. He quickly closed the folder. The audience stared in disbelief and
incomprehension. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the true state of the nation.
The true state of the nation the above exaggeration
may not be, but PNoy’s speech appealed
more to the head than to the heart: both as to the length and to the
figure-laden reportage-style format. His economist-background (or maybe that of
his speechwriter) showed true to form in his 2013 SONA.
Personally I have no argument with facts and
figures, having an Economics background myself.
But it may not have the same effect on the ordinary listener , the Juan
or Juana dela Cruz on the street who is more likely to be persuaded by the
emotional tugs of a persuasive speech, SONA or otherwise.
Beyond the emotional effect of a SONA though, the
real-life effects on the lives and livelihood of Filipinos are what weigh most
heavily in favor of or against PNoy. More than three years into his term, the
collective expectation on everybody’s mind is whether PNoy has delivered his
promises; also whether the numerous facts and figures he quoted in his speech
have trickled to the hoi polloi, the
intended beneficiaries, his “bosses”. Already midway along the yellow brick
road of daang matuwid, by now results
should have been apparent.
The change we may have been hoping for may not be
that apparent at this point. Matching Pnoy’s SONA figures with the figures of
the National Statistical Coordination Board’s (NSCB) recently-released
triennial report, the poverty incidence of the Philippines has not changed. The
quarter for quarter 2006, 2009 and 2012 analyses showed that the Philippine
poverty incidence remained relatively unchanged: the percentage of extremely
poor Filipinos was 13.4 in 2012, 13.3 in 2009 and 14.2 in 2006, statistically
insignificant changes.
Figures for figures, the big change that everybody
was hoping for under president Aquino’s term has yet to be felt.
That being
said, he still has more or less three years to finish his term and fulfill his
promises to the Filipino people, whom he endearingly calls his “bosses”. By
then, history will judge whether President Aquino will be a farce or a first-rate;
a heel or, like his father, a hero.
