President Aquino Is Credible in His SONA

President Aquino increases his believability as a reforming leader in his first State of the Nation Address in Congress last Monday. He first revealed the near depletion of the country's treasury this year due to fiscal mismanagement of the past administration of Gloria Arroyo. He added that the calamity funds are almost empty, and this puts the country, which lies in the path of typhoons, in jeopardy. This is just the middle of the year and most of the typhoons and tropical storms are still to come in the late period. Aquino frankly enumerated in his first SONA the suspicious government contracts that are losing propositions to the Filipino people. He also lambasted the atrocious benefits and bonuses that the members of the board of trustees of a government corporation, MWSS, enjoy while the pension benefits of its workers languished.

Aquino also exposed the rotting rice in NFA warehouses. Instead of the hungry getting fed, these cavans of rice, which could be six months to two years in continued storage, remain undelivered and unprocessed. This is due to over-importation of rice, which caused the government rice agency to get indebted in the billions of pesos. Furthermore, Aquino mentioned the shady flood-control contracts of the DPWH, 19 in all, which were approved and about to be funded during the waning days of the Arroyo administration. With the initiative of the incoming DPWH secretary, these shady deals were held and remained under study. Aquino wanted to convince the Filipino people that the government that he inherited remained enmeshed in shady projects and contracts that threatened the financial stability of the country and continue to enrich a corrupt class of people which will he will now fight and stop.

Then, he told his audience the steps that the new administration is doing and plans to do to provide wide-ranging reforms for the Filipino people. Among these are the following: a) continue fight against corruption in government by tightening the enforcement of tax laws and prosecuting blue-collar criminals; b) the Executive Order calling for the formal creation of the Truth Commission which will investigate and put a closure to the high profile corruption cases during the Arroyo administration will be signed; c) government-privater sector partnership to fund programs and projects, especially in the field of infrastructure; d) continued construction of ports and highways to hasten the economic recovery of the country. Aquino made special mention of a proposed built to operate (BOT) project to connect Metro-Manila and Cagayan Valley through an expressway that will pass through the stretch of Central Luzon and Cagayan Valley provinces.

In the end, Aquino told the audience and the Filipino people that to dream of a better life will be more achievable in his Presidency and that he will see to it, with the cooperation and support of all, that this human aspiration to seek fulfillment of a dream will be possible.