PBBM’s first SONA
Published Jul 30, 2022 00:05 am
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Updated Jul 30, 2022 00:05 am
PAGBABAGO
Dr. Florangel Rosario-Braid
For an hour and 14 minutes, President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. gave what was a much appreciated address to the 19th Congress, the audience inside the Batasan, and to the business community. But not so with advocacy groups and the 5,000 or so rallyists outside the House of Representatives. They did not burn PBBM’s effigy but it was brought down by the heavy rains.
It was an economic and technocratic address but which was beyond the comprehension of a large percentage living in the margins of society.
These are his priorities and he appeared confident given that he has a super majority at House and Senate. Among these are how to address inflation and bring about a higher GDP growth, push his legislative strategy, with short and medium-term targets. Here, he outlined his strategy for agriculture and food security through provision of financial assistance to farmers and fisherfolk in order to improve their productivity. Likewise, to continue agrarian reform and declare a moratorium of amortization and interest payment, bring the health system closer to people, enhance trust and efficiency in the system, bring in lower-priced medicines by eliminating cartels. His plan to build specialized hospitals had elicited comments as building such – lung, kidney, virology or disease control, vaccine institute, etc., would involve considerable capital investment.
He would boost tourism by upgrading and decongesting airports, enhance the capacity of DSWD to provide assistance especially during calamities, address poor quality of education, return to face-to-face learning and ensure adequate provision of educational tools and active participation in the digital society.
His infrastructure development plan is to connect all regions via national broadband plan, build roads and power plants. To address climate change, he would focus on renewable energy by building solar plants. He would improve our water supply. The new Department of Migrant Workers will bring protection and opportunity to migrant workers.
His “right-sizing” program according to the Budget Secretary will determine which among the 187 government agencies with more than two million personnel may be streamlined through mergers, restructuring or abolition. Although intended to save the government a significant amount of savings, it elicited positive and negative reactions as it would involve mass layoffs. The program would not apply to those in teaching, health, military or uniformed personnel.
A controversial proposal is the return of mandatory ROTC training for senior high school students. Those who oppose it say it encourages “militarization” – violence and dominance.
On foreign policy, he will exercise an independent foreign policy and would not give a square inch of territory to any foreign power. Whether this concern which affects our relationship with China, can be achieved as envisioned, remains to be seen.
Most of the 19 proposals are important and he still has the $12.5 trillion debt to worry about.
A focus on strengthening the creative industries and arts and culture also means putting back history in the curriculum and ensuring the accurate presentation of our historical past
PBBM’s soundbites – “We will endure” and “The state of the nation is sound” are optimistic, as they express an aspiration that can only be achieved if the Filipino people act in “unity,” his campaign theme.
The reality however is that we are still a nation in search of itself. We cannot say that the 31.6 million Filipinos who voted for him would support his national agenda. In the first place, a large percentage of this group are not able to fully exercise their rights to participate. It would take time to prepare them to be such as their immediate concern is day-to-day survival.
The realities which President Marcos, Jr. failed to address are:
• Endemic corruption.
• Warring feudal lords which had undermined aspirations for lasting peace.
• The plight of indigenous peoples which constitute 14-17 percent.
• Human rights. Most victims from the “drug wars” or anti-terror law come from the uneducated poor.
• Freedom of the press. Strengthen investigative journalism to counter disinformation, unearth continuing graft and corruption. There are hundreds of community newspapers, radio and virtual platforms which can be harnessed as partners in development.
• Use of critical community resources which include 18,000 cooperatives. Their strength lies in their organizational ethic which is based on solidarity, sharing, and social justice, values needed in nation-building.
• Vision for the manufacturing sector which could help us “leapfrog” into the future.
• I hope that President Marcos, Jr. would put more flesh into his framework in building the sector of arts and culture and the creative industries because it is this sector that would facilitate our search for our national identity.
We hope that in the next six years, we shall have prepared the framework based on a return to our best practices in the past – good manners and right conduct, justice and respect for fellow citizens and peoples of all cultures and station in life, full utilization of existing community structures and new technologies that can build a data-driven leadership and management culture, and a recognition of the need to study and remember the past in order to avoid repeating the mistakes we have made.
Please email me at florangel.braid@gmail.com
Dr. Florangel Rosario-Braid
For an hour and 14 minutes, President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. gave what was a much appreciated address to the 19th Congress, the audience inside the Batasan, and to the business community. But not so with advocacy groups and the 5,000 or so rallyists outside the House of Representatives. They did not burn PBBM’s effigy but it was brought down by the heavy rains.
It was an economic and technocratic address but which was beyond the comprehension of a large percentage living in the margins of society.
These are his priorities and he appeared confident given that he has a super majority at House and Senate. Among these are how to address inflation and bring about a higher GDP growth, push his legislative strategy, with short and medium-term targets. Here, he outlined his strategy for agriculture and food security through provision of financial assistance to farmers and fisherfolk in order to improve their productivity. Likewise, to continue agrarian reform and declare a moratorium of amortization and interest payment, bring the health system closer to people, enhance trust and efficiency in the system, bring in lower-priced medicines by eliminating cartels. His plan to build specialized hospitals had elicited comments as building such – lung, kidney, virology or disease control, vaccine institute, etc., would involve considerable capital investment.
He would boost tourism by upgrading and decongesting airports, enhance the capacity of DSWD to provide assistance especially during calamities, address poor quality of education, return to face-to-face learning and ensure adequate provision of educational tools and active participation in the digital society.
His infrastructure development plan is to connect all regions via national broadband plan, build roads and power plants. To address climate change, he would focus on renewable energy by building solar plants. He would improve our water supply. The new Department of Migrant Workers will bring protection and opportunity to migrant workers.
His “right-sizing” program according to the Budget Secretary will determine which among the 187 government agencies with more than two million personnel may be streamlined through mergers, restructuring or abolition. Although intended to save the government a significant amount of savings, it elicited positive and negative reactions as it would involve mass layoffs. The program would not apply to those in teaching, health, military or uniformed personnel.
A controversial proposal is the return of mandatory ROTC training for senior high school students. Those who oppose it say it encourages “militarization” – violence and dominance.
On foreign policy, he will exercise an independent foreign policy and would not give a square inch of territory to any foreign power. Whether this concern which affects our relationship with China, can be achieved as envisioned, remains to be seen.
Most of the 19 proposals are important and he still has the $12.5 trillion debt to worry about.
A focus on strengthening the creative industries and arts and culture also means putting back history in the curriculum and ensuring the accurate presentation of our historical past
PBBM’s soundbites – “We will endure” and “The state of the nation is sound” are optimistic, as they express an aspiration that can only be achieved if the Filipino people act in “unity,” his campaign theme.
The reality however is that we are still a nation in search of itself. We cannot say that the 31.6 million Filipinos who voted for him would support his national agenda. In the first place, a large percentage of this group are not able to fully exercise their rights to participate. It would take time to prepare them to be such as their immediate concern is day-to-day survival.
The realities which President Marcos, Jr. failed to address are:
• Endemic corruption.
• Warring feudal lords which had undermined aspirations for lasting peace.
• The plight of indigenous peoples which constitute 14-17 percent.
• Human rights. Most victims from the “drug wars” or anti-terror law come from the uneducated poor.
• Freedom of the press. Strengthen investigative journalism to counter disinformation, unearth continuing graft and corruption. There are hundreds of community newspapers, radio and virtual platforms which can be harnessed as partners in development.
• Use of critical community resources which include 18,000 cooperatives. Their strength lies in their organizational ethic which is based on solidarity, sharing, and social justice, values needed in nation-building.
• Vision for the manufacturing sector which could help us “leapfrog” into the future.
• I hope that President Marcos, Jr. would put more flesh into his framework in building the sector of arts and culture and the creative industries because it is this sector that would facilitate our search for our national identity.
We hope that in the next six years, we shall have prepared the framework based on a return to our best practices in the past – good manners and right conduct, justice and respect for fellow citizens and peoples of all cultures and station in life, full utilization of existing community structures and new technologies that can build a data-driven leadership and management culture, and a recognition of the need to study and remember the past in order to avoid repeating the mistakes we have made.
Please email me at florangel.braid@gmail.com