OF SUBSTANCE AND SPIRIT

President Bongbong Marcos’ second State of the Nation (SONA) address was cut and dried, no ad libs of old, no rolled up piña barong sleeves. He adhered to the prompted manuscript to the letter, a delight to notetakers who followed what he had to say about his first year as this country’s prime leader. This second SONA was the reiteration of the first, with a few action points having been done and the rest no more than works in progress. The President was correct in focusing on agricultural output and food security to moderate inflation. But perhaps his cabinet can do better than distributing seedlings and organic inputs to farmers or putting up more Kadiwa stores. It takes more to make this sector productive and future proof, like implementing an integrated agricultural plan that embraces infrastructure, research and science, irrigation, farm mechanization and value chain facilities. But laced with an abundance of numbers, it is quite difficult to validate the report on infrastructure projects to improve irrigation, feeder roads and cold-storage facilities. For instance, as late as March 2023, the President was still announcing that the government would put up cold storage facilities in various fish ports to reduce post-harvest losses, improve fish supply and trim our dependence on imports. The plan at the time was to build 11 cold storage facilities in areas outside General Santos and Cagayan de Oro. What we know is that there were some illegal privately-owned cold storage facilities which were raided in Navotas, yielding smuggled frozen agricultural products like various meat and fish. It’s output-positive if indeed the government succeeded in setting up new competitive cold storage facilities between March and the day of the SONA. If there’s one clear accomplishment of the Marcos government out of more than 25 agenda items in the first SONA, it is the condonation of the ₱57 billion debt of agrarian reform beneficiaries. He signed it on July 7, 2023 as the New Agrarian Emancipation Act forgiving principal, interest and penalties of some 612,054 agrarian re-form beneficiaries who till 1.173 million hectares of land. This follows previous acts of government to redistribute land. With this credit support, the government also assists farmers by providing the right infrastructure to yield higher agricultural productivity and ensure food security. It will take time before land distribution and condonation of debt actually translate into higher agricultural output and lower food prices. More has to be done although running after smugglers and hoarders of basic commodities should help. We would like to see the enhancement of the ayuda program to the marginalized sector legislated including those on government right-sizing initiatives, institutionalization of the creative industry, amendment of the National Defense Act of 1935, digitalization, disability pensions, land use, and various tax reforms. Between the first and second SONAs, progress could have been quicker. Most important, the President may wish to review his decision to usher in the New Philippines one year after assuming the presidency. Whatever it means, the New Philippines would always be vacuous today because it takes more than a logo to produce the reality behind it; it takes generations to flesh it out. It might be so easy to pronounce that a new Philippines has come because of the claim that workers and ordinary Filipinos “have unanimously risen to the challenge” and are ready to help because of their love for the country. Precedents litter the corridors of history. On that basis, a new Philippines had emerged as early as the turn of the previous century when Filipinos waged a revolution against Spain and America. Forty years later, they fought Japan. On that basis, a new Philippines had risen in 1986 when Filipinos massed along EDSA and stood up against a government that had betrayed their trust and confidence. They repelled tanks and artilleries. SONAs should have no place for reckless sloganeering. We expected an unequivocal challenge from President Marcos against graft and corruption in civil service. He could have asked the civil society to buy in. He could have turned the table and direct the people’s expectation of a fearless Senate Blue Ribbon Committee and other appropriate committees in the House of Representatives to put a closure to the billion-peso Pharmally scandal, the purchases of laptops in the education department amounting to nearly ₱700 million that ended up in fire sale instead of being used by public school teachers, and a thousand more. Congressional investigation reports to be acted upon should be signed by a majority of their members, and these should not be decided along party lines. These irregularities extend to the other executive departments down to the local governments. Three years ago, then Secretary Mark Villar established a Task Force at the Department of Public Works and Highways to investigate anomalies allegedly involving its officials and employees. Several of them were actually relieved from their posts but obviously these acts of plunder have been reported to continue to this day. Justice did not seem to weigh enough in the second SONA. Senator Leila de Lima continues to languish in jail since 2017, arbitrarily detained and violated of her human rights. She was never granted bail while her case remained pending. President Marcos could have scored high if he ordered a speedy disposition of this case through the justice department until she is finally released. The SONA could have addressed our culture of impunity in the face of the series of assassinations involving independent journalists and community activists as well as cases of plunder overturned by the courts. Our people are hungry for small victories, apart from macroeconomic gains. Dealing with these two fundamental issues of governance and justice is a good start to work for a New Philippines. But popularizing the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) is not. It’s an investment scheme that will be ultimately funded by higher taxes and debt. It’s an afterthought. It was never in the new development plan, or in the medium-term fiscal framework, or in the first SONA. But as Martin Luther King, Jr. once inspired us, “the time is always right to do the right thing.”