A Chance For A Change
The usual protesters and activists have gathered in one place on the highway where they are permitted to show their contempt to the new administration. This is common scenery in PH whenever a President would speak for a State of the Nation Address.
I listened to the PBBMs first SONA last Monday (July 25, 2022) although some of his speeches were kind of blurry to me.
People have mixed reactions after the President ended his speech. Some praised him for the good news while others showed dismay, particularly of common people who are expecting for him to tackle a lower price of rice.
In my own understanding in general, the President wants to grow the economy during his term. He pointed out that for a long term solution, he would want to increase the production of goods in agricultural products. And to do this he would strengthen the so-called value chain that will start from farmers to consumers. He wants it to prioritize the modernization of farming by using new technology and to utilize science to increase the production in agriculture.
He receives a loud applause from the people inside Batasang Pambansa Complex upon hearing this. Honestly I felt relieved when he said that although the administrations that have passed of course were able to give importance to agriculture but I think it was not enough.
There are a lot of important things that the President wanted to accomplish and they sound promising just like past administrations. But what he had just said to the people this time is quite different from the rest but kind of similar to his father Ferdinand Marcos. He talks about renewable energy and that according to him it is time to re-examine the building of nuclear power plants in the country. Note that former president Ferdinand Marcos decided to build the nuclear power plant in Bataan in response to the oil crisis in 1973.
Other things that he tackled were about tourism which he wanted to build additional airports and construction of roads to reach the areas where tourism can be promoted. He also wants to give importance to Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW). Note that OFWs have significant contributions in the country’s economy through remittances. Digital education, territory and tax reform are also included in his SONA.
Another thing that he received loud applause was when he mentioned the Mandatory Reserve Officers Training Corps or commonly known as ROTC. I remember I had undergone this training back in college. The purpose of this is to prepare every male citizen when the time comes that the country will need their service. Note that mandatory ROTC was abolished in 2002 when a student in a certain university was killed due to exposing the anomalies in the training corps.
Overall for me so far, his SONA was satisfactory although some people tend to cite the lack of some areas they wanted to hear. For example human rights violation, war on drugs and lower price of rice.
I hope that he can possibly achieve what he wants with the country and of course with the cooperation of every citizen. The country has been longing for relief or at least has a good quality of living under his terms. I hope that we can expect what the President has said in his first SONA. We are so tired of promises or sound like sugar coated words in the past administration.
Nevertheless we must not forget that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr is a son of former President and dictator Ferdinand Marcos. But we can give Marcos a second chance for a change.
Resources:
Nuclear Power Plant in the Philippines
Hoping our to be better in the next six years...