This morning the sun still rose from the East, or did it here in our country?.
The President of the Republic of the Philippines rendered her last State of the Nation address last July 28, this year (2003). The President eloquently verbalized her 17-page speech in front of the neatly clothed members of her family, members of the upper and lower houses of congress, the members of her cabinet, the row of diplomats and church leaders and other VIP's who in turned applauded her 77 times. With the power of media and sophistication of our communication equipment, she virtually spoke to every Filipino around the globe. We wonder how many of us watching her outside that air-conditioned Batasang Pambansa building and without the glamorous presence of cameras, protocol and international media and just via the television clapped our hands?.
What we clearly heard were enumeration of labels and figures and just like most of her speeches, a lot of empty rhetoric and Bush-sounding assertions, if not exaggerations.
While it was good to hear such claims like: lowest inflation rate in 20 years; the lowest interest rates in 12 years; creation of 1.8 million agricultural jobs; initial disbursement of R700 million from coco levy funds for programs to benefit coconut farmers, it is also bothering to note that poverty still stares at our face everyday not as abstract statistics but breathing flesh and blood. .
In a recent data released by the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB), it was revealed that the overall poverty level climbed up to 2.4 % with one-fourth of the urban population live in poverty while in the rural areas, the poor comprises more than half of the population. In the Bicol region alone, poverty climbed up to a whooping 62.8 % in 2000, about 5.8 higher than the 1997 figure when we even had the dreaded Asian Financial crisis. .
In his counter state of the nation address, Oppostion Senator Edgardo Angara criticized the president for allegedly leading the country into further deterioration and division in its two and a half years in office.
God gave each and everyone of us our own freedom. Freedom of Choice which means freedom to choose, to act in this way or that way, to do good and evil. Fundamental Freedom by consistently choosing to do good, we gradually become free loving person. Talking about freedom connects also our own respon...
The Philippines is a tropical paradise. It is a very beautiful site to see and consists of 7107 islands and is located in the south west Pacific Ocean. This place competes with the dangers of hurricanes,volcanoes,and earthquakes, but is full of different types of nature and people. Many of the peo...
In the Philippines, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has strongly supported the Bush administration's "war on terrorism" including US military "training programs" against separatist Muslim rebels in southern Mindanao - an island of the Phillipines which has the majority of Filipino's Muslims. ... Abu Sayyaf has been linked to Al Qaeda and since the beginning of the "war on terror", Philippine authorities have been attempting to destroy the MILF which was responsible for bomb attacks in the city of Zamboanga in October 2002 -President Arroyo stated that the Philippines would not stop...
Premarital Sex (PMS) and Moral Panic Michael L. Tan Discussion paper presented at a meeting, "Family Planning New Worlds- organized by the Bill and Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health of the John Hopkins Center for Communication Programs. December 10, 2002. I thank Dr...
All roads led to EDSA that day if you remember. It was a sight to behold as waves of people kept on coming, converging on the same corner where Filipinos once stood for to oust a dictator. All indignant for what they deemed as death of democracy, their voices echoed the sheer resolve of the Filipinos for social change. The street parliament may not one in pushing you for presidency. But as followers of the rule of law, you carried on the torch of leading the nation. ...
In a speech by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in the Education Congress 2001 she stressed that the best means for reducing poverty and providing safety nets for sectors affected by globalization is through investment in education and training. ...
