"State of the Nation Address"

After one year of service in the country, President Benigno Aquino III or P'noy as his "bosses" call him, he successfully delivered his State of the Nation Address or SONA last July 25, 2011. Together with his SONA are different comments, reactions, and other concerns of the citizens of the Philippines. Right after his deliberation, he received lots of reactions especially negative comments because of his topic in the SONA. Some said he only concentrated about the "wangwang" which is true and some said his SONA was not enough or it's lacking.

What he said maybe true but the thing is, he only emphasized on the "wangwang" thing when in fact, he should include in his topic the things he accomplished in his 1st year of service.

Malacañang promised that this year’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) will present instead of motherhood statements. President Benigno S. Aquino III did use a lot of numbers in his SONA speech to underscore the supposed economic gains of the past year. But there were still motherhood statements and the usual “walang wangwang” rhetoric. The figures, meanwhile, are still disputable, carelessly used by his speech writers in an attempt to paint a bright picture of the present state and direction of the economy.

Less than a week before the second State of the Nation Address (SONA) of P'noy, oil firms again jacked up their pump prices. The Aquino administration can, of course, pin the blame on rising global oil prices and claim that it is beyond its control. But precisely because of this helpless and defeatist attitude that oil companies are able to aggravate the plight of the people as they continue to profiteer from rising oil prices.

All in all, there have already been 27 rounds of diesel price hikes since Aquino was sworn in as President last June 30, 2010, 16 rounds of which happened this year. Similarly, there have been 28 rounds of unleaded gasoline price hikes during the same period, 17 of which happened in 2011.

The common price of diesel in Metro Manila is now pegged at P45.60 per liter from P34.25 when Aquino was inaugurated, or a total increase of P11.35 per liter. The common price of unleaded gasoline, meanwhile, went up from P44 per liter to P56.95 today, or an increase of P12.95 per liter.

Instead of marshaling his allies in Congress to work for the repeal of RA 8479 and support proposals like House Bill 4355, filed by the progressive bloc of partylist groups at the House of Representatives, Aquino implemented the Pantawid Pasada. Not only is this seriously lacking as a relief measure, it also underscores Aquino’s lack of interest in implementing fundamental reforms in the economy to address longstanding problems like exorbitant oil prices, energy insecurity, and abusive practices by foreign cartels.

Oil price hikes could have been mitigated by cancelling the Arroyo-era 12% value-added tax (VAT) on petroleum. But even this was rejected by Aquino because it might turn off the foreign creditors and credit rating agencies. The Aquino administration today is collecting a VAT of around P5.47 a liter on diesel and around P6.83 on unleaded gasoline. When Arroyo stepped down, the VAT on diesel then was only about P4.11 per liter and unleaded gasoline, P5.28.

Aquino’s supporters often dismiss critics of the administration as simply impatient. It has only been one year, they point out. Change is not an overnight process, they say. To be sure, no one’s asking the President to change the country in one year. But it must be also recognized that the problems facing our people are urgent, requiring immediate and decisive action from Aquino.

Oil prices, as mentioned, have risen by P11 to 12 a liter via 27 to 28 rounds of oil price hikes in just a year while oil firms continue to overprice their products. In just one year, jeepney drivers saw their income being eroded by more than P340 a day due to unabated oil price increases. The same thing is true for millions of farmers, fishers, households, etc that rely on petroleum products on a daily basis.