SONA 2016

Might as well write about President Duterte's first State of the Nation speech. What else is there to talk about.

The whole SONA thing has been whittled down to a pointless exercise despite the clear significance of the President himself appearing before the people's representatives. In the past, the SONA just became a glorified showbiz party where the President preaches to the choir and toots his own horn about what a swell job he's doing and how great everything is. My expectations were low, especially considering we're barely into the President's first year in office.

As it turns out, the speech was alright. It set the agenda at least. It was a rambling speech but no surprise there since Duterte prefers speaking off the cuff. So let's go down the several things we can take away from this speech, shall we?

1. Forward, not backward

Immediately, the speech hit the right notes with me. As the handful of people who read this blog know, I've written about how the Philippines suffers from the baggage of its past, specifically, the People Power movement. This was most pronounced during the reign of Pnoy when everything he thought and did was framed in the yellow mentality. The self-righteousness was overwhelming and it led to a lot of vindictiveness and an "the pure us versus the evil them" mentality.

So we're moving forward now to new things. No more of the blame game Pnoy was so fond of. That's good. Finally. Let's move on.

2. Law and order

Well, it is his winning issue. Not a lot of people would disagree when you say that the justice system in the Philippines has gone down the toilet. However, Duterte seems to talk about justice in broad terms. He only ever goes into specifics when it's about drug crimes, speaking of which...

3. The purging will continue

If you had a problem with the extrajudicial killings of suspected drug criminals, perhaps it's time to just get used to it. El Jefe made it clear that the police and military have the backing of the office of the Presidency. He said he was going to fix our crime problem in six months. Expect the killings to continue until some measure of improvement is made somewhere.

It begs the question though; what if six months isn't enough? Whait if the killings have to go on for the whole six years Duterte is in office? Can such an effort be sustained? Is there a chance this will spiral out of control? Does anyone really care? On the last bit, probably not. We'll just have to pretend the government is really killing the bad guys and nothing underhanded is going on. No problem, I've had to live my life with even bigger delusions than that.

4. Double speak and sweet nothings

I'm convinced that Duterte is some kind of grand-master politician since nobody seemed to have picked up on these. Despite insulting the Pope and calling the Catholic Church the most hypocritical institution in the Philippines, he said that while he believes in separation of church and state, there should be no separation between God and state. That's pleasing to hear for both religious and non-religious. It means nothing but it made a good sound bite.

 Human rights must uplift human dignity but mustn't be used to destroy the country, he says. So it's good except when it's bad. There's a subtle hint that he won't let the bleeding-hearts get in his way but we know that already. Ultimately pointless.

The Philippines will address global warming but will not compromise development. Again, a crowd-pleaser for both sides of the aisle.

As for the international scene, we remain committed to dialogue and cooperation even to those who won't enter dialogue or cooperate. That's the default. We're weak We're literally incapable of any other position. If only the tough guy act worked outside the Philippines, huh? For now, we remain China's victim.

5. The only dangerous bit

Duterte wants peace talks with the Communists and Muslim separatists. In a perfect world, the Philippines would have wiped these scumbags out already. They have no legitimacy in my eyes since they are, you know, threats to our sovereignty? They're rebels? Lest we forget, these guys are no good and are hardly trustworthy with their occasional acts of barbarity.

Anyway, it's not a perfect world and the Philippines has been unable to defeat them for decades so it might as well try a new (old) tack of peace talks (again). I realize that I live in the city and not in some podunk, backwater barrio where the threat of the NPA or MILF suddenly deciding to swing by and slit your throat, is a remote possibility. I guess there's nothing to do but hope that El Jefe knows what he's doing. Forget the drug war, this thing here is actually the most dangerous play Duterte will have a part in as a bad deal would tie into another thing which he's pushing, which is...

6. Federalism at last?

He wants it done. It remains to be seen since this is all on Congress, not the President. Can Congress actually get off their good-for-nothing asses and get it done? Are they competent enough to make the right amendments and changes to the constitution without any backdoors or hidden benefits for vested interests? What standards does Duterte want so he won't veto it? 

It all remains to be seen but wow, it's surreal to hear people actually talking about it. Here I thought that serious reforms to our nearly three decade old constitution wasn't possible. I sincerely doubt that whatever Congress comes up with will be the very best possible product. Gone is the idea of Congress as an august body of the very best the Philippines has to offer. There will be a lot of hand-wringing and cries of "what about MY interests?" but maybe this President can whip them into shape.

7. Candy shower

Then we have the assorted bromides about the wonderful things the government has in store for the next few years. It's like the candy politicians throw at the proles during rallies. It's sweet but not filling and we've heard them all before.

I can't write a separate section for how Duterte will cut red tape, fix traffic, give free wi-fi and all that. Just put it under a tab labelled "promises" and be done with it. The only difference today is that we have a guy who just might actually mean what he says and that's what gets the people so excited. Personally, I think it's just red meat but if Duterte can accomplish at least half of these minor promises, people will probably be fine with that.

Summary

Duterte promises not just a strong government but an effective one; a government that can actually get things done. After years in the mire of the Pnoy brand do-nothing Presidency, this is like rain in the desert.

However, talk is cheap and politicians are rich men. As always, we shall see.

At least it won't be a boring Presidency this time.

The Mire - Palmreader

I didn't watch Pnoy's SONA. Why would I? I already ranted that I wanted nothing to do with him anymore. Besides, I already knew what he was gonna say: a bunch of self-serving statements and cheap shots at his predecessor.

Have some music instead.

The Yellow Card And The Yellow God

The SONA yesterday was quite amazing in the fact that Pnoy somehow resisted the urge to defend the DAP and to take passive-aggressive swipes at the judiciary. Otherwise, it went as expected. He touted the achievements of his administration and painted the picture that the Philippines is fine and dandy.

What was most interesting to me about the speech yesterday, however, was the pathetic retread of the "struggle". If you're Filipino, you know what I mean. The story of Marcos, martial law, Ninoy, Cory and yellow ribbons. At this point, it's not so much our history as it is "his story" - specifically, Pnoy's story where he is the righteous hero of course. The part of the speech where he echoed the words of his father and tried to rekindle that old "laban" feeling is, in my opinion, the most important part of his speech without a doubt. Nothing else matters. The carefully staged part of the speech where Pnoy said, "The Filipino is worth living for." and the camera zoom on the tears of his family was the key. It was the play, the money shot, the climax, the master stroke, etc. 

Did another boyfriend leave her, or something?

The listing of achievements is secondary, as whether or not something is an achievement takes time. The primary thrust of the speech was the reminder that Pnoy was "the one". Just as we Filipinos are slaves of our own wretched history, so is Pnoy a slave to his own mythology - that of the son of the heroes of martial law, Ninoy and Cory.

When you think of it in this manner, it isn't so hard to see why Pnoy acts in such a self-righteous and overzealous manner. For him, the events of the eighties never ended. The story is continuing and he is the continuation. He sees the world as history unfolding in a storybook manner where there are clear sides of good (him) and evil (his critics). To put it bluntly, he has his bald head shoved up so far his own ass that he believes in his own hype and his own aura of do-no-wrong incorruptibility. EDSA was the promise and he is the fulfillment. Why do you think he wears that yellow ribbon on his barong all the time? That's what it's about. That's what it has always been about.

Symbols have weight. (source)

Logically, it does not make sense. Just because Pnoy is the son of Ninoy and Cory doesn't mean he is "good" as the culture portrays his parents to be. But Pnoy believes it. His sycophants reinforce his belief. Again, he is a slave to myth but not history. It's almost like a religion, come to think of it. All of this hinges on the belief that Pnoy is the hero and can do no wrong because he is the son of heroes. He is the yellow warrior, the knight in golden armor who fights monsters; monsters like a sickly old woman and a hapless magistrate.

Maybe I'm going too far, but ask yourself if Pnoy would have been elected if he weren't an Aquino. Remember that the man rode on a wave of sympathy from the death of his mother. Frankly, if Pnoy weren't an Aquino, his speech yesterday wouldn't have any impact.

If Pnoy were smart, he'd be guilty of mere exploitation; of milking the family name and history. Based on his words and actions though, I think the man honestly believes the hype. In a way I feel sorry for him that he is unable to step back and view things from a normal point of view instead of yellow-tinted glass.

The most disturbing part of the speech was Pnoy's assertion that his enemies were not only his enemies but were enemies of the people as well. That is why the reinforcement of the myth was the most important part of the speech yesterday. Pnoy is the supposed force of good. He is the product of people power. Therefore, he represents the people. He is the people. The people are him. He is the Philippines. L'etat c'est moi. So stop wondering why Pnoy acts the way he does. There is nothing more dangerous in this world than a zealot.

In soccer, a yellow card is a warning that you have committed an offense. Pnoy has been warned but for him, the yellow card is one he plays to gather sympathy and reinforce the beliefs of his worshipers. But warnings should be heeded and he who fights the "monsters" of the present should see to it he does not become one himself.

History has a nasty habit of repeating itself.

SONAf A Bitch

The newspapers today were all buzzing about the State of the Nation address of PNoy yesterday. Not of the speech itself but of what the celebrity-congressmen were wearing at the event. Oh, thank the Lord almighty for our vanguard media! Where would we be without them? Why, how could we tell what was fashionable or not? How great that the media were around to highlight what really mattered.

Anyway, the speech was all in Tagalog which still eludes me. After hearing the speech though, I was absolutely shocked, shocked I tell you! I never knew the Philippines was corrupt! Here I was sitting on my lard ass assuming our representatives had only our best interests in mind. Thank you my President. Thank you for educating me on what everybody and their bastard child already knew.

That's enough sarcasm. I can't get into the details. I'm not so good in Tagalog and frankly, I lost interest. All I know is that our new President can't fix our problems. It's impossible. I'm not kidding its literally not possible. Maybe I'll post about the reason why but if you really want to get to the root of our country's problems, you must pay attention to Congress and the way it works.

That's all for now. I'm installing something very important.

GMA's SONA

Tomorrow the President is going to give the State Of The Nation Address. Whoopee. Whatever. Look, I know how its going to go. GMA is gonna point out a bunch of figures showing how good everything is and this and that all to rounds of applause from supporters. Its going to be boring.

I can't really bring myself to hate the President like the stupid liberals in college. She is only carrying out her duty as a scapegoat for our collective failure, presiding over our dysfunctional democracy where officials are forced to play politics instead of governing. This will be her last SONA or is it? There is a lot of rumors going around that the President is going to extend her term and by rumors, I mean bullshit. She isn't going to extend her term, being President is a crappy job. After this, she's probably going to represent her district or get some other cushy government job. Extending her term by hook or crook is just going to lock her out of politics forever and she's too smart for that.

But I just had a funny thought. Wouldn't it be awesome if GMA, our President, goes up on that stage and just gives everyone the finger? After that, she just rants on stage about how stupid everyone is and actually reveal herself to be a genius with a British accent. Nobody would expect that and that would make a great report in our Political Science classes.