The SONA

A SONA that was delivered in a statesman-like manner, full of respect for the members of the legislature and at the same time bullish about prospects for the Philippines — that was what the nation was treated to on Monday. It was a delivery punctuated by repeated applause — particularly at those times that the chief executive struck a chord that obliquely distanced itself from the preceding administration.

BBM told the nation that there would be no let-up in the war on drugs, but this, under his watch, has never and will never involve extermination — and this was met with thunderous applause. And then he moved on to foreign policy and pointedly asserted that the West Philippine Sea was "hindi kathang isip lamang ... atin ito," and once more, the chamber erupted in applause, fully aware that the past policy of placation, if not acquiescence did not do us any good and only emboldened those who sought to carve out our seas for themselves. He decreed an end to the regime of POGOs in the country and ordered the cessation of all their operations — and, in the wake of the Alice Guo hearings at the Senate, this was welcomed with a sigh of relief by all right-thinking Filipinos who are worried about Chinese bringing, finagling, worming their way into the country's population and even its institutions by various fraudulent schemes and machinations.
It was honest. It took a long and hard look at basic education and noted deficiencies for which remedial measures were urgently called for. He seemed, however, to have missed the opportunity to call out the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) that has failed in several respects: First, it has stifled the academic freedom that is guaranteed higher education institutions; second, it has been red-flagged by the Commission on Audit as well as by the Department of Budget and Management for bungling the funds earmarked for tertiary education subsidies; and third, it is clearly a rudderless institution that is merely intent on throwing its unwelcome weight around!
The President's address came at a time when the academic term was winding up — and graduation ceremonies take place in almost every part of the country. With close to 2,000 higher education institutions in the country producing cohorts of graduates, the question obviously must arise about how they are to be employed. Sadly, many young Filipinos set their sights on foreign lands, serving the people of other countries, putting their creativity and earnestness into communities other than their own. The most common reason, obviously, is that opportunities are lacking in the Philippines. But there is a vicious circle at work here. We, Filipinos, create opportunity — but when those who are supposed to create it leave the country to put their genius and expertise at the service of other communities, then opportunities do not arise. I return to the theme of higher education. The clear intent of the Constitution is for higher education to prepare graduates who are equipped to change society, alter systems and re-invent institutions — and, in the process, to create opportunity. But owing to some perverse interpretation of outcomes-based education, what we have is higher education that makes graduates fit into the cubbyholes prepared by industry and enterprise.
Then, there is the matter of the social dimension of capital. The Philippines has its own share of megalithic corporations and ventures — but together with the goal of raking in profit should be the social responsibility to create job opportunities. Filipinos have, everywhere in the world, demonstrated a tremendous capacity to adapt, to be creative and to be inventive. And yet, there persists the perverse notion in many industries in the Philippines that we need foreign expertise to get things moving. Our engineers and computing experts do not fare poorly in comparison to their foreign counterparts. "Filipino first" has been declared by our Supreme Court, in the Manila Prince Hotel v. GSIS case, to be an executory provision of the Constitution — and that includes preferring Filipino labor and expertise.

The promise of government to provide every Filipino family with rice is laudable — but it should not be at the expense of the Filipino farmer who suffers tremendously when he must sell the rice he produces at rock-bottom prices because tariffs on imported rice are lowered. We clearly have obligations under treaties such as the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT), but these should be balanced by the national interest that remains heavily reliant on agriculture. It makes little sense to promise more rice to the nation while taking away the morsels left to our rice-growing farmers. There is a thin line to tread here — but I am sure that we have the technocrats, economists and right-thinking representatives of the agriculture sector who can help government craft a sound and practicable response.
The President lauded the strides made by the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), calling attention to the codes that they have successfully crafted for themselves. But I would have wanted him to tell us what he plans to do about Charter change that has been a long-felt need but is always a live wire. What we need is an executive determination to goad the legislature into the amendments we so need, including a shift to more responsive forms of decentralization, of which federalism would, to me, be the best response.
Not everyone may be a fan of the present president. That is not necessary. It is not even healthy for a democracy. But we can all acknowledge that we have a president who knows what he wants for the country, whose vision is not constricted to a single agendum, whose ambition is as broad as the concerns of the nation. And we should be glad for a president whose language is presidential, whose demeanor is respectable, and whose conduct is respectful.