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AS in past SONAs the President yesterday enumerated
many government programs aimed to relieve the people of their
hardships. She also proudly pointed to the work that she and her
people have done to set up the foundations of a thriving economy.
She is right that: “Because
tough choices were made, the global crisis did not catch us helpless
and unprepared. Through foresight, grit and political will, we built
a shield around our country that has slowed down and somewhat
softened the worst effects of the global crisis. We have the money
to care for our people and pay for food when there are shortages;
for fuel despite price spikes.” The toughest of these choices is
the VAT, later called the E-VAT because of the bigger tax bite it
makes.
It is also true that: “The
result has been, on the one hand, ito ang nakasalba sa bayan (this
is what has saved the nation); and, on the other, more unpopularity
for myself in the opinion polls. Yet, even unfriendly polls show
self-rated poverty down to its 20-year-low in 2007.”
Arroyo-haters may scoff at this
but it cannot be denied that thanks to the E-VAT our people are
saved from experiencing many of the sufferings being borne by our
neighbors as a result of the global economic downturn.
She has heeded calls many
(including this column) have been making for her not to succumb to
those who want the E-VAT tinkered with. Without the E-VAT the
government would not be able to finance the subsidies for the very
poor, the effort to regain rice self-sufficiency and restore our
damaged agricultural sector, to create jobs while improving our
greatly deficient infrastructure, etcetera.
Three imperatives
These in her deliberately
simplified terms are the imperatives her government must attend to:
“First, we must have a targeted
strategy with a set of precise prescriptions to ease the price
challenges we are facing.
“Second, food self-sufficiency;
less energy dependence; greater self-reliance in our attitude as a
people and in our posture as a nation.
“Third, short-term relief
cannot be at the expense of long term reforms. These reforms will
benefit not just the next generation of Filipinos, but the next
President as well.”
More stringent Anti-Graft Act
We would have been more impressed
if she had included as the fourth imperative a massive drive against
official corruption. She did touch on it later in the speech. She
said, “More advanced corruption practices require commensurate
advances in legislative responses. Colleagues in Congress, we need a
more stringent Anti-Graft Act.”
She cited partly accomplished,
ongoing and soon-to-be launched projects aimed to improve the
quality of life and of doing business in some of the poorest
provinces, such as, “the infrastructure links programmed for the
our poorest provinces like Northern Samar: Lao-ang-Lapinig-Arteche,
right now ay maputik, San Isidro-Lope de Vega; the rehabilitation of
Maharlika in Samar.”
She claimed successes in the
campaign against kotong (extortion by law-enforcers) and colorum
vehicles. She did not name the kotong perps perhaps because it is
obvious only traffic cops and MMDA enforcers can extract kotong from
jeepney, taxi and bus drivers. She did not mention that some or many
colorum transport operators are, according to government sources,
linked to law-enforcement agents.
Cost of a text message reduced
She proudly cited her success in
bringing down the cost of sending a text message from P1 to P0.50.
She also received applause for
reminding her audience that, “Beginning this month, those earning
P200,000 or less per year will no longer have to pay income
tax—P12 billion less in tax revenues for the sake of the poor and
the middle class.”
Aid to farmers
New irrigation systems are being
built and old ones are being restored and the Land Bank “has
quadrupled loans for farmers and fisherfolk.” And “for more
effective credit utilization, I instructed DA (Department of
Agriculture) to revitalize farmers cooperatives.” The government
is “providing seeds at subsidized prices to help our farmers.”
As a result of government
efforts, she said, “Rice production since 2000 increased an
average of 4.07 percent a year, twice the population growth rate.”
Family planning
From this fact, she segued to
talk of family planning. “By promoting natural planning and female
education, we have curbed population growth to 2.04 percent during
our administration, down from the 2.36 percent in the 1990’s, when
artificial birth control was pushed. Our campaign spreads awareness
of responsible parenthood regarding birth spacing. Long years of
pushing contraceptives made it synonymous to family planning.
Therefore informed choice should mean letting more couples, who are
mostly Catholics, know about natural family planning.”
Agrarian reform
She asked Congress to extend the
life of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, but she also
said, “At the same time, I want the rackets out of agrarian
reform: the threats to take and therefore undervalue land, the
conspiracies to overvalue it.”
She also asked Congress to pass a
strong Consumer Protection Law.
She covered every important
ground.
If only the vision she presented
could become our living reality, the Philippines would cease to be a
country her people must leave for jobs abroad.
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