SOanoNA?

So much for catharsis. You’d think the SONA buildup supposed to shock our socks off would have amounted to more than P-Noy reporting on what we already knew.

GMA’s shameless skinny-dipping in our national coffers? Tell me something I don’t know.

Nevertheless, I have to admit it was refreshing to get the lowdown on all the dirty, sordid details about our country’s situation.

You know, for a change.

Because it gets tiring listening to the same self-congratulatory speech (delivered in monotonous, nasally English, no less) after nine years.

Granted, its not as if P-Noy had anything to congratulate himself about (except maybe delivering his speech in the vernacular); but at least now I know for sure that, apart from the national budget evaporating into thin air (we’re down to P100 billion from P1.54 trillion), our tax money being used to bail out erstwhile bankrupt institutions (i.e. NAPOCOR), and the likes of the DPWH pursuing projects that make no sense (only beneficial to a favored few?) — our leaders are idiots in arithmetic. Seriously.

The abuse of public funds and the culture of cronyism, I can still comprehend. But the news about the NFA wasting precious rice in a country where over four million people are starving? I can’t even find an adjective to express my… There, see?

To recap (half of) what P-Noy reported, last 2004, we had a rice shortage of 117,000 metric tons. The government bought 900,000 metric tons, seven times more than what was needed. It doesn’t take a genius to know that food left uneaten will rot… Incompetence (especially with repercussions such as these) should be a crime.

And so the cycle continues.

In general, the SONA wasn’t half-bad — just extremely lacking. Bitin. Aside from want of an emotional purging, P-Noy’s SONA also failed to transpose the “purging” onto the literal plane; that is, in terms of going after GMA. The issue of distributing land to the country’s peasantry was also pointedly left out (obvious enough, I guess), as was any clear-cut declaration towards increasing workers’ wages and boosting the education budget. Adding to the fact that the only semblance of a “solution” he could offer was privatizing social services (like mother, like son); well, then, so much for catharsis.

And while I respect that P-Noy wants to “keep it real” and mitigate any grandiose expectations on the part of his constituents, still — there remains a fine line between playing it safe, and playing to fear.

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It’s a given that people were going to wonder about the content of P-Noy’s speech. Less expected was the issue of the SONA rally garnering almost as much attention.

The reasoning of these concerned, “liberal-minded” citizens is thus: P-Noy’s barely had two months in office, what could have been done this time? Can’t the guy catch a break? Resume mass actions, say, after the first 100 days or so? Besides (they’ll say as an afterthought), it’s not as if these rallies change anything anyway.

It’s this kind of reasoning that makes me wonder if Cory Aquino’s turning in her grave (in hindsight, probably not). After all, wasn’t it a mass demonstration that paved the way for her ascension to the presidency in the first place? But I digress. Woe to the people naïve enough to believe that mass action is equivalent to an automatic, discernible change. Meaningful social upheavals don’t happen overnight.

And in the case of last Monday’s SONA rally, woe to the people daffy enough to keep calling for a “break” from rallying — a damn honeymoon period, if you will. It’s like telling P-Noy that his presidency isn’t a 24/7 job, that it’s okay to leave the nation’s problems on hold for a few days. After all, it’s not like these issues are going to run away.

Honestly, if anything, P-Noy should be grateful for these demonstrations; for these symbolic dramatizations of the people’s power; for these exercises in active citizenship. It means that he’s leader of a citizenry that still cares, that still remains vigilant no matter who is in the seat of power.

Our unrelenting attitude towards the Arroyo administration should be tripled in the face of this new one. Not because the masses want P-Noy ousted (give me a break). Simplistic conclusions such as this should be thrown in the gutter. Rather, the pressure on P-Noy should be even greater because he is legitimate, because he stands for a lot in the way of hope, and because power always, always breeds the densest consciences in our leaders.

What did William Blake say? Opposition is true friendship.

Make of it what you will.

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Thanks to Reish de Lara!