Dividing the nation through colors

I am still puzzled why the President had to ask the people to wear a yellow ribbon after his preempted SONA speech last week. Does he feel alone? Does he need assurance that the people still believe in him? Or does he feel zoned out after that big blow of the Supreme Court on the DAP.

I truly feel bad for the President. Last week’s ”episode” didn’t have to happen that way. He misrepresented himself as the leader of the land. He abused his power as President when he challenged the decision of the Supreme Court. He was persuading the people that the Supreme Court is wrong and that he is right.

The President should remember that the three branches of government are co-equal and therefore must respect one another. The principle of the separation of powers has been adopted in the Philippines in order to avoid arbitrary rule and abuse of authority. The so-called checks and balances among the three major departments of the government: executive, legislative and the judiciary are no more than means of control by each and upon each of the departments. It is the duty of the departments to exercise moderation in their dealings with one another and their treatment of the public interest.

The 1987 Constitution gives the Supreme Court the power to review political questions, grant fiscal autonomy and reduce the role requirement for a declaration of unconstitutionality to the concurrence of a simple majority of the members who actually took part in the deliberation on the issues in the case and voted thereon.

P-Noy should realize by now that his actions could be detrimental to the nation and could possibly result in a constitutional crisis. This show of unregulated emotion and impulsive behavior triggered by the SC’s ruling on the DAP is uncalled for.

Anyway all his tongue-lashing amounted to nothing when after Typhoon Glenda whipped us with her strong winds last week, the Palace came out with a different tune saying that they will abide with the Supreme Court’s decision. Only realizing later that, ‘we are a government of laws and not of men.’

First you question and accuse the SC then you defend your actions and now you make a 360 degrees turn and retract all what you’ve just said. Susmariosep!

P-Noy’s Cabinet must work double time and try to get their act together to save the President from further embarrassment and ridicule.

The President should stop making promises he cannot achieve. In 2010, after giving a glimpse of the situation in the country and enumerating the problems his administration discovered in their first three weeks in office, he mentioned the steps they would take to solve all our problems.

One of the solutions he said was: public-private partnerships. P-Noy said that from these partnerships our economy will grow and every Filipino will be the beneficiary. He said that this solution will help us meet our needs in education, infrastructure, health, military, police, etc.

He mentioned the construction of the much-needed infrastructure in order to help tourism grow. In agriculture, he said that we should have access to grains terminals, refrigeration facilities, orderly road networks and post-harvest facilities. He promised to fix the food supply chain with the help of the private sector. Instead of importing, we should be able to supply the needs of the global market.

He assured us that price of commodities will be cheaper and arrive to their destination faster if the railway system becomes more efficient which he planned to improve. Then he said he will expand our basic education cycle from seven years to the global standard of 12 years, build more classrooms and fund service contracting under the Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education Program (GASTPE) Conditional cash transfers.

In his 2011 SONA, he made the following promises: that by 2014, our country will have cheaper, more reliable source of energy; all contractors proven to have engaged in foul play will be blacklisted in the DPWH; that government will have an honest and transparent bidding process to provide equal opportunity to interested contractors; in agriculture, he promised rice self-sufficiency and an end to over-importation that only serves to benefit the selfish few; expand the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program and before the end of 2012, invest in the future of 3 million poor families.

In 2012, P-Noy promised: to build the 66,800 classrooms needed to fill up the shortage he inherited; LRT 1 Cavite extension project to alleviate traffic in Las Piñas, Parañaque and Cavite; two elevated roads directly connecting the North Luzon and South Luzon Expressways; before he steps down from office, there will be high-quality terminals in Taguig, Quezon City and Parañaque; an additional 2,275 kilometers of national road will be fixed; reduce annual shortage of rice and be able to export rice by 2013; and develop the coconut industry.

In 2013, P-Noy promised that by 2014, families with children up to 18 years old will be included in the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program so that their children will be able to finish high school; raise the quality of learning so that when students finish school they can seize the opportunities opening up in society; self-sufficiency in rice; intercropping in the coconut industry; construction of ferry terminals in strategic areas, adding new roads, bridges and other kinds of infrastructure, including various services to raise productivity and income for our fishermen; and an allocation of P6.2 billion to prevent flooding throughout Metro Manila which includes the construction of the Blumentritt Interceptor Catchment Area.

He clearly announced that in three years-time we can expect: airports and ports to facilitate commerce and tourism; roads to ensure that we all reap the maximum benefit from these big-ticket projects; power plants that will generate enough energy and fuel the development of industry; access to adequate irrigation and farmers being able to sell their harvest more quickly; more new buildings; the continued development of call centers across the country; and the rise of even more businessmen ready to invest in the Philippines.

Big words, big plans, big dreams – most of them crashed. And now they are telling us that without the DAP, nothing will move? Should we really be grateful to the ‘all-mighty DAP’ for purchasing the modern PAGASA weather equipment? Is the DAP the only solution to improving our country? What about the annual government budget approved by Congress, the more legitimate budget? Sanamagan!

The President must be in his right state of mind when he delivers his fifth State of the Nation Address next week. We do not want to hear a ranting president enumerating what the previous government did wrong, pointing fingers to others instead of looking at his own flock.  He should own his actions and humble himself. He should fire all his inefficient Cabinet members who have wounded his Administration. He should stop saving his friends because he now needs to save the country.