Some Notes and Reflections on the Current Philippine Situation

Richard S. Solis, IIRE-Manila, September 3, 2011

The second State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Benigno Simeon Aquino III (PNoy) last July 25, 2011 was better delivered than his first one.  That was in terms of the mastery of the language (almost 98% was in the National Language – Tagalog) and the number of applauses it got from his audience.  But in terms of context, his famous term of “wang-wang” referring to one’s blatant display of power in getting something done for one’s self interest has morphed into one’s frame of mind (utak wang-wang) in doing things to enrich or favor oneself at the expenses of others.  There was a mention on how well the economy’s performance and about the burning issue of the day – that is – the row with China on the Spratly islands and the reason of the newly acquired naval vessel from the US to protect the country’s interest against the oppression of China.  And there was a mention of the past regime’s corruption and how his (PNoy) regime has been doing something about it.  But there were no mention on the situation of the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in the light of the worsening situation in the Middle East and the North African country of Libya and surprisingly there was no substantial mention of the peace processes which in the first SONA were considered as one of the main stresses of the current administration.