Some notes to ponder about PNoy's SoNA

Just as so you know, today is the day where President Noynoy Aquino gives out his first State of the Nation Address (SoNA) as President of the Philippines. Having listened to the same old piece of crap that is the SoNA of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for the past 9 years, I would consider PNoy's SoNA a different one.

One of the initial observations I noticed with PNoy's SoNA is that he made really good use (and I mean it) of the Filipino language (as compared to PGMA, who has been using the English language for all of her 9 years as the President of the Philippines), signifying PNoy's efforts to address his message to the masa, and not to the elite who understand the English language. Like what most news anchors and field correspondents have commented on the SoNA, PNoy managed to change the notion of the SoNA by stating the real facts, facts that have been hidden for the past how many years.

Starting off, PNoy has noted the anomalies that have been not revealed by GMA such as the expenditures made within the Calamity fund (where a big chunk when to a district in Pampanga), and the severe depletion of the Yearly budget, and various anomalies present within DPWH, MWSS, and Napocor. Contrary to his critics considering it as nothing but mere "rants", this is a very good characteristic of being transparent in the Aquino administration. I guess now is the time for the public to know about how deep in shit is the Philippines after GMA has left it.

After citing the present situation of the Philippines, PNoy has made good note of what his administration has done for the first three weeks. Among one of the accomplishments he has mentioned is the speedy restoration of electricity after typhoon Basyang came along to the Philippines a week ago. Another good accomplishment he has noted is on the hunt down with the tax evaders, starting with Villarica for paying php 25k in taxes where at the same time he was able to buy himself a Lamborghini that is worth php 26m. The efforts with hunting the tax evaders and smugglers are so far so good. Also, his mention of a 50% success rate in resolving extralegal killings is a very good sign for me, something that the PGMA administration failed to address for the past 9 years. By that means PNoy is making an effort to address these killings immediately, making the world of journalism (specifically in the Philippines) a much more safer place.

In addition to this, PNoy also laid out his plans, and in his speech he mentioned the progress of these plans, which again, is a good sign that the Aquino Administration is very transparent and makes the public aware of what is happening. Among one of these plans he has said in the SoNA are the modernization of the Navy, resurrecting the railway system, and the re-structuring of the PhilHealth program. In addition to these plans, he also added the push for the Fiscal Responsibility Bill, Procurement law, Anti-Trust Bill, National Land Use Bill, National Defense Act, and the Whistleblower's bill, all bills pertaining to the Administration's efforts to re-structure a country that is left in a bad shape. In addition to these new bills, PNoy also said that there's a need to revisit other bills, and update them to make the law more consistent and have less loopholes.

Towards the end of his speech, he called for the MILF and the CPP-NPA to give him their plans for peace efforts. As far as the Aquino administration is concerned, they are open to the MILF and CPP-NPA for diplomatic talks. It is up to the MILF and the CPP-NPA on what they plan for the peace talks.

Although I find Noynoy's first SoNA speech generally good, imposing a sense of hope for the country, some issues were not addressed, such as the Agrarian Reform, where the case of Hacienda Luisita is put into question. Still, we all should remember that it has just been 3 weeks since the start of the Aquino administration, and that a lot of things may change or happen for the coming days. But generally speaking, I am satisfied with the message conveyed with the SoNA.

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*Some Quotable quotes from the speech:

-"Paano kung bumagyo bukas? Inubos na ang pondo nito para sa bagyong nangyari noong isang taon pa. Pagbabayaran ng kinabukasan ang kasakiman ng nakaraan."

-"Ang inakala ng taumbayan na natipid nila sa kuryente ay binabayaran din natin mula sa kaban ng bayan."

-"Kung kaya mong bumili ng Lamborghini, bakit hindi mo kayang magbayad ng buwis?"

-"Mayroon po tayong 36,000 nautical miles ng baybayin. Ang mayroon lamang tayo: tatlumpu’t dalawang barko. Itong mga barkong ito, panahon pa ni MacArthur."

-"Negosyante, sundalo, rebelde, at karaniwang Pilipino, lahat po makikinabang dito. Basta po hindi dehado ang Pilipino, papasukin po natin lahat iyan."

-"Kung ang mga gobyernong lokal ay nakikiramay na sa ating mga adhikain, ang Kongreso namang pinanggalingan ko, siguro naman maasahan ko din."

-"Mahirap magsimula ang usapan habang mayroon pang amoy ng pulbura sa hangin."

-"Dapat din po nating mabatid: ito ay panahon ng sakripisyo. At ang sakripisyong ito ay magiging puhunan para sa ating kinabukasan. "

The B side of every story

This is for the nerd that the boys and girls would die for.

This is for the extrovert who prefers chilling at home.

This is for the over-achiever who pretends to be a underachiever.

This is for those who want to break the chains of stereotyping.

With a couple of articles I've written for my Feature Writing Class, in which involved interviewing people, one of my favorite questions to ask is the question "What is something that people do not know about you?"

The thing about that question is that it makes me learn more about the person I am interviewing with. No matter how famous that person is for a particular thing, whether it may be being an actor, or being a writer, or being a photographer, or being a news reporter, they will and always will be a certain characteristic that they hide from the public, or only those who really know them would actually know. Yes, this is what I call the B-Side of every person.

In every one of us, there is a certain characteristic that will surely surprise everyone, even those who actually know them. With this so-called B-Side, stereotypes are easily debunked as stereotypes are basically nothing but a mere means of segregating people for certain characteristics that they have. After all, we are made to be unique beings. Copycats do not (ideally) exist in this world. We are what we decide to make ourselves out of, and we are not dictated by what society wants us to be.

Sure there lies the gifted, the academically competent, the talented, the dancer, the writer, the actor, and the likes, but that does not necessarily means that they love the gifts they have. Sometimes, these people tend to resort to their "other side" - the side of which they are more passionate about - and believe me, there are a lot of people out there that are actually like that.

And no, it does not mean we are talking of the B-side that it would automatically refer to the bad side of the person. In fact, when we talk about a person's other side, there's this great tendency that we would realize that the party-goer is a devout catholic, that the daydreamer is a cum laude student, that the blogger is actually a talented writer. Yes, there are endless possibilities with the understanding of every person's other side.

And yes, even the writer of this entry has his "other side".

Do I hear complains? Anyone?

By now, it has been a good 20 days since President Noynoy Aquino has stepped into office, ending the dynasty of Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Personally speaking, I find his leadership quite impressive (but not impressive in terms of his overall decision making and leadership skills), save for a few flaws, like being late for some meetings.

So what are the key points to consider (in my own opinion) in the first 20 days of the Aquino Presidency?

1) His selection of cabinet members

Face it. Noynoy did make a good choice for his cabinet members (like Jesse Robredo for DILG), and at the same time, has made bad choices as well (such as appointing the controversial Dr. Ona for DOH). His recent appointment of ANC News Anchor Ricky Carandang and Philippine Daily Inquirer Columnist Manolo Quezon as part of his communications cabinet are also good choices in his selection as well. The important matter with regards to Noynoy's selection of his cabinet officials is that the newly-appointed cabinet members shall serve as a backbone to the Aquino administration. The importance of having good choices for cabinet members is that in a team, it is important to have not just a good leader, but a good selection of members as well. For one thing, Noynoy is learning from GMA's mistakes on making bad (and I mean REAL bad) choices for cabinet members. So far when it comes to that department, I could say that Noynoy has been choosing quite deserving people to particular posts, and that the performance of these appointed cabinet members are doing quite well, especially when it comes to hunting tax evaders and upholding proper traffic laws.

2) No Wang-wang policy

Yes, we all remember that part of Noynoy's Inaugural speech, emphasizing that he will not use such a device for his appointments. True to his word, the President attends his meetings without any use of sirens or having any special treatment of sorts. Every motorist can attest to this: when they see the presidential convoy on the road, they act like ordinary citizens, following traffic signs and the laws of the road. And with this, I commend Noynoy for setting a good example, of which prompted the LTO to be more strict with "wang-wangs", catching quite a number of violators, private or government official. I actually the improvement with regards to traffic, as less douchebag drivers exist in the road. Just a suggestion: maybe Noynoy should impose strict rules with regards to smoke-belching vehicles, and especially with motorcycle drivers, who still remain the biggest pain in the ass next to public utility vehicles like buses, jeeps, and taxis.

3) Busting the tax evaders

Tax evaders have been a perpetual problem in the Philippines, of which is the major cause of low collection of taxes by the BIR. Not this time. Noynoy's administration has been quite aggressive towards hunting down "big fishes" of the tax-evading scheme. The first big fish they have caught is the owner of the Villarica line of pawnshops, wherein the owner only paid php25k for taxes, yet the same person managed to buy a php25m Lamborghini sports car for himself. Quite a great job for the administration for hunting these greedy people, but I expect that they become more aggressive, as a lot of these greedy people are there hiding from the scrutiny of the BIR, chilling around with their riches as if they are like Scrooge. On the other hand, the bust incident in Subic was, for me, still a show-off, unless they can actually eliminate all of these smugglers proliferating around the Metro, selling goods that are ridiculously low, that is too good to be true that they are actually tax paid (remember Willie Revillame's unfortunate incident with the Ferrari?).

4) Bashing government agencies that fail in their jobs

After another PAG-ASA epic fail called the false forecast of typhoon Basyang, Noynoy actually had the guts to bash them for not doing their job properly. PAG-ASA's miscalculation of the typhoon was a costly mistake for Metro Manila, with communication lines cut off and a massive blackout swallowing not just the Metro, but almost the entire Luzon region (and that became a major obstacle for us in Storyline, as the blackout meant a delay in our production work). Aside from the PAG-ASA incident, another point of consideration for me is the summoning of former Department of Agriculture secretary Cito Lorenzo to act as a witness to the ever-controversial Fertilizer Fund Scam, where allegations point out that the supposed fund for the purchase of fertilizer for the use of the farmers were actually diverted as campaign funds for former president Arroyo for the 2004 elections. In this aspect of criticizing certain government agencies, I really think it is a good move, especially that I firmly believe that there is a need to do some streamlining by eliminating some useless and money-wasting government agencies (since I do think there are way too many government agencies in our government system).

5) To forgive?

Another brewing issue in the Aquino administration is the reconsideration of the case of Senator Trillanes, also known as the man behind the Oakwood mutiny. The case with Trillanes is on the decision of Noynoy of whether he should forgive him for that failed coup attempt or to pursue the case against Trillanes. The issue has created a divided stand: to those who want to pursue the case, they say so because what Trillanes (and co.) is still a crime against the government, as they made an attempt to defy against the chief executive. The fact that they had intentions of bringing Arroyo down is a concrete evidence of their defiance, hence the stand for pursuing the case against them. However, the other side would consider forgiving Trillanes, as what Trillanes did then was right, considering that Arroyo's legitimacy as president was questioned, given the number of scandals that has haunt her in the duration of the 2004 elections. For these people, it is tantamount to say that Trillanes could be considered as a fallen hero, making an attempt to topple down a questioned administration. Nonetheless, Aquino's decision with regards to this matter would mean a lot about his leadership, on whether he would be a forgiving and merciful president or not.

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It has been just 20 days, and a lot has been brewing upon under the Aquino administration. I wonder what would happen in the next 80 days as well.

When shit hits the fan, and you still do your job . . .

. . . that shows your dedication to your work.

One thing that we would eventually learn through the years is that there is no such thing as an ideal workplace where everything is simply perfect, from the ambiance and environment of your work area to who your boss is. Face it: we do not live in a perfect world, hence we should be willing to face these flaws, no matter how grave they can be.

Being a campus journalist, a photographer, a photojournalist, a production assistant, a video editor, a writer, a show monitor, a political scientist, a researcher, and many more, experience is indeed very important especially in terms of mistakes.

Yes, mistakes are not as bad as it seems (well, depends on how big that mistake is though). They teach you a lot in the work place. From first year college until this senior year (where I juggle academics with my equally-awesome internship in Storyline under a great and gorgeous person), I did make A LOT of mistakes. Some minor, some grave, but all of them taught me an important lesson.

From saying wrong remarks to my editor, to spreading false rumors, to neglecting my work, to ethical issues, I sure have had a good dose of these work fiasco situations, and yet these has not stop me from my work. Instead of quitting, I would always come back for more (sounds masochistic, eh?). Simply face it: there will, and will always be, an instance that you will face a situation where shit hits the fan. My advice? Don't panic. Assess the situation. Find possible remedies whenever possible. If there are none, well you have no choice but to face the consequence (and its corresponding punishments). Some may feel devastated by these scenarios (I should know, because it did happen to me . . . that's why I decided to leave campus journalism last year), but remember: as long as you love your work, don't quit. Believe me, it is better to have lots of shit happening in the kind of work you love doing than having a good time woth the kind of work you are not enjoying.

I do know it is hard to love something that induces you to scream out, think of suicidal thoughts, go paranoid, and other crazy thoughts caused by stress. However, if you like your job, you would not worry about going insane and all, as long as you get the job done.

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*Just a thought: For some reason, I get to generate better blog entries if I type them first on my phone (a white E71) than on my laptop (a white unibody MacBook). So much for being on the go =)