BARELY EMOTIONAL OR PLAIN STRATEGY? (5th SONA of the Yellow Army)
Vague and expansive charges notwithstanding, I sat for some time thinking about the topic. I sat staring at a blank screen, the blinking icon mocking my lack of inspiration. And then it hit me- why I was so caught up on the topic, and why I wouldn’t be able to answer it all. It was simply a matter of inspiration. I am not sure what the operating premise of this assignment is. And I wouldn’t know how, in good measure, be able to honestly answer it without jeopardizing principles long since solidified in my mind. And in times when we find there is no right way to answer, we must find it in ourselves to say something from our hearts. For the die-hard fans of PNoy, it could be a speech of hope but then as a speaker and a ghost writer, it is in my knowledge that speech are in form, structure wherein every word and every pause and every tone creates a desirable impact. It is all planned.
I wouldn’t mention here in the paper what PNoy mentioned in his speech, what I want to stress are the things I did not here yet seemingly important for me to here. As I write this, I have been forming a chain in my mind, a chain that goes a long way from issue to issue and thought that everything that our country is facing right now, and since in the past, are undeniably connected to the point that I find it hard to decipher where it all started. And suddenly a word popped-up: Mismanagement. Yes. Maybe because our government is pressured on what America wants and not on what Filipino needs. Why am I saying this? I am digging from the money we borrow from the international Fund and the agreements that comes along with them. Making us feel pressured to target universal goals in quantity, in compliance with their conditions, and failing to focus on the quality.
To make it more clearly, the Philippines needs a high quality education that will teach the young how to be competitive globally but by serving our own country. K-12 and TESDA is creating a country of employees, private company servants, job-order workers which will not in any way makes our country progress and will only prosper international and private companies. As far as I believe.
Another point, the Philippines needs an economically advantage industry favourable to agriculture because that is what our country is- an Agricultural Country, yet farmers themselves who feed the nation are starving and what does we get from PNoy as his answer? Importation.
Another thing, it is good to let the law-makers and abusers of Pork-barrel funds are made accountable to what they do, and the recent development about this national issue is very much appreciated but wouldn’t it be better if aside from prosecution, we will also develop a preventive action to minimize this kind of magnanimous corruption? Yes, I am talking about the Freedom of Information Bill.
All these and more were not realized or mentioned or acted upon. All because we are tied up with an agreement to Mr. Sam. We, Filipinos, should think to ourselves ‘is the SONA for us, or a sort of accomplishment report to PNoy’s real boss? Who is his real boss?
Let me justify the title of this paper before I put this to end. It refers to the widely talked about emotional part of speech. Because we, writers and public speakers, studied how to create a compelling emotional impact to our audiences. Yet, our president must try a little more.
And so I sound like a real antagonist.
Meanwhile I remember, “The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.” The immortal words of Abraham Lincoln encourage us to be resolute in our convictions. Philippines is not the greatest country in the world. But let us beat on tirelessly in full measure to ensure our mistakes are never borne back ceaselessly into the past, but in a direction the world would applaud. Let us take the road less travelled by; maybe that’s all it ever took to make a difference.
MY OPINIONS : YOUR OPTIONS 