CEBU CITY -- Impressive, straightforward and amusing were some of the words Cebu City officials used to describe President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s State of the Nation Address (Sona).

Mayor Tomas Osmeña was so impressed by Arroyo’s achievement in keeping the inflation rate at its lowest, on average since 1966, that he will ask the City Council Tuesday to pass a measure declaring Arroyo an adopted daughter of Cebu City.

Sun.Star to host post-Sona chat

“Let’s give credit where it’s due. We have the lowest inflation rate in recent history, I think that’s fantastic. Our economy was pretty well managed, considering what’s happening around the world. She did an excellent job,” Osmeña told Sun.Star Cebu.

While in the United States for seven months during his chemotherapy, Osmeña said he saw how battered the US economy was, with banks folding up and some of the biggest US companies declaring bankruptcy.

None of this happened in the Philippines even as the world’s strongest economies crumbled, he said.

“The President has been through low public ratings, maybe one of the most unpopular ratings I have seen, but she has done a lot for Cebu. That is why I’m going to ask the City Council to grant her the status as an adopted daughter of the city in December, as our Christmas gift to her,” the mayor said.

The status is an expression of gratitude for decisions like taking her oath of office in Cebu City in 2004, building in Cebu City the first official residence of the President outside Luzon, and holding the Asean summit in Cebu in 2007.

Although there was no categorical statement that she will step down from office in 2010, Osmeña said he is convinced she will do so.

Deputy House Speaker Raul del Mar (Cebu City, north district) lauded the President for a straightforward speech that set the record straight.

Vice Mayor Michael Rama dared Arroyo’s critics to present their own date if they want to refute her report on the state of the country.

“Her straight to the point repartee was a sweet and polite revenge against her critics, tit for tat. But the delivery is very diplomatic, in a very statesmanlike manner,” he said.

Rama, who was at the Batasang Pambansa to listen to the President’s report, said it was the most straightforward, candid and direct speech of Arroyo he has heard.

Councilor Sylvan Jakosalem, a godson and staunch ally of the President, said that as expected, many will question her opening statement that “a strong economy” is one way to describe the state of the nation.

“But the more interesting part of her speech was her attack on her critics, and how she got back at them. That was quite unexpected in its intensity but altogether actually true... And it was amusing how she teased her critics by saying she would stop down the podium, but not the presidency,” he said.

Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) past president Robert Go said Arroyo has done an “excellent” job in implementing fiscal reforms that helped soften the impact of the global financial crisis on the Philippine economy.

He said that to have the country’s economy stay afloat amid a global decline of economies is a “difficult thing to do.” He added the unpopular decisions of the president, like the implementation of the expanded-value added tax (eVAT), have paid off.

Go, however, expressed doubts on the President’s stand that power rates will go down following the expiration of the purchased power adjustment (PPA) contract in one year. 

Like Go, the president of the Filipino-Cebuano Business Club Inc. (FCBCI), Rey Calooy, said President Arroyo deserves to be given credit for a “job well done” in steering the country’s economy towards growth, despite the contraction of other Asian economies.

But despite the P165 billion worth of microfinance loans that the government has released to seven million entrepreneurs, Calooy said that many micro, small and medium entrepreneurs (MSME) still can’t feel the support of the government.

“Access to financial institutions is still difficult for MSMEs,” he said.

Cause-oriented groups marched from Colon St. to the Fuente Osmeña Rotunda to criticize Arroyo and to protest attempts to amend the Constitution.

Rev. Rey Gelloagan, spokesperson of Karapatan and the Promotion of Church People’s Response, said they tied yellow ribbons around their arms not just for former president Cory Aquino, who is suffering from cancer, but to set aflame the “people power spirit for a nation about to die.”

Youth groups like the party-list Kabataan, the College Editors’ Guild of the Philippines, the National Union of Students in the Philippines and the Students’ Alliance for National Democracy were also present.

Anakbayan’s Fr. Max Abalos said he wanted Arroyo to tell the public the real state of the nation.

Labor party-list group Partido ng Manggagawa spokesperson Dennis Derige said Arroyo’s Sona had “little relevance” to the lives of ordinary Filipinos. (LCR/DME/GPQ/EOB/OCP/Sun.Star Cebu)