Sunday, July 27, 2008 Cabaero: Cebu in the Sona By Nini B. Cabaero Beyond 30
PRESIDENTIAL Management Staff director general Cerge Remonde, a Cebuano, didn’t say if Cebu would figure in tomorrow’s State-of-the-Nation Address (Sona).
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is scheduled to give her eighth Sona before a joint session of Congress to give a report to the nation. Remonde said the speech would focus on the value-added tax, family planning issues, and the government’s social welfare program.
There was no talk of how Cebu would be mentioned in the presidential report.
With the pressure on government to control gasoline prices and the cost of almost everything, President Arroyo would be pressed to speak more on the nationwide everyday problems of her constituents, rather than go per region.
Even if she were to speak about Cebu and its achievements, she would have to give updates on her mention of Cebu in past Sonas. And follow-ups on Cebu’s corruption in the public sector rate and the “mega tourism region” might pale in comparison with the more pressing requirement of fighting for the needs of the average Filipino.
She spoke in 2006 of how only 47 out of every 100 companies in Metro Cebu hoping for public sector contracts, resort to bribery. This figure is down from 62 percent of companies in 2004 who go for under-the-table deals to get government contracts. But she did not elaborate on how local elected officials cleared procurement and bidding processes of grease and other loopholes.
She spoke in the same year of converting Central Visayas into a “super region” for tourism and mentioned the Cebu International Convention Center, which was the venue for the Asean summit held here.
Some of the public officials she congratulated for the drop in bribery are currently facing graft charges in relation to preparations made for the Asean summit. If not that kind of an update, she would have to report on extraordinary happenings with regard the mega region plan and the so-called cut in the bribery rate.
(If you want to review the full text of President Arroyo’s last three Sonas or her reports from 2005 to 2007, go to the Sun.Star website at www.sunstar.com.ph and click on the icon for “Arroyo Watch.” The website will run a special coverage, including an almost real-time account and breaking news, of tomorrow’s Sona at the Batasang Pambansa.)
Arroyo was in Cebu last week for the inauguration of the Plaza Sugbu in front of the Cebu City Hall. During her visit, Remonde spoke with media about what the President would say in her Sona tomorrow.
Remonde said she would have the usual technical details, numbers and presentations that marked her past reports, and a policy declaration that would hopefully address pressing concerns of today. He made no mention, or was probably not asked, about Cebu in the Sona.
He said it is the duty of the citizens to listen to the President in the same way as it is the duty of the President to make a report to the nation.
