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Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Arroyo's nation address heartless: militant leaders
HEARTLESS, full of lies, and of empty promises.
This was the observation made by militant leaders on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's State of the Nation Address (Sona) delivered before Congress on Monday afternoon.
Amirah Ali Lidasan, vice-president of the Suara Bangsamoro Partylist, said the Sona "has avoided all the present issues confronting the nation -- high incidence of poverty, hunger and fear of state's reprisal to those who criticize her policies and who calls for her ouster."
"Her speech was as hard and devoid of emotion as her promises of concrete bridges and infrastructures. It dwelled mostly on the future infrastructure projects because she has nothing to report about the country's current economic status. She cannot boast the remittances of OFW's (Overseas Filipino Workers) now because of the fate of the workers as war rages on in the Middle East," Lidasan said.
"The Sona was altogether predictable and empty, froth with promises of cosmetic improvements that do not address the needs of millions of impoverished masses yet provide needed facilities for big, exploitative local and foreign capitalists to exploit the nation further," Alvin Luque of Bayan Muna said.
Militants also criticized the President's lackluster effort to address political and media killings.
"While in passing she mentioned about the killing of more than 710 political activists, this was overshadowed with her congratulatory speech to General Jovito Palparan, the main perpetrator of the political killings. She did not even mentioned the killings of journalists and broadcasters," Lidasan said.
"Arroyo may have in her Sona uttered the word condemn in view of political killings. But this sounds superficial, 'tokenistic' and monumentally belated since hundreds have already been murdered and she has obviously and absolutely done nothing to stop the trail of blood," Luque said.
They said that, "Only a heartless President can ignore the wails of the families and friends of those who were killed under Palparan's battalions -- in Mindoro and Southern Tagalog, in Samar and in Central Luzon."
They added that the Sona is also devoid of any truth about Mindanao and the Bangsamoro areas.
"What was President's speech all about? It was an empty speech devoid of any truth and masks the true state of the nation. However, despite of the champions that she invited and the hullabaloo on the infrastructure projects, she cannot deny that she failed to propel the country's economy and make our people safe in this country," the militant leaders said. (BOT)
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (July 26, 2006 issue)
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