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Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Arroyo lists super projects, says funds available
MANILA -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Monday steered clear of divisive political scandals and focused her State of the Nation Address (Sona) on future economic potentials of what she dubbed as five super regions.
"I am not here to talk about politics, I am here to talk about what people want. We now have the funds to address social inequity and economic disparity," Arroyo said. "We now have the funds to stamp out terrorism and lawless violence."
Full text of Arroyo's State of the Nation Address
Running account of Arroyo's Sona
Up to 16,000 police and soldiers were deployed around the Congress, facing about 10,000 left-wing protesters armed with placards and streamers denouncing Arroyo and calling for her ouster.
 Government troopers stand guard beside an armored personnel carrier as residents pass by outside Congress in suburban Quezon City on Monday. (AP photo)
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"Surely there must be a better way to do politics so that those who lose elections do not make the country pay for their frustrated ambition," Arroyo said in a jab at the opposition. "There must be a better way so that those who win the nation's mandate can work without delay and whimsical obstruction."
The President survived an alleged coup attempt in February but continues to be hounded by allegations of vote rigging in the 2004 election, human right abuses, corruption and dictatorial tendencies, amid concern over military restiveness.
She has denied any wrongdoing, but lawmakers will tackle in coming months new impeachment complaints against her, after throwing them out last year on a technicality.
In her sixth address since she came to power in 2001, Arroyo also condemned the unsolved killings of hundreds of people, mostly left-wing activists and journalists.
Just as government stopped judicial killings by abolishing the death penalty law, it urges witnesses to come out in order to stop extra-judicial killings, the President said. But most of her speech was focused on building new roads and airports and establishing economic "super-regions" to spur development.
She said it was time to end the dominance of imperial Manila and give more opportunities to the provinces and the people. Under the super grouping, North Luzon will be the agri-business quadrangle, Metro Luzon will be the urban beltway, Central Philippines will focus on tourism, and Mindanao will be the agri-investment capital.
 Thousands of protestors flock to Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City to protest the State of the Nation Address (Sona) of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at the Batasan Complex on Monday amid the heavy downpour brought about by typhoon “Glenda”. (Sunnex/Jonathan F. Fernandez)
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The President, however, did not say how much exactly will be spent for all the projects she mentioned. This raised questions on whether the government can finance these projects without getting fresh loans.
Congress has not even passed the 2006 national budget yet. University of the Philippines economist Benjamin Diokno, in an interview on national TV, doubts the government's ability to carry out the massive public spending program laid out by the president.
"This will cost a lot of money-half a trillion pesos at least," Diokno said. Opposition congressmen lambasted the Sona as full of "recycled promises" while a pro-administration senator said the speech was "lopsided." The presidential address ran for an hour and two minutes and was punctuated by 167 applauses.
Ten senators and some congressmen boycotted Arroyo's sixth Sona.
Arroyo took potshots at the opposition, saying she is "game" to those who are planning to bring up old issues.
"For those who want to pick up old fights, we're game but what a waste of time. Why not join hands instead? Join hands in the biggest challenge where we all win or we all lose the battle for survival and progress of one and only country," she said.
Ilocos Norte Representative Ma. Imelda "Imee" Marcos, who did not attend the Sona but waited outside at the lobby, said the idea of having super regions is a sugar-coated endowment for local government officials in exchange for support in the upcoming 2007 elections.
Arroyo said government has the funds for constitutional and electoral changes. "The most prohibitive red tape is in our outmoded Constitution," she said. She said her government's plans have three stages: to recover from the decades-old problems of debt; to give back to the people the fruits of the revenues; and to invest in the natural advantages of the resources of country's five super regions.
Senator Juan Flavier said: "She said all the right things. Now the hard part begins: Implementation." He said he still doesn't like Charter change. Senator Ralph Recto, for his part, said the speech "was like a geography lesson and a travelogue".
Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, on the other hand, labeled the Sona as "lopsided" as it focused more on economic growth.
"First, it is all economy and virtually no governance. Second, its focus is on urban, and hardly on rural areas," Santiago said of the Sona. "I would have wanted a pronouncement on voice and accountability, political stability, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law and control of corruption," she added.
 Former Vice President Teofisto Guingona gestures as he delivers his message in front of a giant image of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo mocked as Hitler during a rally to protest her State of the Nation Address Monday. (AP photo)
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Former President Fidel Ramos, who once became President Arroyo's critic, waited for the chief executive to discuss the real state of the nation. "This is a State of the Nation Address, iba yung performance, iba naman yung mga resulta (the performance is different from the results). That was what we waited for, that was what's more important, isn't it? The Sona last year should have been the focus and let's see the results now," Ramos told reporters in an interview after Arroyo delivered her address.
He did not say, though, if he was elated or convinced with what Arroyo said.
Arroyo thanked her allies in Congress, local government officials, military officials, ordinary soldiers and policemen, religious leaders, and government employees, and cited the achievements of some local government units.
She also acknowledged boxer Manny Pacquiao, Miss Tourism Queen International Justine Gambionza, the medalists of the Southeast Asian Games, and those who climbed Mt. Everest -- all of whom were present in the session hall.
"After three years, 11 months and six days, I shall relinquish the presidency, with much, if not all, that I have outlined completed," the President said. (Sunnex/AP)
(July 25, 2006 issue)
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