SONAkakaduda 2024 #FactsFirst
PBBM: Mahigit limanglibo at limang daang flood control projects ang natapos na at marami pang iba ang kasalukuyang ginagawa sa buong bansa. [Applause]
The following night bumuhos ang katakutakot na ulan at bumaha nang bonggang bongga across Luzon, even in places that never used to flood, so reminiscent of Ondoy2009, The following day a state of calamity was declared in all of Metro Manila, Bataan, Bulacan, Batangas, and Cavite. [Ambilis ng balik]
DJ Chacha https://x.com/_djchacha/status/1816275607157874692
Last year, 147.5 Billion Pesos ang total budget for flood control projects for Metro Manila only. Sa lake ng halaga na yan paulit ulit pa rin ang problema natin sa baha. Anyare?PING LACSON
It is because most of the budget for the flood control projects flood the pockets of the proponents in Congress in connivance with the implementing agencies and their favorite contractors.
So, were there really 5,500 finished flood control projects? If yes, what difference did they make? Totoo ba na walang-epek sapagkat substandard ang materyales at trabaho sapagkat kung minsan halos kalahati na lang ang pondo dahil sa mga komisyon ng kongresista, DPWH, LGU, at contractor? [Guys, mahiya naman kayo]
So now I’m wondering, too, about other stuff BBM said at the SONA that were met with great joy by nation: the ban on POGOs and the unequivocal stand on the West Philippine Sea, in particular.
Already nakikiusap ang PAGCOR that “12 of the 43 POGO companies” be spared kasi masyadong marami ang mawawalan ng trabaho. Yan na rin ang concern ni Senator Tolentino sa isang interview with Karen Davila back in June that I blogged on: #BagongPilipinasWalangPOGO.
G. Senador, lumang tugtugin na ang ganyang justification: na may mga Pinoy na mawawalan ng trabaho. Iyan na rin ang daíng ng mga taga-Zambales at Pampanga nung isasara na ang US bases. But the good Senators of the 8th Congress agreed that the welfare of the whole, the common good, is more important than the welfare of the few.
Besides, the US bases and POGOs were bad ideas to begin with.
And yeah, great that he took such an unequivocal stand on the West Philippine Sea and had the grace to thank our fishermen, coast guards, and soldiers for their vigilance and sacrifice. I was hoping he would say, too, that the repairs of BSP Sierra Madre are to proceed apace whether China likes it or not ’cause #AtinAngAyungin! Alas, bitin. [Unless I missed it lang]
There’s a lot more na kaduda-duda especially re the grand promises of infra and ayuda. Saan kaya kukuha ng pera na panggastos? Lubog na tayo sa utang. Bugbog na tayo sa taxes. Paano na ba.
Looking for kakampi, post-SONA, it was good to hear some credible pundits airing similar concerns on social media.
Check out Christian Esguerra’s political podcast Facts and Fiction in President Marcos Jr.’s 2024 SONA with guests Pulse Asia president and political science Prof Ronnie Holmes, RJ activist and PNoy’s political adviser ex-Sec Ronald Llamas, UP econ prof. and ex-Finance USec Cielo Magno, and PR strategist Alan German na anak ni PR OG Reli whom I sort of knew back in the days.
Holmes, Llamas, and Magno are better informed than most, with a sense of the true state of affairs, past to present, and who clearly care about nation. German is a glib PR political tactician who always seems to know more than he’s telling and teases with tips on how-to-sell politicians, among other powertrippers. Host Esguerra, once of ANC, steers the talk with a GenZ’s take on national concerns that tends to provoke discussion, though only up to a point.
Unlike public affairs TV talkshows of yore, there’s a lot of banter, chortling, private jokes, whatever, between Esguerra and German, Esguerra and Llamas, apparently to keep the talk from getting too serious, or maybe his regulars like his GenZ sense of humor, I’m not sure. Whatever, it’s medyo nakaka-put-off, but the serious exchanges were | are worth staying for.
The same goes for Magno’s Chikahan podcast that premiered the Friday before the SONA with Llamas as senatoriable Edu Mansanas. It was the best conversation I’d heard yet on the state of the nation 2024, though you’d have to sit through some patawa and pababaw moments that interrupt trains of thought. And parang the sax and sing-along numbers are for another kind of podcast altogether.
If senior-short-memory serves, Magno and Llamas had a brief exchange about the pink movement, recalling what that campaign was like, how huge the crowds, how magical, parang EDSA, or something to that effect [sorry ang hirap hanapin ng exact words]. That was a pretty solid base of 14M – 15M voters, as it turns out — some 14.4M voted her in as VP in 2016, and some 15M voted her for president in 2022.
And if my social media algo is any gauge, buhay na buhay pa ang kakampinks — a third force neither pro-Marcos nor pro-Sara — naghihintay lang ng timon at direksyon. Which brings me back to Esguerra’s and Magno’s podcasts, the likes of which can be the perfect vehicles for thinking Filipinos with a bias for the Common Good to discuss current issues frankly and in depth, hopefully towards a consensus to organize around certain advocacies — like flood control, land use, anti-dynasty, proper wage hike, divorce law, atbp. — that sina Bam and Chel et al. could campaign on and carry into Congress in 2025. Hope springs.
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SONA blogs across three admins 2008 – 2019
SONA 2019 message: he ain’t no lame duck, not yet anyway
ChaCha: Duterte’s endgame #SONA2018 #NoToChaCha
sona, tsona, torre de manila #takeitdown (2015)
SONAkakaiyak (2014)
SONA’s deafening silence on coco levy loot atbp. (2013)
SONA as farce (2013)
the spin that is SONA(kakasuya) (2011)
SONAkakadismaya (2010)
kontra-SONA (2008)