The Philippine government’s fifth year under the presidency of Benigno Aquino III was formally opened on July 28 with the annual State of the Nation Address (SONA) held in the Batasang PambansaComplex.

Despite the throng of protesters considered to be the largest in the history of Aquino’s SONAs, the speech garnered an approval rating of 84% based on the results of a survey conducted by TV5.

Rhetoric and politics

Christian Movement for Socialist and Democratic Advancement (Crusada) Consul-General Polo Martinez personally attributed this seemingly positive acceptance of the speech to the SONA’s appealing nature.

“The rhetoric he used was very pleasing [and] engaging,” he said. Martinez explained that Aquino achieved this by putting facts and statistics to good use. Figures like the diminishing number of labor strikes as well as numbers on the growing Gross Domestic Product were capitalized on.

There was also an apparent reduction in the SONA’s focus on comparisons to previous administrations. The absence of critique on Arroyo’s term, according to Martinez, was what stood out in the speech.

Gino Trinidad, lecturer at the department of Political Science, echoed the same sentiments. “At least he no longer blatantly attacked the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo regime. Of course, there were hints every now and then, but it was no longer like that of the past four SONAs,” he said in a mix of English and Filipino.

However, for Hansley Juliano, lecturer at the department of Political Science, the fifth SONA was consistent with the administration’s conciliatory rhetoric. “The way most SONAs are structured and [done],” Juliano said, “walang presidente sa SONA na aamin na, ‘Nagkulang tayo’ (No president would ever admit to having shortcomings).”

“You’ll have to remember that a SONA is not neutral,” Juliano explained, “It is a ritual, but it is political.”

A real SONA

According to Trinidad, “the SONA, technically, is not a report but an agenda-setting mechanism.” He explained that the SONA’s supposed function is to be the president’s formal means to lay out bills and plans for the legislative branch to pass. Trinidad added that since the executive has no power to create laws, the SONA should serve as its avenue to communicate its agenda to the legislative.

Most critics would agree, however, that it turned into an achievement report. “It’s very lacking,” Trinidad commented, adding that various bills and laws, including the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill and the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms (Carper) Law, could have been put forward had the SONA been carried out as the agenda-setting platform it is supposed to be.

“This is a president thinking about his legacy, thinking about making his mark …the legacy that this government has to secure in the last few days of its government,” Trinidad added regarding the evident stress Aquino had given on the achievements of his administration, which the president claimed to be the result of good governance.

Juliano described the entire concept of a ‘state of the nation’ as a political claim. He said that the annual speech is an assessment of the state of the nation in the administration’s point of view.

“Other people obviously have a different appraisal,” Juliano said in a mix of English and Filipino.“Kaya nga sandamakmak na [mga] tao ang nagsasabi ng sari-sarili nilang SONA (This is why a lot of people are trying to stage their own SONAs).”

He pointed out that the larger public who feel that their concerns were not properly addressed by the president’s speech tried to create means for them to voice out their own “appraisal” of the country’s state. This manifested in a protest called “People’s SONA,” which happened simultaneously with that of the president.

Similarly, former Crusada secretary-general Louis De Jesus said, “People were expecting a defense of the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP). They didn’t get it. And that’s why they had a lot of protests in the streets.”

Expectations and disappointments

In an article by Aurea Calica from The Philippine Star, the Malacañang was said to have given statements, which seemingly implied the inclusion of the FOI bill and the Bangsamoro Basic Law in the president’s speech.

The former was drafted as a measure to urge “greater transparency, accountability, and citizen participation in governance.” Meanwhile, the latter is being finalized to further negotiate peace with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, following its peace agreement with the government last March. These were dubbed as part of Aquino’s priorities.

However, expectations on the SONA concerning the discussions of these issues, especially the FOI, were not met. Although, as De Jesus said, the FOI “was a major promise from the administration,” nothing was mentioned about it in the hour-and-a-half-long address.

Martinez supported this, saying that discussion of the FOI was supposed to be imperative in the speech. “The FOI is very pertinent since you have the DAP… and you’re looking for transparency. What better way to reconcile the two but through [the] FOI [bill]?”

Both Juliano and Trinidad also expressed their dismay not only due to the absence of FOI but also because of a shallowly tackled Carper Law.

Juliano explained that while the government has been stating its intention of continuing land distribution to the farmers, it cannot answer why targets are not meant nor can it explain the disparity between the Department of Agrarian Reform and the Land Registration Authority with respect to their figures on hectare distribution.

He felt that such concerns were “still at the margins. “We cannot deny [the marginalized sectors of society] the right to be dissatisfied if their concern is not being taken into account,” Juliano said in a mix of English and Filipino.

Several other issues, like the territorial disputes with China on the West Philippine Sea, which have been going on since early April in 2012, as well as the controversies on the Enhanced Defense Capability Agreement, signed in May 2014 for enriched US military aid especially in light of maritime disputes, were also among the interests that Trinidad felt needed attention.

Building political capital

Besides all the important issues that were notably left out during Aquino’s speech, what was also evident in the SONA was the president’s display of emotion.

Aquino said, in retrospect, that it was his parents’ love for the country that inspired him to take on the challenge of running for presidency. The president is the son of former Senator Benigno Aquino, Jr. and former President Corazon Aquino.

With his voice breaking, the president said, “The Filipino is worth dying for. The Filipino is worth living for. The Filipino is definitely worth fighting for,” recalling the words of his father, the martyred Filipino statesman.

“What really stuck [to the people’s minds] was when [Aquino] mentioned his parents. That’s what people remember,” De Jesusaffirmed.

Juliano, however, found an issue with this. “It doesn’t matter if he’s emotional or not. He made his speech to the public. Kung emotional siya, okay lang, karapatan [niya] ‘yun. Siguro ang problema natin is fetishized sobra (If he’s emotional, it’s okay because he has the right to be. Perhaps our problem is thatit is extremely fetishized),” he commented, noting how the Filipino public has made a big deal out of this aspect of the SONA.

De Jesus, on the other hand, conveyed a different way of perceiving what Aquino’s SONA tried to communicate through the emotional remark. “I think the goal of this speech was to place his administration in history—‘I’m doing my best to be the fulfillment of Ninoy and Cory’s promise.’”

Juliano added, “The SONA is always the opportunity for the president to build his or her political capital, and it may be [true that] it was able to gain some of that political capital. [But] how much it has won back for the president will be for the next [weeks] to decide.”