Every Filipino has the right to know what is going on in his country, and what the future holds for the motherland.
Last July 23, 2012, President Benigno Aquino III delivered his third State of the Nation Address (SONA) in our native language to reach out to Filipinos from all around the world.
He once said that we are his boss. Has he been able to back this statement?
[See the full speech after the jump.]—
The SONA of Pres. Benigno Aquino is an evaluation on the accomplishments of his administration, and what his are plans for the remaining time of his term of office.
From being the ‘Sick Man of Asia,’ Aquino begins his SONA proudly proclaiming that the Philippine GDP (Growth Domestic Product) growth under his watch is now up at 6.4% – miles away from the previous lows. This growth rate is second only to China in Asia, and the highest in South East Asia. The Philippine Stock Exchange Index rarely reaches 4000, but under his administration, the PSE index never went below 5000.
Bloomberg Business Week advised its readers to “Keep an Eye on the Philippines,” while Foreign Policy Magazine quoted one of the leaders at Asean 100, who referred to Philippines as perhaps Asia’s next “Tiger.”
So how exactly have we seen improvement since naming Aquino president?
Here are the statistics:
When it comes to infrastructures- airports are being constructed in the following provinces:
- Caticlan, Bohol
- Panglao, Legaspi
- Daraga, Albay
- Laguindingan, Misamis Oriental.
International airports are being improved in Mactan, Puerto Princesa, Tacloban, Butuan, Dipolog, Pagadian, Tawi-Tawi, Southern Leyte, Palawan and NAIA 3.
By June, construction of the LRT 1 Extension Line to Cavite is expected to start, and two connector lines, the South and North Luzon Expressways will begin as well. All are expected to be operational by 2015. Also, bus terminals will be constructed for Las Pinas, Quezon City and Paranaque to lighten traffic along EDSA.
Before his term, mounting unpaid bills of PhilHeath was the worry of hospitals servicing their card holders, which was then with only 760,347 members. Now, 85%, encompassing 23.3 million Filipinos are members, under a no-hospital-balance policy. Under his administration, 38,000 nurses and medical personnel were assigned to rural areas, which is three times of what the previous administration did.
Upon his assumption of office, the Department of Education had a backlog of 66,800 classrooms, 2.5 million chairs and 61 million textbooks, but by the end of 2012, they are expected to erase all these backlogs. DepEd budget for 2010 was 177 billion Pesos, while for 2013 it will be 292.7 billion.
Every year, we need to generate 1 million additional jobs for new graduates and those ready to join our work force. In just two years, his administration created 3.1 million jobs. At the start of his term, unemployment rate was at 8%, now it is 6.9%.
In 2011, the Pantawid Pamilya Aid Program for the poor had 3.8 million beneficiaries, 5 times that of previous administration. The government will to spend more than 40 billion Pesos for this program this year.
Ten million tourists are targeted for 2016 to visit the Philippines, from the present 2 million yearly. This is a practical target, considering that in 2011, Thailand was visited by 17 million tourists, and Malaysia 24. 7 million.
And in 2011, 145 billion Pesos worth of minerals were extracted from mining sites, but only 13.4 billion Pesos went to the government. This is being looked into to improve the people’s share. A proposed revision of the local mining law was filed in Congress.
For accurate prediction of typhoons and flooding, the Department of Science and Technoloy’s “Project Noah” was implemented. Through sensors deployed in many areas in the Philippines, especially in flood prone locations, rain intensity and flooding could be predicted and monitored.
In 2000, the Business Process Outsourcing industry employed a mere 5000, but in 2011, an improved total went to 638,000 employed, with 11 billion dollars in revenues earned. By 2016, it is expected to earn 25 billion dollars in revenues, while employing 1.3 million workers – plus about 3.2 million collateral workers.
The National Food Authority has a 177 billion loan inherited from the previous administration due to importation of 2 Million metric tons of rice. This year, NFA imported 500,000 metric tons, and this includes buffer stocks. And by next year, NFA expects to export rice, which is something that we should have been doing a long time ago instead of teaching our neighbors how to plant this very same crop, and sell it right back to us.
When Aquino assumed office, only 45% of policemen have guns, an essential and laughably basic “tool” for such a dangerous job. Now, some 74,600 guns were issued to them. Crime in 2009 saw 500,000 incidents, and in 2011, that number has been reduced to 246,958. Car napping incidents, in particular, was reduced from 2200 to 996, which is a direct effect of assisting law enforcement.
Reforms are being implemented in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao. The educational system in the region is being improved. Housing, bridges, schools and roads are being built to improve living conditions of local communities there. And add to these some extensive livelihood projects being implemented. The government gave ARMM in 2011 some P8.96 billion in assistance, in addition to the P11.7 billion regular budget the ARMM receives from. And simultaneous to these is the peace talks that are continuously going on with the Moro-Islamic Liberation Front, which is the Sunni-Islamist group that has been responsible for a majority of the terrorist attacks in the southern part of the country.
As the SONA came to a close, President Aquino ended his speech with this statement: “These (improvements) make us proud and happy to be Filipino.”
Despite all of the homeland’s problems on all accounts, it is a long battle towards sustainability. But Noynoy Aquino is fighting for us, and we need to keep going forward. Bickering and finger-pointing doesn’t do anything.
Ninoy would be proud. We should be, too.
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Featured Image: Credits
