antifaust

President Arroyo delivered a very optimistic State of the Nation Address despite yesterday’s events. Filled with dull gimmicks like corny references to boxer Manny Pacquiao’s victory and statements translated into various local dialects, the speech read like a hastily arranged catalog of the government’s minor victories. I expected as much. To incorporate “doomsayers’ rhetoric” about the local economy floundering due to withdrawal of foreign investment would be to admit the inherent weaknesses of her “Strong Republic.” Our economy’s overdependence on foreign investors, as evidenced yesterday by the nervousness of the Makati business sector, has been our country’s Achilles’ heal since the Marcos dictatorship. I guess the president is satisfied with our being an economic kiss-ass.

Some points I care about:

1) The president ordered the formation of a fact-finding committee to investigate the circumstances behind the Magdalo mutiny and the allegations of the rouge soldiers, especially the army’s alleged involvement in the Davao bombings. Fine. But I seriously doubt any good will come of it.

2) As preparation for more comprehensive PhilHealth coverage, the president urged Congress to pass the bill on the indexation of sin taxes. Although this is a good step towards relevant health reform, there are more health care sector issues that need to be addressed. Government hospitals lack sufficient funds, for one thing. I’ve experienced this first hand as a medical intern in the Philippine General Hospital.

3) The May 2004 elections will be “computerized.” Ah, computerized electoral fraud. Hackers must be licking their chops. But seriosuly, I hope this succeeds. I’m curious as to how secure their network will be.

I browsed around for a far-left response to the SONA that I could criticize, but I found none as of this post. Philippine Revolution Web Central had a statement regarding the Makati mutiny, and I’m surprised I found something that I agreed with:

The mutiny of the Magdalo group was bound to fail, because they did not have mass support, they were not fighting for any program in the context of systemic socio-economic-political changes more serious than Honasan’s shallow and phoney ‘National Recovery Program,’ and their reactionary factional links showed on their sleeves. — CPP spokesman Gregorio “Ka Roger” Rosal

Too bad the rest of the document contains the usual propaganda. I think they really should scrap the protracted people’s war strategy and concentrate on the urban-based legal democratic movement.

I’ll save my analysis of current Marxist-Leninist-Mao Zedong thought for a later post. Right now, I need to keep studying.

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