Kudos and critique of SONA

For those who want to listen, there were a lot of good things the President’s State of the Nation Address mentioned. For the die-hard oppositors there was nothing good said.

Was that strange? No, just a rehash of the usual reaction of the pro-administration elements and the anti-GMA militants.

It was reportedly just a rehash of the past SONA. For me, it was a report card on what had been accomplished so far as the presidential promises of the past are concerned. Nothing wrong with that.

That there were a lot more things that needed to be addressed cannot be denied. But, for the first time, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo owned the suspicion that some members of the Armed Forces may have been involved in some of the extra-judicial killings. But rather than just spout excuses, the President took remedial steps by urging Congress to pass laws that will address the problem.

And the infrastructure projects for the Super Regions was something really worth mentioning. But, again, as pointed out by militants, it will only accelerate the disposal of the country’s wealth and will not contribute to providing employment to the millions who remain poor.

But, if we have to be honest about it, thousands of young people have landed jobs in call centers in Bacolod alone. Not to mention those of Iloilo and other places such as Oriental Negros.

The only drawback is that we don’t have enough of young people proficient in English – spoken English. But we can see from the daily advertisements by Teleperformance and other call centers that there are many openings for employment begging for takers.

As a matter of fact, I think the most forward looking idea hatched by the education department was to go back to English as the language of instruction in schools. It will replace the “Wika”, or Tagalog, as the so-called national language is better know.

Members of Wika, however, keep insisting on the national language as instructional tool. Unfortunately, that is good only for those in the Metropolian area. Otherwise, as already proven by the poor grades of my own grandchildren, that only proves a hindrance to non-Tagalogs.

Lately a group of Wika scholars, mostly from the University of the Philippines, tried to impress educators that they are hell-bent on translating English-language books into Wika. A tall order and one that is only guaranteed to further stifle the education of our young in English, now considered an international language.

We want to discard our reputation as the second nation with the most English-speaking population. The reason why thousands of Koreans and Chinese as well as Japanese come to the country every year just to learn English from us and many of our young students.

In Bacolod alone, we know that there are hundreds of Koreans and other foreign nationals studying only one thing – English. And we wish to abdicate this preeminent prestige we have enjoyed for years.

Anyway, another thing that bothers militants is that more airports and improved infrastructure will bring into the country more foreign tourists. They consider it a sell-out. Unfortunately, these are the concerns that provide thousands of jobs for many. Like Boracay, for example.

What do they propose instead? Nothing, Just cat calls. Of course, by solving the problem of unemployment, the administration will deprive communists and other dissidents their chance of spurring a revolution. But the President, whether we like or not, has spelled out in clear terms what is good for the country – the very things that will solve the problem of unemployment and widespread poverty.

But, no, we want to go back to the dark ages.

There was another thing worth mentioning. The President’s call for modification of the Agrarian Reform Law. This aims to remedy the flaws in the program that have already cost the government more than P20-billion. All that she is asking for is for the mistakes to be addressed and for the passage of measures aimed at effecting reforms. That is laudable. But, now the militants want it to continue as is with all its attendant consequences.

Well, there is nothing we can do about the critics. They can pinpoint all the mistakes in the SONA. But they have no concrete proposals on how to solve the problems mentioned therein.

***

Well, Rep. Monico Puentevella (Bacolod City) has introduced the House Bill No. 469, a bill patterned after the “US Lemon Law.”

This aims to protect the rights of buyers of brand new motor-vehicles.

A similar bill, authored by Puentevella in the 13 th Congress, would have been signed into law had the legislature not been sidetracked by the 2007 polls. It gives the consumers the right to demand repair or substitution of a car which does not conform to standards during the 12-month period of guarantee or the first 20,000 kilometers mileage.

In short, it requires compliance by the consumer of his obligations under the warranty modification not authorized by the manufacturer or distributor, abuse or neglect of the brand new vehicle, and damage to the vehicle due to an accident or force majeure.*

Otherwise, the distributor is required to comply with the company guarantee and undertake the necessary repair or remedial measures. And these applies not only to the manufacturer but also to distributors, dealers and car retailers.*

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