...the techno upgrade

Palawan hospital, furniture manufacturer get business upgrade from Microsoft PH

By: Matikas Santos
INQUIRER.net

Thursday, July 26th, 2012

 

 

The three awardees of Microsoft’s “Upgrade your Business” promo, Doctor Melvyn Orbe of Palawan Adventist Hospital (second from left), Ian Uynicky of Furniture Contractors Inc. (far right), and the owner of PC Health Computer Sales and Services (second from right), pose with Microsoft Philippines General Manager John Bessey (center) and Isa Aviles, Commercial Marketing Lead of Microsoft Philippines (far left).

MANILA, Philippines—A hospital in Palawan and a furniture manufacturer that previously caught fire were the top two companies given a boost in their business through Microsoft Philippines’ “Upgrade My Business” promo.

The Palawan Adventist Hospital in Barangay (village) San Pedro, Puerto Princesa City won the top prize in the online contest; 10 Microsoft Office 2010 Pro Plus programs, two laptops with Windows 7 Operating Systems, a server hardware complete with Small Business Server Essentials software, and a P40,000 office Makeover Package.

Doctor Melvyn Orbe, President of the Palawan Adventist Hospital, said in an interview after the awarding ceremonies held Tuesday that they started as a clinic back in the late 70′s and only grew to a hospital in 1988.

They are now a tertiary level hospital that is modern and up-to-date in terms of services, he said.

“We needed to upgrade our system to meet our daily requirements in the hospital’s operations. We are very grateful that Microsoft has chosen us to get the upgrade that we really need,” Orbe said.

He said that before, they had to do the patient records and paperwork manually, which led to patients being discharged after two or three hours. Now with the technology boost given to them by Microsoft, they will be able to upgrade their patient records, billing and accounting processes, and link the different hospital departments together. They are able to discharge their patients in as fast as 30 minutes, Orbe said.

Palawan Adventist Hospital currently has a bed capacity of 54 but will be able to increase it to 70 to 80 once their new building is completed, Orbe said. They record around three to four thousand patients going through the hospital monthly with as much as seven thousand patients during peak seasons, he added.

The hospital was also the chosen referral hospital of the United States Armed Forces who visited Palawan during the Balikatan Exercises with the Armed Forces of the Philippines this year, Orbe said.

Rising from ashes

The second place winner was Furniture Contractors Inc., a family-owned furniture manufacturing company that is more than 30 years old and which lost its facilities with all their stocks in a fire in November 2008.

Ian Uynicky, President and Owner of Furniture Contractors Inc. said that the fire “happened Saturday night, so our warehouse was full of furniture that are ready to be delivered on Monday and our other suppliers had also just made their deliveries. So it was really full.”

He said their entire production facility with all the stocks “were completely wiped out.”

They were able to get back on their feet because their customers and suppliers decided to extend them credit for their recovery, Uynicky said.

It also helped that their at least 150 strong employees stayed with them. “Since we are a 100 percent local manufacturer it’s the people that make the business grow,” he said.

“It’s the skill of the people that make the business move,” he added.

“Microsoft helped us in the recovery [because] we were using Microsoft products already as interim tools,” Uynicky said.

He said that they use Microsoft programs for their inventory management, accounting, finance, cost analysis, products database, timekeeping records, etc.

“Right now our IT team is very limited, but there are plans to expand. When we get more people, [we] would need additional licenses so they can work on multiple tools at the same time,” he said. Microsoft’s prizes will be of great help to the company, he added.

The third place winner was PC Health Computer Sales and Services in Tacloban City. Microsoft was able to boost their business which “lacked the right facilities for its clients, project development and services they offer.”

Boosting SME businesses

Microsoft’s “Upgrade my Business” promo is part of their “Transform your Business” campaign which “serves as an avenue for Microsoft to help fellow Filipinos make smart investments to continuously sustain productivity and growth,” it said in a statement.

“Microsoft has always empowered start-ups and small and medium businesses through cutting-edge technologies, enabling them to manage and grow their organizations in today’s knowledge economy,” John Bessey, Microsoft Philippines Managing Director, said in a statement.

The online contest was done from February to June 15. Contestants submitted a video or an essay explaining why their business needed an upgrade. An internal panel of judges would then decide who are the most deserving to get a business upgrade based on a criteria that was posted online.

“We were happy about the split between participants coming from the Metro and the provinces,” Isa Aviles, Commercial Marketing Lead of Microsoft Philippines, said in an interview.

She said the cash prize “office makeover package” was an additional “fun factor” in the contest. “Winners will have a free hand in choosing how [they] can apply the fund to upgrade [their] facilities,” Aviles said.

“We’re happy with the kinds of business that we were able to attract, very diverse,” she said. “We’re glad that our campaign has reached different profiles [and] different geographies.”

Aviles said they were very pleased with the success of the promo and will very likely do “fun contests like this” again.

...the polvoron connection

Pitching Philippine tourism via ‘polvoron,’ mangoes

By Jocelyn R. Uy
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Thursday, July 26th, 2012

SEOUL—Don’t belittle the unpretentious “polvoron.”

Fashioned out of flour, powdered milk and sugar, it is one of the native Philippine delicacies, along with dried mangoes, offered in a one-stop shop set up on a street in this bustling South Korean capital to attract more Korean tourists to the Philippines.

On the shop’s glass window, an eye-catching poster greets passersby: “Outdoor cafés. More fun in the Philippines.”

Guests at the shop are offered mango juice or coffee and Filipino delicacies, such as dried mangoes and polvoron, while they browse through brochures detailing holiday packages to the Philippines.

The shop’s staff is a mix of Filipinos and Koreans.

The Department of Tourism on Saturday opened its first ever international one-stop shop and showroom to pump up the already growing tourist traffic from South Korea.

“Korea is our No. 1 market so it is only right that we set up our first ever showroom here,” Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr. said at the opening.

He said the launch was a milestone for the Philippines, the first Asian country to have such a showcase in South Korea. “This is where the Philippines has many friends,” he told guests.

Present at the opening of the one-stop shop were Philippine Ambassador Luis Cruz, Korea’s Mode Tour president Hong Ki-jeong, Assistant Tourism Secretary Domingo Ramon Enerio III, tourism attaché Maricon Ebron and other VIPs. Representatives from airlines and tour operators also graced the event.

Nestled in Euljiro Jung-gu district, the showroom is flanked by hotels, banks, malls, the subway and historical spots, such as ancient royal palaces.

“This is a perfect place because this is a very busy area and there is a huge traffic of potential tourists coming from the subway station, the malls, restaurants, banks and offices,” Enerio said.

From its signage bearing the slogan “It’s More Fun in the Philippines,” down to its brightly decorated glass windows, the showroom is eye-candy amid a tangle of concrete and steel.

Its interior showcases Filipino culture: The walls are painted bright yellow and orange and the shelves are arrayed with colorful picture frames made from indigenous materials, porcelain dolls dressed in the traditional baro’t saya and books on fiestas, ancestral weaving, Jose Rizal, birdwatching, golfing and cookbooks.

A flat screen on the main wall plays videos of the Philippines’ white, sandy beaches, blue waters and other tourist destinations. Two huge posters showing Bohol’s tarsiers and festival costumes also embellished the walls.

Hundreds of brochures feature prime destinations—Boracay, Bohol, Cebu, Manila, Davao, Subic and Clark. Tour packages offered by Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific and Zest Air are on hand.

“This is a one-stop shop for your travel plans … you can book your travels here,” Ebron said. “There is free coffee and mango juice every time you visit us.”

...the boat builder's paradise

Australian boat builder transfers manufacturing center to PH

By: Paolo G. Montecillo
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Thursday, July 26th, 2012

 

Australian military and commercial boat builder Austal has chosen the Philippines as the future center of its global manufacturing operations, taking advantage of competitive labor costs that do not sacrifice the quality of work.

The company, which leads globally in the production of high-speed catamarans, said it would soon start exporting state-of-the-art vessels out of its newly acquired facility in Balamban, Cebu.

“It has become uncompetitive for us to build these ships in Australia. It’s our intention to systematically and progressively transfer the technology from Australia into the Philippines so it is our center of excellence for all things commercial,” Austal CEO Andrew Bellamy said in a recent interview.

The Balamban shipyard is the company’s third location.

“We chose the Philippines because of its high level of growth, the English-speaking population that has the right skill set and work ethic, and the country’s location is also an obvious take-off point for our Asian-centric expansion,” Bellamy said.

The company’s oldest facility is in Perth, Australia, where the bulk of commercial vessels are made.

Among the notable ships the company has delivered are the passenger ferries used for trips between the Chinese cities of Macau and Hong Kong.

The company also has car and passenger vessels operating inter-island routes in Greece.

Austal’s second location is in Mobile, Alabama, by the Gulf of Mexico. The United States shipyard focuses on ships for defense. The company has been building warships for the US Navy since 2006.

The company specializes in catamarans and “trimarans,” which have several thin hulls that are able to cope with rough sea conditions.

The company has about 200 employees working in Balamban, with a firm plan to hire 150 more people.

Being built in Balamban today is a 27-meter three-hull trimaran—the first of its kind Austal has ever built—that will be used by wind-farm operators in Europe.

Bellamy said the Balamban facility, which the company bought from the Aboitiz group for $8 million last year, could end up employing thousands of employees, if demand stays strong.

“This is about building a long-term manufacturing capability in the Philippines that will be industry-leading and sustainable,” Bellamy said.

...the PH young workers

Philippines Leads In Demographic Dividend Of Supply Of Young Workers

 

 

By KARL LESTER M. YAP,

KEIKO UJIKANE and SHAMIM ADAM/Bloomberg

July 25, 2012

Manila Bulletin

 

 

“The Philippines is a 'standout' among countries set to benefit from a bigger labor pool, with its rate of economic expansion likely to rise as much as 1.5 percentage points during the next decade." -  Chua Hak Bin, an economist in Singapore at Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch division.

 

 

MANILA, Philippines — Jose Winylito Tanquis has reason to be proud as he raises a flag to signal the launch of the 58,000-ton “Ocean Symphony” in the Philippines. Not only did he help build the cargo vessel, his son John now works at the yard.

“Now, he can buy his own stuff, like shoes and clothes,” said Tanquis, 47, a foreman at Tsuneishi Holdings Inc.’s yard in Balamban on Cebu Island. At 21, John is the eldest of six siblings who will enter the workforce in the next decade.

The so-called demographic dividend from a rising supply of young workers is one reason Japan’s second-largest shipbuilder expanded in the Philippines, where workers are on average half the age of its Japanese employees. Tsuneishi is considering Indonesia, the Philippines and Myanmar for another shipyard, said Hitoshi Kono, chief of the company’s local operation.

Asia’s manufacturing powerhouses – Japan, South Korea and China – are among the fastest-aging countries in the world, while developing nations in Southeast Asia are among the youngest in the region. As factories, jobs and investment flow south to tap cheaper labor, growth in the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is poised to accelerate, propelling the area’s currencies and fueling consumer and property booms, Bank of America Corp. says.

“The demographic dividend is over for Japan and Korea, and it will be over for China soon,” said Yoshimasa Maruyama, chief economist at Itochu Corp., Japan’s third-largest trading company. “It’s happening now in the ASEAN area, and it will continue for some time.”

For Cebu, famous for its luxury beach resorts, that means regional authorities are building another four 10,000 square-meter (108,000 square-foot) factories this year. Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. unveiled its first outlets on the island in October, while 7-Eleven Inc. chose July 11 to open its first two Cebu convenience stores.

Two hours’ drive from the Shangri-La Mactan Resort & Spa – where tourists enjoy parrotfish fillet and black-pepper squid overlooking the ocean – Tsuneishi has launched 11 ships this year, supporting more than 15,000 workers. The company has two shipyards in Japan and one in China.

Mitsumi Electric Co., with more than 14,000 staff on Cebu, is among businesses looking to move more manufacturing out of China, said Yoshitsugu Murakami, a spokesman in Tokyo for the electronic-parts maker.

“Labor costs in China have been rising,” Murakami said. “It’s good for us to shift production to the Philippines little by little. It’s easy to recruit talented workers.”

“The Philippines is a 'standout' among countries set to benefit from a bigger labor pool, with its rate of economic expansion likely to rise as much as 1.5 percentage points during the next decade, according to Chua Hak Bin, an economist in Singapore at Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch division.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts China’s growth will slow to 8.5 percent by 2017 from 9.2 percent last year, while the Philippines will expand 5 percent compared with 3.7 percent, and growth in Vietnam will reach 7.5 percent from 5.9 percent, according to projections published in April.

“Domestic demand will more likely grow at faster rates if the labor force is going to grow more quickly, and that will spur the exchange rates as well,” said Chua, who previously led the Singapore central bank’s external economies division.

Standard & Poor’s this month raised the Philippines’ credit rating to one level below investment grade, its highest since 2003. In January, Moody’s Investors Service elevated Indonesia to investment grade for the first time since 1997.

The demographic dividend – a term popularized by economists David E. Bloom, David Canning and Jaypee Sevilla in a 2001 National Bureau of Economic Research study – happens when most of a country’s population is in the 15-to-64 working-age range. This increases productivity if supported by policies that promote health, family, labor and financial and human capital, the study concluded.

The Philippine labor force will expand by almost 18 million, or 31 percent, to 75 million by 2020 compared with 2010, Merrill Lynch projected in an April 27 note. Malaysia will grow by 19 percent, to 22 million. Indonesia will see a gain of more than 18 million, to 180 million.

China’s workforce will peak at around 970 million in 2020 as the population’s median age rises by more than three years, to 37.8, Merrill Lynch forecasts. Japan’s median age will increase to 48.5 and South Korea’s to 43.4, compared with 23.9 in the Philippines and 28.4 in Malaysia.

India has the biggest potential dividend of all, with a projected labor-force expansion of 95 million by 2020, Merrill Lynch estimates. Even so, businesses from Larsen & Toubro Ltd., the nation’s biggest engineering company, to Leighton Holdings Ltd., Australia’s largest builder, say a lack of skills means there aren’t enough trained workers to build the roads, railways and ports India needs.

The South Asian country’s expansion skidded to a nine-year low in the first quarter, and the rupee tumbled to a record low against the dollar in June, as investors lost confidence in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s ability to revive the economy.

“An increasing labor force is definitely a plus point,” Sri Mulyani Indrawati, a World Bank managing director and former Indonesian finance minister, said in a May 24 interview in Tokyo. “But it’s not necessarily going to become an economic gain if they’re not trained and skilled.”

Adult literacy is above 92 percent in the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia, while in India it is 63 percent, according to the United Nations 2011 Human Development report.

Other impediments to realizing the potential from demographic shifts include lawlessness and delays in implementing governments’ ambitions for infrastructure.

The Philippines ranked 130th of 142 countries in the World Economic Forum’s latest survey on the cost to business of terrorism, and 112th in terms of crime and violence – the worst in Southeast Asia. Fifty-four percent of mining companies said issues such as attacks by terrorists, criminals and guerrilla groups are a strong deterrent for investors, a Fraser Institute poll released in February showed.

The nation also has lagged behind on government construction projects, with its fiscal deficit last year below projections mainly because public capital spending had fallen, the IMF said in March.

One advantage for Southeast Asia, astride one of the busiest maritime arteries, is proximity to Japan and China, the world’s largest net creditor nations.

“Investments in Asean will continue for the next decade,” said Jan Oosterveld, former head of Royal Philips Electronics NV’s Asia Pacific operations and now a senior lecturer at the University of Navarra’s IESE Business School in Barcelona. “Simple manufacturing will go to the cheapest countries: It’s going now from China to Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Bangladesh. More advanced industries will go to Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines.”

Japan’s foreign direct investment to Asean more than doubled in 2011 to $19.6 billion from the year before, surpassing the $14.2 billion to China and Hong Kong, according to the Japan External Trade Organization.
“Asean labor costs are becoming relatively cheaper because China’s wages are rising,” said Satoshi Osanai, a Daiwa Institute of Research economist in Tokyo. Migrant workers’ average pay rose 21 percent in China to 2,049 yuan ($322) a month in 2011, according to the country’s National Bureau of Statistics.

The Philippines lured $6 billion last year in pledged foreign investment, led by Japan, where the average wage for a nonagricultural worker is more than 26 times higher, government and International Labor Organization data show.

Credit Suisse Group AG in March boosted its estimated trend-growth rate for the Southeast Asian country to about 5 percent, from 4.5 percent to 4.75 percent previously, citing President Benigno Aquino’s $16 billion infrastructure program and improved transparency. Aquino, 52, said in a May interview his nation’s dream to lure manufacturing “is happening now.”

“What was once the sick man of Asia now brims with vitality,” Aquino said in his state-of-the-nation speech in Manila today. “Until recently, we had to beg for investments; now, investors flock to us.”

Electronics accounted for about half the Philippines’s $48 billion exports last year and more than 10 percent of the economy. Investment in the nation’s economic zones, which primarily comes from abroad, almost doubled to 16 billion pesos ($384 million), according to the Trade Department.

Rising economic growth enriches young spenders, a boon to companies such as Nestle SA, the world’s biggest food maker, and Unilever NV, provider of products from Dove soap to Knorr soup, according to Amlan Roy, head of global demographics and pensions research at Credit Suisse in London. He also favors Procter & Gamble Co., the world’s largest consumer-products company, and insurers including Samsung Life Insurance Co.

In the Antipodean Cafe in Kuala Lumpur’s ritzy Bangsar neighborhood, diners in their 20s relax on a Sunday morning over all-day breakfasts and 9 ringgit ($2.80) lattes. New Zealand owner Alun Evans, 43, says he opened his first outlet in Jakarta five years ago to serve expats. Now the six branches he has in the Indonesian and Malaysian capitals serve mostly locals, and he’s looking at adding venues in Singapore and Manila.

Investment has transformed the village of Balamban, which got its first shopping mall last year, quadrupling its population since the 1980s to about 80,000.

“There were practically no jobs before, none; nothing was happening until Tsuneishi came,” said Renold Macasi, 34, a general foreman at the shipyard. Tanquis, whose next two eldest children are in college, said he hopes all his sons and daughters will get their first jobs there.

The Balamban works built its first vessel in 1997, and the company forecasts the yard will have 35 billion pesos in sales in 2012, more than double five years ago.

In many ways, the town mirrors the port in Japan after which the company is named, where its original yard began building wooden boats in 1917.

“Tsuneishi was a very small town just like Balamban,” said Kono, 52, who was born in a house overlooking the docks. “Balamban now, too, is a shipyard town; everybody gets their happiness from the ships.”

 

...the Scientist

Cebu scientist wins Magsaysay award

By Tina G. Santos
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Wednesday, July 25th, 2012

Romulo Davide. Photo taken from dost.gov.ph

MANILA, Philippines – A Filipino scientist who has devoted his life to addressing problems that confront the agriculture industry is among this year’s winners of the Ramon Magsaysay Award.

Romulo Davide is being recognized for “his steadfast passion in placing the power and discipline of science in the hands of farmers in the Philippines, who have consequently multiplied their yields, created productive farming communities, and rediscovered the dignity of their labor.”

Davide is hailed as the “Father of Plant Nematology” for his many years of teaching and groundbreaking research on nematode pests that infest, debilitate, and destroy agricultural crops.

Apart from Davide, individuals from Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, and Taiwan will receive Asia’s premier prize, which is often described as Asia’s Nobel Prize, according to the Board of Trustees of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation.

The award, named after the immensely popular Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay, who was killed in a 1957 plane crash, aims to honor people who address issues of human development in Asia with courage and creativity.

...the US teen tennis champ

'Shy' Pinay teen rises to become champion tennis player in US

ANDREI MEDINA,

GMA News

July 25, 2012

Her mom describes her as a shy person, who loves to sit in a quiet corner, listening to music. Now, sixteen-year-old Marian Jade Capadocia has become a celebrity of sorts after becoming the single and doubles tennis champion for the 18 and under categories of the United States Tennis Association (USTA).

In an interview with GMA News Online on Wednesday, Charito Capadocia, Marian Jade’s mom, said, “Tahimik lang siya lagi, hindi mo aakalaing tennis player kasi lagi lang siya nasa gilid at nakikinig sa music.”

“Mabait din siya, disiplinado, masipag at ayaw niya mag-home study,” Charito added.

Charito said Marian Jade, who recently graduated from high school at the Arellano University Mabini Campus, has been playing tennis since age eight.

Charito and her husband Joenito were the ones who encouraged Marian Jade to play tennis, being former tennis players themselves.

Charito said they are weighing their options on whether to let Marian study abroad or in the Philippines.

“Maraming offers and invitations kahit sa America pero focus muna kami sa tennis for now kasi nasa peak pa siya. Yung schooling nandiyan lang naman yan,” Charito said.

US champion

Marian Jade  became the 18 and under single and doubles tennis champion for the United States Tennis Association (USTA) Canyon Crest Summer Junior Open Tournament held from July 14 to 15 and July 21 to 22 in Riverside, California.

Marian Jade is currently #1 in the 18 and under and women singles category in the Philippines.

She partnered with Marian Ante for the doubles match, eventually winning the championship.

According to Charito, Marian Jade's achievements include:

• winning gold in the “Palarong Pambansa” thrice, with the most recent being last year

• 2011 South East Asia tournament bronze medalist, one of youngest at 16

• 2011 Champion of Women’s Udon Dhani Open in Thailand, March 12 to 15

• 2012 Cainta Open Champion, April 9 to 15

One of the highlights of her career was when she won the Philippine Columbian Association (PCA) Open last December 5, 2011 when she defeated Clarice Patrimonio during the finals becoming the youngest winner in PCA history.

Patrimonio is the daughter of Philippine basketball legend, Alvin ‘The Captain’ Patrimonio and is currently the # 2 of the women’s single category in the Philippines. - VVP, GMA News

...the rating goal

Invest grade rating within reach - BSP chief

Philstar 

25  July 2012

MANILA, Philippines - Investment grade rating is within reach for the Philippines given the economic achievements mentioned by President Aquino during his third State of the Nation Address (SONA) last Monday, the central bank chief said.

“Consecutive rating actions on (the Philippines) indeed recognize the efforts towards fiscal consolidation, the continued strength of the country’s external position and the strides the government has made on improving governance,” Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. told reporters in a text message late-Monday.

“As we continue on the economic reform agenda, we can expect investment grade sooner rather than later,” he added.

President Aquino last Monday delivered his SONA before the 13th Congress, detailing his administration’s achievements for the past two years, including the 6.4 percent economic growth posted in the first quarter and the eight positive credit rating actions earned during his term.

This enabled the Philippines to attain its highest credit rating in 13 years at one notch below investment grade.

Officials however are lobbying for the country to be granted investment status, a position that is expected to bring in more investments and lower the Philippines’ borrowing costs.

“We are pleased that the President has also noted in his speech the country’s strong external position that is enabling the country to commit funds towards regional and global cooperative efforts—efforts to limit contagion from weaknesses in the advanced economies to our part of the world,” Tetangco said.

Aquino said the Philippines’ $1-billion loan to the International Monetary Fund is a sign that the Philippines, formerly a borrower, is now the one extending assistance to more developed nations struggling to contain a debt crisis for about three years now.

Tetangco said more investments will soon flock to the Philippines as the government continues with its reform agenda.

“We are confident that as the governance reform agenda goes into full swing and leakages are better plugged, we would see each dollar (or peso) invested in the Philippines ‘work harder,’” the BSP chief said. - By Prinz P. Magtulis (Philstar News Service, www.philstar.com)

...the new Metro (part 3)

Serializing: A NEW CITY, A NEW METRO MANILA, A NEW FUTURE

By ATTY. FRANCIS N. TOLENTINO

July 24, 2012

(The Manila Bulletin is serializing Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Francis Tolentino's book "A New City: A New Metro Manila, A New Future.")

METRO Manila will always have a special place in our hearts and memories. That‘s one of the best reasons why we should continue the drive for urban renewal and restoration. I believe it is time to consider the construction of a new capital city where we can build a new future and a model city for the country and perhaps for Asia and the world. That new city can be a new symbol of hope, even as we face the myriad problems of rapid urbanization and blight in the present Metro Manila.

Countries That Moved Their Capitals 

Other countries have long realized that building a new city augurs well for the future of their people. Below are some of the countries that moved their respective capital cities — Japan (in 1869), Brazil (in 1956), Pakistan (in 1960), Nigeria (in 1976), Malaysia (in 1993) and Kazakhstan (in 1997).

Tokyo (formerly known as Edo) became the capital of Japan in 1869 replacing Kyoto when the Emperor took up permanent residence there. The size of Edo‘s population, which was more than double that of Paris and London at the time, was augmented by the Tokugawa‘s system of requiring all underlings to spend a portion of each year in the city. Thus, their presence gave rise to artisans, craftsmen, and other townsfolk, and promoted many of the arts. Edo became the center of commerce even before it became the capital of Japan. The city was broken up into distinct trade districts - cobbler sections, tailor sections, and even fish sections that were kept completely separate from the fruit and vegetable areas. Today, Tokyo is considered the predominant economic center of East Asia, rivaled only by Hong Kong and Singapore.

Brasilia originated in a campaign promise made by presidential candidate Juscelino Kubitschek in 1956. He appealed to the Brazilians' dream of developing the resources in the interior of their nation. He proposed to build a new capital there, a new city that would demonstrate how Brazil would develop in the future, integrating the sprawling country into a modern industrial nation.

Thus, Brasilia was built in just four years starting in 1957 in the central area of the country and has become a showcase of architectural innovation. Before its construction, the area resembled a desert — unpopulated, scarce water, few animals and plants.

Brasilia is Brazil‘s first planned city and also in effect a planned capital. President Juscelino Kubitschek, who became President in 1956, invited the best Brazilian architects to present projects for the new capital. Oscar Niemeyer, who is considered one of the world's most famous architects today, combined straight and rounded shapes to create innovative architectural masterpieces. Lucio Costa, renowned Brazilian urbanist, devised a lay-out combining beauty, simplicity and functionality.

Urban planner Lucio Costa and architect Oscar Niemeyer "intended that every element – from the layout of the residential and administrative districts (often compared to the shape of a bird in flight) to the symmetry of the buildings themselves – should be in harmony with the city‘s overall design." Brasilia is at present the only 20th century city granted a World Heritage Site status by the UNESCO.

High modernism was embodied in the architectural design of structures in Brasilia. The function of the capital was to be expressly political and administrative — aspects that were understood to be the hallmark of membership in the modern system of states.

Islamabad became the capital and administrative center of Pakistan in 1960. Pakistan needed a new capital city because the existing buildings in Karachi, a port city, were not enough or were below the standards required by a capital. The layout and structure of the existing port city did not allow it to take on the functions of a modern capital. The influx of refugees also intensified existing problems and created new ones.

In September 1959, the government established the Federal Capital Commission for the preparation of the Master Plan for the new capital. A decision was made on February 24, 1960 by the President and his Cabinet to give the new capital of Pakistan the name of Islamabad or "the City of Islam." On May 24, 1960, the preliminary Master Plan and the planning principles that would make Islamabad "A City of the Future," were presented to the Cabinet and approved by the President. The Capital Development Authority took over from the Federal-Capital Commission, and was put in charge of the overall development of the new capital.

The metropolitan area of the capital has been planned for a future population of about 2,500,000 inhabitants within a period of two generations. Its administrative functions include the following: (a) administration on a national level; (b) cultural services physically or symbolically connected with the country's administration, such as a national museum or a national library; (c) special non-governmental institutions of national importance, such as banks, welfare organizations, among others; and (d) the diplomatic representation of foreign countries.

...the PH status

Aquino: Philippines is no longer a joke

By Gil C. Cabacungan
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Tuesday, July 24th, 2012

The time has come for the country to implement high-profile projects, invite more tourists, and spend more for education and healthcare to parlay the robust investors’ confidence in the economy into gains for his “bosses,” President Benigno Aquino said Monday.

“What was once the sick man of Asia now brims with vitality. Once, we were the debtors; now, we are the creditors, clearly no laughing matter. Until recently, we had to beg for investments; now, investors flock to us,” the President said in his third State of the Nation Address (Sona).

He cited testimonies from foreign investors and an analyst saying that “the Philippines is no longer a joke.”

“I only wish that the optimism of foreign media would be shared by their local counterparts more often,” the President said.

“When we secured our first positive credit-rating action, some said it was pure luck. Now that we have had eight, can it still just be luck? When the Philippine Stock Exchange Index first broke 4,000, many wondered if that was sustainable. But now, with so many record highs, we are having trouble keeping score: For the record, we have had 44, and the index hovers near or above 5,000,” Mr. Aquino said.

Like blindfolded boxers

He said his first three months in office were daunting as the previous administration had used up two-thirds of the budget in its last six months. “We were like boxers, sent into the ring blindfolded, with our hands and feet bound, and the referee and the judges paid off.

In our first three months in office, I would look forward to Sundays when I could ask God for His help,” the President said.

“We expected that it would take no less than two years before our reforms took hold. Would our countrymen be willing to wait that long? The government that once abused its power is finally using that power for their benefit.”

The President said his reforms had taken root, especially in the health sector.

He is targeting full PhilHealth coverage by his last year in 2016 and he is planning to use additional revenues from pending tax reforms on alcohol and cigarettes for this and other health-care reforms.

Infrastructure program

“We can easily fulfill all these goals, if the sin tax bill—which rationalizes taxes on alcohol and tobacco products—can be passed. This bill makes vice more expensive while at the same time raising more money for health,” Mr. Aquino said.

He said his job generation strategy was anchored on building and interconnecting the country’s infrastructure with the completion of airports, railways and expressways within his term.

No kickbacks

“We will not build our road network based on kickbacks or favoritism. We will build them according to a clear system. Now that resources for these projects are no longer allocated haphazardly, our plans will no longer end up unfulfilled. They will become tangible roads that benefit the Filipino people,” he said.

The President said the infrastructure development program would be the catalyst for more tourist arrivals in the country.

“In two years, we would have had a bigger growth in tourist arrivals, compared with the increase charted by the previous administration in its nine years. But [Tourism] Secretary [Ramon] Jimenez is still not satisfied. He says if 24.7 million tourists came to Malaysia in 2011 and around 17 million visited Thailand, would it be too far-fetched to have 10 million tourists visiting the Philippines annually by 2016?” Mr. Aquino said.

Rice production

Anticorruption reforms have also led to increases in rice production.

“[Agriculture] Secretary Alcala has said that key to our success is a feasible irrigation program and the assiduous implementation of the certified seeds program. What is galling is that this knowledge is not new—it simply wasn’t applied. If they’ had only done their jobs right, where could we have been by now?” asked the President.

He assured farmers that the government was doing everything to ensure that they can claim their land more swiftly.

“There are those, however, who wish to obstruct us. I say to them: ‘We will obey the law.’ The law says, the nation says, and I say: `Before I step down, all the land covered by CARP [Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program] will have been distributed,’” he said.

Inspiring confidence

“My mother initiated the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program. It is only just that this program sees its conclusion during my term,” he said in reply to doubts about his sincerity in completing the farmers’ takeover of their lands.

He said that his reforms had proven that combating corruption would inspire confidence in the economy and therefore put food on the table.

“Doing business in the Philippines was once considered too risky—the rules were too opaque and they were constantly changing. A person shaking your hand one day may pick your pocket the next. Now, we have a level playing field, and clear and consistent rules,” he said.

Wise spending

Mr. Aquino said his reforms have come through “prudent spending, with every peso collected properly spent on roads, on vaccines, on classrooms and chairs—spent on our future.”

He said the fruits of his reforms were evident in the reformed system for building roads, bridges and buildings; increase in food production and more stable prices.

“A resilient and dynamic economy resting on the foundations of good governance is the best defense against global uncertainty. We achieved all these things even as countries around the world were surmounting their own challenges,” he said.

...the Sona's response

Aquino's SONA gains positive response from economists (philstar.com) July 24, 2012

"We are now entering into a virtuous cycle of governance reforms and increasing business confidence translating into increases in investments and economic activities. This in turn will create more jobs and reduce poverty." - Fernando T. Aldaba, Former Philippine Economic Society (PES) President

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - After President Benigno Aquino III bared the current track of the economy in his hour and a half-long State of the Nation Address (SONA), some local economists believe that the Southeast Asian country may already be entering a virtuous cycle of governance reform and economic growth.

Former Philippine Economic Society (PES) President Fernando T. Aldaba said this may be possible given determination of the administration to institute governance reforms. This, he said, is also giving the economy some boost in terms of creating jobs and putting a dent on poverty.

Aldaba said that if the economy continues its current track and "barring any great disaster," it is possible that the country may reach an average economic growth of 6.5 to 7 percent in the next four years.

"The President has clearly shown how good governance benefits the economy in terms of the government being able to afford better and bigger investments in human capital and in infrastructure and in terms of leveling the playing field," Aldaba said. "We are now entering into a virtuous cycle of governance reforms and increasing business confidence translating into increases in investments and economic activities. This in turn will create more jobs and reduce poverty."

The President highlighted the country's strong macroeconomic fundamentals, most notably the 6.4 percent Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in the first quarter. He said this is the highest in Southeast Asia and second only to China in Asia.

Aquino has also stressed that the administration was able to create 3.1 million jobs since it assumed office in 2010. This, he said, has caused the country's unemployment rate slowed to 6.9 percent in April 2012.

"The stars are aligned for the rising tiger: reforms to widen our fiscal base, conditional cash transfers to protect the bottom poor, strong OFW (Overseas Filipino Workers) inflows, a surging BPO sector, bullish investor confidence, and a real estate boom," Social Weather Stations (SWS) Director Dennis M. Arroyo said.

However, to attain growth and to provide jobs for Filipinos, some issues need to be addressed. For one, Arroyo mentioned that he hoped the government can deliver on the Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) as well as the country's territorial dispute with China.

Former Asian Development Bank (ADB) Lead Economist Ernesto Pernia said that while he does not yet see the Philippines leapfrogging to an Asian Tiger status, he said that to attain this status, more needs to be done on the country's infrastructure constraints.

Pernia added that there is also a need to minimize red tape in government and push for reforms on taxes, particularly on the sin taxes and the Reproductive Health Bill that are currently pending in Congress.

"(The SONA was) generally fair. Next tiger? (That will be a) long and steep climb!" Pernia said.

Aldaba also said the labor market must also experience some reforms particularly on hiring and firing as well as the security of tenure of workers.

In 2011, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) issued Department Order 18-A which aims to end the 5-5-5 employment scheme where workers are hired for just five months and then, after the end of their five-month contract, they are rehired for another five months.

"Yes, labor market reforms related to hiring, firing, security of tenure and social protection. But government must be adept in crafting these through social dialogue with business and labor," Aldaba said.

...the right path revisited

Aquino: Nothing is impossible

 

SONA is President’s narration of changes

By Christine O. Avendaño, Norman Bordadora
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Tuesday, July 24th, 2012

TO MY BOSSES: “This is not my SONA. This is the SONA of the Filipino nation. You are the wellspring of change. It’s possible. It is a great time to be Filipino.”

“Nothing is impossible to a united nation..it was change we dreamed of, and change we achieved.” - President Benigno Aquino III, State of the Nation Address 2012



The Philippines has achieved change, and the Filipinos themselves have made it happen.

President Benigno Aquino faced a joint session of Congress Monday to deliver his third State of the Nation Address (Sona). He did not claim credit for the improvements in national life in the past year. All credit he gave to the Filipinos. He thanked them for the achievements.

He said that in the 25 months that he has been President, he learned that “nothing is impossible because if the Filipino people see that they are the only Bosses of their government, they will carry, they will guide you, they themselves will lead you to meaningful change.”

“Nothing is impossible to a united nation,” Mr. Aquino said. “It was change we dreamed of, and change we achieved.”

Toward the end of his one-hour-and-a-half-long speech, he said: “Isn’t it a great time to be Filipino?”

And the benefits of change, he said, are now par for the course: Roads are straight and level, and properly paved; relief goods are ready even before a storm arrives, rescue services are always on standby, and people are no longer left to fend for themselves; sirens only blare from police cars, ambulances, and fire trucks—not from the vehicles of government officials.

“Reforms were established as we cut wasteful spending, held offenders accountable for their actions, and showed the world that the Philippines is now open for business under new management,” the President said.
He reported eight credit rating upgrades, 44 stock market record highs, and a first-quarter 2012 gross domestic product growth rate of 6.4 percent, “much higher than projected, the highest growth in the Southeast Asian region, and second only to China in the whole of Asia.”

On his social, health, education, employment and infrastructure programs, Mr. Aquino reported achievements and announced progress on plans:

• The conditional cash transfer program for the poorest poor has been extended to 3.1 million households as of February from 760,357 when he took office in June 2010.

For next year, the program will cover 3.8 million households, five times bigger than the program he inherited from the Arroyo administration.

Under the program, the beneficiaries get P1,400 a month on the condition that pregnant women get regular prenatal checkups, mothers bring their children to clinics for immunization and parents keep their children in school.

According to the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the President said, 1,672,977 mothers are now getting regular checkups; 1,672, 814 children have been vaccinated against diarrhea, polio, measles and other diseases; and 4.57 million children no longer miss classes because of poverty.

• Eighty-five percent of all Filipinos have been enrolled in PhilHealth, compared to 62 percent in 2010. This means 23.31 percent more Filipinos have gained access to health insurance in the past two years.

Better news: 5.2 million poorest households will benefit from PhilHealth programs, including treatment for such diseases as breast cancer, prostate cancer and acute leukemia.

“The process,” Mr. Aquino said, “is this: Go to any government hospital, show your PhilHealth card, get treatment, and you will go home without shelling out a single centavo.”

• By year-end, the government will have built the 66,800 classrooms needed to solve the classroom shortage in public schools, acquired the 2,573,212 chairs needed to solve the furniture shortage, and done away with the 61.7-million-book shortage to achieve the 1:1 textbook-to-student ratio.

“We are ending the backlogs in the education sector, but the potential for shortages remains as our student population continues to increase,” Mr. Aquino said. Then he suggested a solution: “Perhaps the responsible parenthood bill can help address this.”

That drew the loudest of the 100 bursts of applause that interrupted Mr. Aquino’s speech.

• A proposed 43.61-percent increase in the budget of state universities and colleges next year.

• A steady decline in the unemployment rate from 8 percent in 2010 to 7.2 percent in 2011 to 6.9 percent this year.

• The completion by 2016 of airports in Panglao, Bohol; Daraga, Albay; Laguindingan, Misamis Oriental; and the upgrading of the international airports in Mactan, Cebu; Tacloban, Leyte; and Puerto Princesa, Palawan.

• Full repair of the flaws of Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport before the next Sona in July next year.

• Completion by 2015 of the extension of the Light Rail Transit Line 1 to Cavite, which would ease traffic in Las Piñas, Parañaque and Cavite, and the addition of two elevated expressways that will connect the North Luzon and South Luzon expressways, and reduce travel time between Clark in Pampanga and Calamba in Laguna to 1 hour and 40 minutes.

• Drawing 2.1 million tourists in the past two years, compared to 1.3 million during the nine years of the Arroyo administration. The goal for this year: 4.6 million tourists.

• Reduction of rice imports from 1.3 million metric tons in 2010 to 500,000 metric tons this year. Weather permitting, the Philippines may start exporting rice next year.

Military modernization

Turning to national defense, the President said the government allocated P28 billion for the modernization of the military. “This will soon match the P33 billion set aside for the program in the past 15 years,” Mr. Aquino said.

That’s only getting started, he said. If the proposed military modernization bill is passed by Congress, P75 billion will be allocated for defense in the next five years.

Saying the country cannot just give its territory away, Mr. Aquino called on the nation to unite behind his government’s efforts to resolve the Philippines’ dispute with China over Panatag Shoal in the West Philippine Sea.

“If someone enters your yard and tells you he owns it, will you allow that?” he said. “It’s not right to give away what is rightfully ours. And so I ask for solidarity from our people regarding this issue. Let us speak with one voice.”

He assured the nation: “We are consulting experts, every leader of our nation, our allies—even those on the other side—to find a solution that is acceptable to all.”

Legislative wish list

Mr. Aquino also asked Congress to pass crucial legislation, including the sin tax reform bill, the third amendment to the Anti-Money Laundering Act that would increase the number of predicate crimes covered by the law, his administration’s version of the military modernization bill, the responsible parenthood bill, and the amendment to the mining law that would increase the government’s share in mining revenues.

“Let me remind you that our fight does not end with the ousting of one corrupt official, with the suspension of an anomalous contract, or the systemic overhauling of a government office,” Mr. Aquino said, referring to former Chief Justice Renato Corona, for whose removal from office in May he thanked his allies in Congress and Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales.

“I call upon Congress to pass our amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering Act, which may strengthen our measures to hold the corrupt accountable,” Mr. Aquino said.

Referring to his Executive Order No. 79 that outlined his administration’s mining policy, Mr. Aquino said: “Think about it. In 2010, P145 billion was the total value derived from mining, but only P13.4 billion, or 9 percent, went to the national treasury.”

But the natural resources belong to the Filipinos, he said. “It shouldn’t happen that all that’s left to you is a tip after they’re extracted. We are hoping that Congress will work with us and pass a law that will ensure that the environment is cared for, and that the public and private sectors will receive just benefits from this industry.”

Mr. Aquino appealed to the nation for support for his administration in next year’s midterm elections so that changes may continue.

Continued support

“Elections are fast approaching,” he said. “You, our bosses, will be our compass. I ask you, ‘Boss, what direction will we take? Do we continue treading the straight and righteous path, or do we double back toward the crooked road that leads to a dead end?’”

He reminded the nation of the irregularities in the Arroyo administration without, however, mentioning the ex-President’s name, and said that there were still people who were committed to bring that system back.

“These are also the ones who say, ‘Let go of the past. Unite. Forgive and forget so we can move forward as a people,’” Mr. Aquino said.

“I find this unacceptable. Shall we simply forgive and forget the 10 years that were taken from us?” Mr. Aquino said.

Arroyo, now a Pampanga representative, is detained in a government hospital, facing criminal charges for alleged electoral sabotage, breach of ethics involving an overpriced broadband Internet deal with a Chinese company and the plunder of millions of pesos in Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office funds.

Mr. Aquino thanked his officials for dedicated service that enabled him to advance his programs and deliver on his promises to the people.

But most of all, he thanked the Filipinos for their cooperation and support.

Midpoint

“This is my third Sona; only three remain,” Mr. Aquino said. “We are entering the midpoint of our administration. Last year, I challenged you to fully turn your back on the culture of negativism; to take every chance to uplift your fellow Filipinos. From what we are experiencing today, it is clear: You succeeded.”

He said that whenever people came to him to thank him for the change in their lives, his response was: “You made this happen.”

And he concluded his speech: “I stand before you today and tell you: this is not my Sona. You made this happen. This is the Sona of the Filipino nation. Thank you.”

...the State of the Nation Address

Aquino's State of the Nation Address 2012

Yahoo! Southeast Asia Newsroom 

23 July 2012

 

 

 

 

 

Editor's Note: This is transcript of President Aquino's State of the Nation Address, which was provided to media outlets. Some may have changed after delivery.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile; Speaker Feliciano Belmonte; Bise Presidente Jejomar Binay; mga dating Pangulong Fidel Valdez Ramos at Joseph Ejercito Estrada; ang ating mga kagalang-galang na mahistrado ng Korte Suprema; mga kagalang-galang na kagawad ng kalipunang diplomatiko; mga kagalang-galang na miyembro ng Kamara de Representante at ng Senado; mga pinuno ng pamahalaang lokal; mga miyembro ng ating Gabinete; mga unipormadong kasapi ng militar at kapulisan; mga kapwa kong nagseserbisyo sa taumbayan;

At sa akin pong mga boss, magandang hapon po.

Ito po ang aking ikatlong SONA, at parang kailan lang nang nagsimula tayong mangarap. Parang kailan lang nang sabay-sabay tayong nagpasyang tahakin ang tuwid na daan. Parang kailan lang nang sinimulan nating iwaksi ang wang-wang, hindi lamang sa kalsada kundi sa sistemang panlipunan.

Dalawang taon na ang nakalipas mula nang sinabi ninyo: Sawa na kami sa korupsyon; sawa na kami sa kahirapan. Oras na upang ibalik ang isang pamahalaang tunay na kakampi ng taumbayan.

Gaya ng marami sa inyo, namulat ako sa panggigipit ng makapangyarihan. Labindalawang-taong gulang po ako nang idineklara ang Batas Militar. Bumaliktad ang aming mundo: Pitong taon at pitong buwang ipiniit ang aking ama; tatlong taong napilitang mangibang-bansa ang aking pamilya; naging saksi ako sa pagdurusa ng marami dahil sa diktadurya. Dito napanday ang aking prinsipyo: Kung may inaagrabyado't ninanakawan ng karapatan, siya ang kakampihan ko. Kung may abusado't mapang-api, siya ang lalabanan ko. Kung may makita akong mali sa sistema, tungkulin kong itama ito.

Matagal nang tapos ang Batas Militar. Tinanong tayo: "Kung hindi tayo, sino pa?" at "Kung hindi ngayon, kailan pa?" Ang nagkakaisang tugon natin: tayo at ngayon na. Ang demokrasyang ninakaw gamit ang paniniil at karahasan, nabawi na natin sa mapayapang paraan; matagumpay nating pinag-alab ang liwanag mula sa pinakamadilim na kabanata ng ating kasaysayan.

Ngunit huwag po nating kalimutan ang pinag-ugatan ng Batas Militar: Kinasangkapan ng diktador ang Saligang Batas upang manatili sa kapangyarihan. At hanggang ngayon, tuloy pa rin ang banggaan sa pagitan ng gusto ng sistemang parehas, laban sa mga nagnanais magpatuloy ng panlalamang.

Mula sa unang araw ng ating panunungkulan, walang ibang sumalubong sa atin kundi ang mga bangungot ng nawalang dekada.

Nariyan po ang kaso ng North Rail. Pagkamahal-mahal na nga nito, matapos ulitin ang negosasyon, nagmahal pa lalo. Sa kabila nito, binawasan ang benepisyo. Ang labingsiyam na trainsets naging tatlo, at ang mga stasyon, mula lima naging dalawa. Ang masaklap po, pinapabayaran na sa atin ang utang nito, now na.

Nariyan ang walang pakundangang bonus sa ilang GOCC, sa kabila ng pagkalugi ng kanilang mga ahensya. Nariyan ang isang bilyong pisong pinasingaw ng PAGCOR para sa kape. Nariyan ang sistemang pamamahala sa PNP na isinantabi ang pangangailangan sa armas ng 45 percent ng kapulisan, para lang kumita mula sa lumang helicopter na binili sa presyong brand new.

Wala na ngang iniwang panggastos, patung-patong at sabay-sabay pa ang mga utang na kailangang bayaran na. Mahaba ang iniwang listahan na tungkulin nating punan: Ang 66,800 na backlog sa classroom, na nagkakahalaga ng tinatayang 53.44 billion pesos; ang 2,573,212 na backlog sa mga upuan, na nagkakahalaga naman ng 2.31 billion pesos. Nang dumating tayo, may halos tatlumpu't anim na milyong Pilipinong hindi pa miyembro ng PhilHealth. Ang kailangan para makasali sila: maaaring umabot sa 42 billion pesos. Idagdag pa po natin sa lahat ng iyan ang 103 billion pesos na kailangan para sa modernisasyon ng Hukbong Sandatahan. Sa harap ng lahat ng ito, ang iniwan sa ating pondo na malaya nating magagamit: 6.5 percent ng kabuuang budget para sa natitirang anim na buwan ng 2010. Para po tayong boksingerong isinabak sa laban nang nakagapos na nga ang mga kamay at paa, nakapiring pa ang mga mata, at kakampi pa ng kalaban ang referee at ang mga judge.

Kaya nga sa unang tatlong buwan ng aming panunungkulan, inaabangan namin ang pagdating ng Linggo para maidulog sa Panginoon ang mga bangungot na humarap sa amin. Inasahan naming mangangailangan ng di bababa sa dalawang taon bago magkaroon ng makabuluhang pagbabago. Bibigyan kaya tayo ng sapat na pag-unawa ng taumbayan?

Subalit kung may isang bagay mang nakatatak na sa ating lahi, at makailang ulit na nating pinatunayan sa buong mundo: Walang hindi makakaya ang nagkakaisang Pilipino. Nangarap po tayo ng pagbabago; nakamit natin ang pagbabago; at ngayon, karaniwan na ito.

Ang kalsadang pinondohan ninyo ay tuwid, patag, at walang bukol; ang tanging tongpats ay aspalto o semento. Karaniwan na ito.

Ang sitwasyon kung paparating ang bagyo: nakaabang na ang relief, at hindi ang tao ang nag-aabang ng relief. Nag-aabang na ring umalalay ang rescue services sa taumbayan, at hindi tayo-tayo lang din ang sumasaklolo sa isa't isa. Karaniwan na ito.

Ang wang-wang sa lansangan, galing na lang sa pulis, ambulansya, o bumbero-- hindi sa opisyal ng gobyerno. Karaniwan na ito. Ang gobyernong dating nang-aabuso, ngayon, tunay na kakampi na ng Pilipino.

Nagpatupad po tayo ng reporma: tinanggal ang gastusing hindi kailangan, hinabol ang mga tiwali, at ipinakita sa mundong open for business under new management na ang Pilipinas.

Ang dating sick man of Asia, ngayon, punung-puno na ng sigla. Nang nagkaroon tayo ng positive credit rating action, ang sabi ng iba, tsamba. Ngayong walo na, tsamba pa rin kaya? Sa Philippine Stock Exchange index, nang una nating nahigitan ang 4,000, may mga nagduda. Ngayon, sa dami ng all-time high, pati economic managers, nahirapan yata sa pagbilang: nakaka-apatnapu't apat na pala tayo, at bihira nang bumaba sa 5,000 ang index. Nitong first quarter ng 2012, ang GDP growth natin, 6.4 percent; milya-milya ang layo niyan sa mga prediksyon, at pinakamataas sa buong Southeast Asian region; pangalawa po ito sa Asya, sunod sa China. Kung dati tayo ang laging nangungutang, ngayon, hindi po birong tayo na ang nagpapautang. Dati, namamalimos tayo ng investments; ngayon, sila ang dumadagsa. Ang mga kumpanyang Hapon, ang sabi ay, "Baka gusto n'yo kaming silipin. Hindi nga kami ang pinakamura, pero una naman kami sa teknolohiya." Pati pinuno ng isang bangko sa Inglatera, nakikiusap maisali sa pila.

Sa bawat sulok ng mundo, nagpapakita ng paghanga ang mga komentarista. Ayon sa Bloomberg Business Week, "Keep an eye on the Philippines." Ang Foreign Policy Magazine, pati isa sa mga pinuno ng ASEAN 100, nagsabing maaari daw tayong maging "Asia's Next Tiger." Sabi ni Ruchir Sharma, pinuno ng Emerging Market Equities and Global Macro ng Morgan Stanley, "The Philippines is no longer a joke." At mukha naman pong hindi siya nambobola, dahil tinatayang isang bilyong dolyar ang ipinasok ng kanyang kumpanya sa ating bansa. Sana nga po, ang kaliwa't kanang paghanga ng taga-ibang bansa, masundan na ng lokal na tagapagbalita.

Sinisiguro po nating umaabot ang kaunlaran sa mas nakararami. Alalahanin po natin: Nang mag-umpisa tayo, may 760,357 na kabahayang benepisyaryo ang Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program. Tinarget natin itong paabutin sa 3.1 million sa loob ng dalawang taon. Pebrero pa lang po ng taong ito, naiparehistro na ang ikatlong milyong kabahayang benepisyaryo ng Pantawid Pamilya. Sa susunod na taon naman, palalawakin pa natin ang sakop nito sa 3.8 million; limang beses po ang laki niyan sa dinatnan natin.

Pangmatagalan po ang impact ng proyektong ito. Hindi pa kumpleto ang mga pag-aaral, pero ngayon pa lang, maganda na ang ipinapakita ng numero. Base sa listahan ng DSWD: May 1,672,977 na mga inang regular nang nagpapacheck-up. 1,672,814 na mga batang napabakunahan laban sa diarrhea, polio, tigdas at iba pa. 4.57 million na estudyanteng hindi na napipilitang mag-absent dahil sa kahirapan.

Sa kalusugan naman po: Nang dumating tayo, animnapu't dalawang porsiyento lamang ng mga Pilipino ang naka-enrol sa PhilHealth. Ang masaklap, hindi pa masiguro kung lahat sila ay kabilang sa mga totoong nangangailangan ng kalinga ng estado, o buwenas lang na malapit sa politiko. Ngayon po, 85 percent ng lahat ng mamamayan, miyembro na nito. Ang ibig pong sabihin, 23.31 million na Pilipino ang naidagdag sa mga saklaw ng Philhealth mula nang bigyan tayo ng mandato.

Ang maganda pa rito: ang 5.2 million na pinakamahirap na kabahayang tinukoy ng ating National Household Targeting System, buong-buo at walang-bayad nang makikinabang sa benepisyo ng PhilHealth. Dahil sa No Balance Billing policy ng Department of Health, ang lunas para sa dengue, pneumonia, asthma, katarata, gayundin ang pagpapagamot sa mga catastrophic disease tulad ng breast cancer, prostate cancer, at acute leukemia, makukuha na nang libre ng mga pinakamahirap nating kababayan.

Ito po ang proseso ng pagpapagamot para sa kanila: Papasok ka sa alinmang ospital ng gobyerno. Ipapakita mo ang iyong PhilHealth card. Magpapagamot ka. At uuwi kang maginhawa nang walang inilalabas ni isang kusing.

Sabi nga po sa isa sa mga briefing na dinaluhan natin, apat sa sampung Pilipino, hindi man lamang nakakakita ng health professional sa tanang buhay nila. Sa iba po, mas malaki pa: may nagsasabing anim sa bawat sampung Pilipino ang pumapanaw nang malayo sa kalinga ng health professional. Anuman ang ating pagbatayan, hindi po maikakaila: nakakabahala ang bilang ng mga Pilipinong hindi naaabot ng serbisyong pangkalusugan ng pamahalaan. Tinutugunan na po natin ito. Mula sa sampung libo noong dumating tayo, umabot na sa 30,801 ang mga nurse at midwife na ating nai-deploy sa ilalim ng RNHeals Program. Idagdag pa po natin sa kanila ang mahigit labing-isang libong Community Health Teams na nagsisilbing tulay upang higit na mapatibay ang ugnayan ng mga doktor at nurse sa komunidad.

At kung dati tutungo lamang ang mga nurse kung saan makursunadahan, ngayon, dahil sa tamang targeting, kung saan sila kailangan, doon sila ipinapadala: sa mga lugar na matagal nang naiwan sa laylayan ng lipunan. Ipinadala po ang ating mga health professional sa 1,021 na pook na saklaw ng Pantawid Pamilya, at sa 609 na pinakamahihirap na lungsod at munisipyo, ayon sa pag-aaral ng National Anti-Poverty Commission.

Dalawang problema po ang natutugunan nito: bukod sa nagkakatrabaho at nabibigyan ng work experience ang libu-libong nurse at midwife na dati ay walang mapaglaanan ng kanilang kaalaman, nagiging abot-kamay din ang de-kalidad na kalinga para sa milyun-milyon nating kababayan.

Subalit hindi po tayo makukuntento rito, dahil ang hangad natin: kalusugang pangkalahatan. Nagsisimula ito, hindi sa mga pagamutan, kundi sa loob mismo ng kanya-kanya nating tahanan. Ibayong kaalaman, bakuna, at check-up ang kailangan upang mailayo tayo sa karamdaman. Dagdag pa po diyan ang pagsisikap nating iwasan ang mga sakit na puwede namang iwasan.

Halimbawa: Nabanggit ko ang mosquito traps kontra dengue noong nakaraang taon. Maaga pa para sabihing siguradong-sigurado na tayo, pero nakaka-engganyo po ang mga paunang resulta nito.

Sinubok natin ang bisa ng mosquito traps sa mga lugar kung saan naitala ang pinakamataas na insidente ng dengue. Sa buong probinsya ng Bukidnon noong 2010, may 1,216 na kaso. Nang inilagay ang mga mosquito trap noong 2011: bumaba ito sa tatlumpu't pito; 97 percent reduction po ito. Sa bayan ng Ballesteros at Claveria sa Cagayan, may 228 na kaso ng dengue noong 2010. Pagdating ng 2011, walo na lang ang naitala. Sa Catarman, Northern Samar: 434 na kaso ng dengue noong 2010, naging apat na lang noong 2011.

Panimulang pag-aaral pa lamang po ito. Pero ngayon pa lang, marapat na yata nating pasalamatan sina Secretary Ike Ona ng DOH at Secretary Mario Montejo ng DOST, para naman ganahan silang lalong magsaliksik at mag-ugnayan.

Marami pa po tayong kailangang solusyonan. Nakakabahala ang mataas pa ring maternal mortality ratio ng bansa. Kaya nga po gumagawa tayo ng mga hakbang upang tugunan ang pangangailangan  sa kalusugan ng kababaihan. Nais din nating makamit ang Universal Health Care, at magkaroon ng sapat na kagamitan, pasilidad, at tauhan ang ating mga institusyong pangkalusugan.

Sa pagtugon natin sa mga ito, malaki ang maiaambag ng Sin Tax Bill. Maipasa na po sana ito sa lalong madaling panahon. Mababawasan na ang bisyo, madadagdagan pa ang pondo para sa kalusugan.

Ano naman kaya ang sasalubong sa kabataan pagpasok sa paaralan? Sa lilim ng puno pa rin kaya sila unang matututo ng abakada? Nakasalampak pa rin kaya sila sa sahig habang nakikipag-agawan ng textbook sa kaklase nila?

Matibay po ang pananalig natin kay Secretary Luistro: Bago matapos ang susunod na taon, ubos na ang minana nating 66,800 na kakulangan sa silid-aralan. Ang minana po nating 2,573,212 na backlog sa upuan, tuluyan na rin nating matutugunan bago matapos ang 2012. Sa taon din pong ito, masisimot na rin ang 61.7 million na backlog sa textbook upang maabot na, sa wakas, ang one is to one ratio ng aklat sa mag-aaral. Sana nga po, ngayong paubos na ang backlog sa edukasyon, sikapin nating huwag uling magka-backlog dahil sa dami ng estudyante. Sa tingin ko po, Responsible Parenthood ang sagot dito.

At para naman po hindi mapag-iwanan ang ating mga State Universities and Colleges, mayroon tayong panukalang 43.61 percent na pag-angat sa kanilang budget para sa susunod na taon. Paalala lang po: lahat ng ginagawa natin, may direksyon; may kaakibat na kondisyon ang dagdag-budget na ito. Kailangang ipatupad ang napagkasunduang  SUC Reform Roadmap ng CHED, upang siguruhing de-kalidad ang magiging produkto ng mga pamantasang pinopondohan ng estado. Kung mataas ang grado ninyo sa assignment na ito, asahan ninyong dodoblehin din namin ang kayod para matugunan ang mga natitirang pangangailangan ninyo.

Panay addition po ang nagaganap sa ating budget sa edukasyon. Isipin po ninyo: ang budget ng DepEd na ipinamana sa atin noong 2010, 177 billion pesos. Ang panukala natin para sa 2013: 292.7 billion pesos. Noong 2010, 21.03 billion pesos ang budget para sa SUCs. Taunan po iyang dinagdagan upang umabot na sa 37.13 billion pesos na panukala natin para sa 2013. Sa kabila nito, ngayon pa lang, may nagpaplano nang magcutting-classes para mag-piket sa Mendiola. Ganito po kasimple: ang 292.7 ay mas malaki sa 177, at ang 37.13 ay mas malaki sa 21.03. Kaya kung may magsabi pa ring binawasan natin ang budget ng edukasyon, kukumbinsihin na lang namin ang inyong mga paaralan na maghandog ng remedial math class para sa inyo. At pakiusap po, pasukan naman ninyo.

Nang maupo tayo, at masimulan ang makabuluhang reporma, minaliit ng ilan ang pagpapakitang-gilas ng pamahalaan. Kundi raw buwenas, ningas-kugon lang itong mauupos rin paglaon. May ilan pa rin pong ayaw magretiro sa paghahasik ng negatibismo; silang mga tikom ang bibig sa good news, at ginawang industriya ang kritisismo.

Kung may problema kayo na bago matapos ang taon, bawat bata ay may sarili nang upuan at aklat, tingnan ninyo sila, mata sa mata, at sabihin ninyong: "Ayaw kong makapag-aral ka."

Kung masama ang loob ninyo na ang 5.2 million na pinakamahihirap na kabahayang Pilipino ay maaari nang pumasok sa ospital nang hindi iniintindi ang gastos sa pagpapagamot, tingnan ninyo sila, mata sa mata,  at sabihin ninyong: "Ayaw kong gumaling ka."

Kung nagagalit kayo na may tatlong milyong pamilyang Pilipino nang tumutungo sa katuparan ng kanilang mga pangarap dahil sa Pantawid Pamilya, tingnan ninyo sila, mata sa mata, at sabihin ninyong: "Ibabalik ko kayo sa kawalan ng pag-asa."

Tapos na ang panahon kung kailan choice lang ng makapangyarihan ang mahalaga. Halimbawa, ang dating namumuno sa TESDA, nagpamudmod ng mga scholarship voucher; ang problema, wala palang nakalaang pondo para rito. Natural, tatalbog ang voucher. Ang napala: 2.4 billion pesos ang sinisingil ng mahigit isanlibong eskwelahan mula sa pamahalaan. Nagpapogi ang isang tao't isang administrasyon; sambayanang Pilipino naman ang pinagbabayad ngayon.

Pumasok si Secretary Joel Villanueva; hindi siya nagpasindak sa tila imposibleng pagbabagong dapat ipatupad sa kanyang ahensya. Sa kabila ng malaking utang na minana ng TESDA, 434,676 na indibidwal  pa rin ang kanilang hinasa sa ilalim ng Training for Work Scholarship Program. Kongkretong tagumpay din po ang hatid ng TESDA Specialista Technopreneurship Program. Biruin po ninyo: Bawat isa sa 5,240 na sertipikadong Specialistas, kumikita na ngayon ng 562 pesos kada araw o 11,240 pesos kada buwan. Mas malaki po ito sa minimum wage.

Mula sa pagka-sanggol, hanggang sa pagkabinata, gumagana na ang sistema para sa mamamayan. Sinisiguro nating manganganak ng trabaho ang pagsigla ng ating ekonomiya.

Alalahanin po natin: para tumabla lang, kailangang makalikha ng isang milyong bagong trabaho para sa mga new entrants kada taon.  Ang nalikha po natin sa loob ng dalawang taon: halos 3.1 million na bagong trabaho.

Ito po ang dahilan kung bakit pababa nang pababa ang unemployment rate sa bansa. Nang dumating tayo, eight percent ang unemployment rate. Naging 7.2 ito noong Abril ng 2011, at bumaba pa lalo sa 6.9 ngayong taon. Di ba makatwirang mangarap na balang araw, bawat Pilipinong handang magbanat ng buto, may mapapasukang trabaho?

Tingnan na lamang po natin ang BPO sector. Noong taong 2000, limanlibo katao lang ang nae-empleyo sa industriyang ito. Fast forward po tayo: 638,000 katao na ang nabibigyang trabaho ng mga BPO, at labing-isang bilyong dolyar ang ipinasok nito sa ating ekonomiya noong 2011. Ang projection nga po, pagdating ng 2016, 25 billion dollars na ang maipapasok nito, at makakapag-empleyo na ng 1.3 million na Pilipino. Hindi pa po kasama rito ang tinatayang aabot sa 3.2 million na mga taxi driver, barista, mga sari-sari store, karinderya, at marami pang ibang makikinabang sa mga indirect jobs na malilikha dahil sa BPO industry.

Malaking bahagi din po ng ating job generation strategy ang pagpapatayo ng sapat na imprastruktura. Sa mga nakapagbakasyon na sa Boracay, nakita na naman ninyo ang bagong-binyag nating terminal sa Caticlan. Nakalatag na rin po ang plano upang palawakin ang runway nito.

Magkakaroon pa po ng mga kapatid iyan: bago matapos ang aking termino, nakatayo na ang New Bohol Airport sa Panglao, New Legaspi Airport sa Daraga, at Laguindingan Airport sa Misamis Oriental. Ia-upgrade na rin po natin ang ating international airports sa Mactan, Puerto Princesa, at Tacloban. Dagdag pa po diyan ang pagpapaganda ng mga airport sa Butuan, Cotabato, Dipolog, Pagadian, Tawi-Tawi, Southern Leyte, at San Vicente sa Palawan.

Pang-apat na Pangulo na po akong sasalo sa problema ng NAIA 3. Hindi lang po eroplano ang nag-take-off at nag-landing dito: maging mga problema't anomalya, lumapag din. Nagbitiw na po ng salita si Secretary Mar Roxas: bago tayo magkita sa susunod na SONA, maisasaayos na ang mga structural defects na minana natin sa NAIA 3.

Nitong Hunyo po, nagsimula na ring umusad ang proseso para sa LRT Line 1 Cavite Extension project, na magpapaluwag ng trapik sa Las Piñas, Parañaque, at Cavite. Dagdag pa diyan, para lalong mapaluwag ang traffic sa Kamaynilaan at mapabilis ang pagtawid mula North Luzon hanggang South Luzon Expressway, magkakaroon ng dalawang elevated NLEX-SLEX connector. Matatapos po ang mga ito sa 2015. Magiging 1 hour and 40 minutes na lang ang biyaheng Clark papuntang Calamba oras na makumpleto ang mga ito. Bago tayo bumaba sa puwesto, nakatayo na rin ang mga de-kalidad na terminal sa Taguig, Quezon City, at Parañaque na paparadahan ng bus biyaheng probinsya, upang hindi na sila makisiksik sa EDSA.

Nagbago na po ang takbo ng usapan tungkol sa ahensyang dati'y itinuturing na pugad ng kapalpakan. Naalala ko po dati: Kapag tag-ulan at umapaw ang Tarlac River, nalulunod ang MacArthur Highway. Tutunawin nito ang aspalto; magbabaku-bako ang kalsada hanggang sa tuluyan na nga itong mawala. Bilang kinatawan ng aking distrito, inireklamo ko po ito. Ang tugon ng DPWH: alam namin ang problema, alam namin ang solusyon, pero wala kaming pera. Kinailangan ko pang makiusap sa aking mga barangay: "Kung hindi natin ito uunahin, walang gagawa nito, at tayo rin ang mapeperhuwisyo." Dati, panay ang "hoy gising!" sa gobyerno, bakit wala daw kasing ginagawa. Ngayon ang reklamo, "sobra namang trapik, ang dami kasing ginagawa." Paalala lang din po: naisasaayos natin ang mga kalsadang ito nang hindi nagtataas ng buwis.

Bubuo tayo ng mga daanan, hindi ayon sa kickback o kursonada, pero ayon sa isang malinaw na sistema. Dahil hindi na bara-bara ang paglalagak natin ng pondo para sa mga proyekto, hindi na ito mapapako sa plano, totoong kalsada na ang pakikinabangan ng Pilipino. Nang maupo po tayo sa puwesto, 7,239 kilometers sa ating national road network ang hindi pa naisasaayos. 1,569 kilometers na nito ang naipaayos natin sa ilalim ng pamamahala ni Secretary Babes Singson; sa 2012-- 2,275 kilometers pa ang maidadagdag na natapos. Pati po ang mga kalsada at kurbadang mapanganib, tinutukoy at inaayos na gamit ang teknolohiya. Taun-taon po nating bubunuin ito, upang bago matapos ang aking termino, bawat pulgada ng ating national road network, maayos na.

Hindi lang kalsada, kundi pati sistema, isinasaayos sa DPWH. Dahil sa pagsunod sa tamang proseso ng bidding at procurement, 10.6 billion pesos na ang natipid ng kanilang ahensya mula 2011 hanggang nitong Hunyo. Maging mga kontratista, batid ang positibong bunga ng reporma sa DPWH. Sabi nga ng nila, "ang top 40 na kontratista, fully booked na."

Sana po hindi maantala ang pagpapatayo natin ng iba pang imprastraktura para hindi rin mapurnada ang paglago ng ibang industriya.

Kaakibat ng pagpapaunlad ng imprastruktura ang paglago ng turismo. Isipin po ninyo: Noong 2001, ang tourist arrivals sa ating bansa, 1.8 million. Nang dumating po tayo noong 2010, naglalaro ito sa 3.1 million. Mantakin po ninyo: sa hinaba-haba ng kanilang administrasyon, ang naidagdag nilang tourist arrivals, 1.3 million lamang; may ambag pa kaming kalahating taon diyan. Tayo naman po, Hunyo pa lang ng 2012-- 2.1 million na turista na ang napalapag. Mas marami pang dadagsa sa peak season bago matapos ang taon, kaya hindi ako nagdududang maaabot natin ang quota na 4.6 million na turista para sa 2012. Ibig sabihin: 1.5 million na turista ang ating maidadagdag. Samakatuwid, sa dalawang taon, mas malaki ang magiging paglago ng ating tourist arrivals, kumpara sa naidagdag ng pinalitan natin sa loob ng siyam na taon. Hindi po tayo nagtataas ng bangko; nagsasabi lang po tayo ng totoo.  

Pero hindi nakuntento rito si Secretary Mon Jimenez. Sabi niya, kung sa Malaysia may bumisitang 24.7 million na turista noong 2011, at kung sa Thailand naman tinatayang 17 million, sa dinami-rami ng magagandang tanawin sa ating bansa, hindi naman siguro suntok sa buwan kung mangarap tayong pagdating ng 2016, sampung milyong turista na ang bibisita sa Pilipinas kada taon. Kung patuloy na magkakaisa ang sambayanang Pilipino, gaya ng ipinamalas natin nang hirangin ang Puerto Princesa Underground River bilang isa sa New Seven Wonders of Nature, walang dudang makakamtan natin ito. Ang pahayag nga po natin sa daigdig: "It's more fun in the Philippines." Kahit wala pang isang taon sa puwesto si Secretary Mon Jimenez, nagagapas na natin ang positibong bunga ng ating mga naipunlang reporma. Masasabi nga po nating pagdating sa turismo, "It's really more fun-- to have Secretary Mon Jimenez."

Kung paglago po ang usapan, nasa tuktok ng listahan ang agrikultura. Kayod-kalabaw po si Secretary Alcala upang makapaghatid ng mabubuting balita. Dati, para bang ang pinapalago ng mga namumuno sa DA ay ang utang ng NFA. 12 billion pesos ang minana nilang utang; ang ipinamana naman nila sa atin, 177 billion pesos.

Hindi po ba’t noon, pinaniwala tayo na 1.3 million metric tons ang kakulangan sa bigas, at para tugunan ito, di bababa sa 2 million metric tons ang kanilang inangkat. Parang unlimited rice sila kung maka-order ng bigas, pero dahil sobra-sobra, nabubulok lang naman ito sa mga bodega. Ang 1.3 million metric tons, unang taon pa lang, napababa na natin sa 860,000 metric tons. Ngayong taon, 500,000 na lang, kasama pa ang buffer sakaling abutin tayo ng bagyo. Huwag lang po tayong pagsungitan ng panahon, harinawa, sa susunod na taon ay puwede na tayong mag-export ng bigas.

Ang sabi po ni Secretary Alcala: ang susi dito, makatotohanang programa sa irigasyon, at masigasig na implementasyon ng certified seeds program. Ang masakit po, hindi bagong kaalaman ito; hindi lang ipinapatupad. Kung dati pa sila nagtrabaho nang matino, nasaan na kaya tayo ngayon?

Tingnan rin po natin ang industriya ng niyog. Ang cocowater na dati tinatapon lang, ngayon, napapakinabangan na ng magsasaka. Noong 2009-- 483,862 liters ng cocowater ang iniluwas natin. Umangat po ito ng 1,807,583 liters noong 2010. Huwag po kayong magugulat: noong 2011-- 16,756,498 liters ng cocowater ang inexport ng Pilipinas. Ang coco coir naman, kung dati walang pumapansin, ngayon may shortage na dahil pinapakyaw ng mga exporter. Hindi natin sasayangin ang pagkakataong ito: bibili pa tayo ng mga bagong makinang magpoproseso ng bunot para makuha ang mga hibla. Sa susunod na taon, lalo nating mapapakinabangan ang industriya ng niyog: Naglaan na tayo ng 1.75 billion pesos upang mamuhunan at palaguin ito.

Sinimulan po ng aking ina ang Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program. Nararapat lamang na matapos ang programang ito sa panahon ng aking panunungkulan.

Isinasaayos na po ang sistema upang mapabilis ang pagpapatupad ng repormang agraryo. Ginagawa ng pamahalaan ang lahat ng hakbang upang maipamahagi sa ating mga magsasaka ang mga lupaing diniligan at pinagyaman ng kanilang pawis. Subalit mayroon pa rin pong ayaw paawat sa pagtatanim ng mga balakid. Ang tugon ko sa kanila: susunod tayo sa batas. Ang atas ng batas, ang atas ng taumbayan, at ang atas ko: Bago ako bumaba sa puwesto, naipamigay na dapat ang lahat ng lupaing sakop ng CARP.

Liwanagin naman po natin ang nangyayari sa sektor ng enerhiya. Mantakin po ninyo: Dati, umabot lang ang kawad ng kuryente sa barangay hall, energized na raw ang buong barangay. Kaya ganun-ganun na lang kung ipagmalaki nilang 99.98 percent na raw ng mga barangay sa bansa ang may kuryente. Pati ba naman sa serbisyong dapat ay matagal nang napapakinabangan ng Pilipino, nagkakagulangan pa? Kaya nga po, para subukan ang kakayahan ng DOE at NEA, naglaan tayo ng 1.3 billion pesos para pailawan ang unang tinarget na 1,300 sitios, sa presyong isang milyong piso bawat isa. Nang matapos sila, ang napailawan sa inilaan nating pondo: 1,520 sitios, at gumastos lamang sila ng 814 million pesos. Nagawa nila ito sa loob lamang ng tatlong buwan, na dati’y inaabot ng dalawang taon. Kay Secretary Rene Almendras, bilib talaga ako sa iyo; parang hindi ka nauubusan ng enerhiya. Sa paghahatid-serbisyo, hindi ka lang eveready, nagmistulang energizer bunny ka pa-- you keep on going, and going, and going.

Nangingibabaw na nga po ang liwanag sa ating bayan-- liwanag na nagsiwalat sa krimeng nagaganap sa madidilim na sulok ng lipunan. Ang pinagsisikapang kitain ng Pilipino, hindi na magagantso. Patuloy po ang pagbaba ng crime volume sa buong bansa. Ang mahigit limandaan libong krimen na naitala noong 2009, mahigit kalahati po ang nabawas: 246,958 na lamang iyan nitong 2011. Dagdag pa rito: ang dating dalawanlibo't dalawandaang kaso ng carnapping noong 2010, lampas kalahati rin ang ibinaba: 966 na lang po iyan pagdating ng 2011.

Ito nga po sana ang dalhin ng ating mga headline. Hindi po natin sinasabing wala nang krimeng nagaganap, pero palagay ko naman po, wala dapat magalit na nangalahati na ito. Si Raymond Dominguez na matagal nang labas-masok sa kulungan, hindi ba't sa loob lamang ng mahigit isang taon, nasentensyahan at naipakulong na? Ang dalawa pa niyang kapatid ay sinampahan na rin natin ng kaso at kasalukuyan na ring nakabilanggo. May dalawang suspect sa bus bombing sa Makati noong nakaraang taon, ang isa patay na; yung isa, humihimas na ng rehas. Kakosa niya ang mahigit sampung libong sangkot sa ilegal na droga na inaresto ng PDEA nitong 2011.

Alam po nating hindi araw-araw ang laban ni Pacman, at hindi puwedeng iasa dito ang pagbaba ng krimen. Kaya nga po pinalalakas natin ang puwersa ng kapulisan. Di po ba, nang dumating tayo, apatnapu’t limang porsyento ng ating kapulisan ang walang baril at umaasa sa anting-anting habang tumutugis ng masasamang-loob? May nanalo na po sa bidding, tinitiyak na lamang nating de-kalidad ang kanilang mga produkto. Pagkatapos ng proseso, maipagkakaloob na ang 74,600 na baril na magagamit nila upang ipagtanggol at alagaan ang bayan, lipunan, at sarili.

Dumako naman po tayo sa usapin ng pambansang tanggulan. May mga nagsabi nga po na ang ating Air Force, all air, at no force. Imbes na alagaan ng estado, para bang sinasadyang ilagay sa alanganin ang ating mga sundalo. Hindi po tayo makakapayag na manatiling ganito.

Makalipas nga lang po ang isang taon at pitong buwan, nakapaglaan na tayo ng mahigit dalawampu’t walong bilyong piso para sa AFP Modernization Program. Aabutan na nito ang tatlumpu’t tatlong bilyong pisong pondo na ipinagkaloob sa nasabing programa sa nakalipas na labinlimang taon. Bumubuwelo pa lang po tayo sa lagay na iyan: kapag naipasa na ang panukala nating AFP modernization bill sa Kongreso, makakapaglaan tayo ng pitumpu’t limang bilyong piso para sa susunod na limang taon.

Kasado na rin po ang tatlumpung milyong dolyar na pondong kaloob ng Estados Unidos para sa Defense Capability Upgrade and Sustainment of Equipment Program ng AFP. Bukod pa po ito sa tulong nila upang pahusayin pa ang pagmanman sa ating mga baybayin sa ilalim ng itatayong Coast Watch Center ng Pilipinas.

Nagka-canvass na rin po ang Sandatahang Lakas ng mga kagamitan tulad ng mga kanyon, personnel carrier, at frigate. Hindi magtatagal, dadaong na ang karelyebo ng BRP Gregorio del Pilar sa ating pampang. Sa Enero, aangkla na po sa Pilipinas ang BRP Ramon Alcaraz, ang pangalawa nating Hamilton class cutter. Di na po bangkang papel ang ating ipapalaot; ngayon, mga hi-tech at de-kalidad na barko na ang tatanod sa 36,000 kilometers nating coastline.

Mainam na rin po siguro kung maglinis-linis na ng mga hangar ang ating Sandatahang Lakas, dahil darating na ang mga kagamitang lalong magpapatikas sa ating tanggulan. Sa wakas, may katuwang na po ang kaisa-isa nating C-130 na tatlumpu't anim na taon nang rumoronda sa himpapawid: dalawa pang C-130 ang magiging operational ulit. Bago matapos ang taong ito, inaasahan nating mai-dedeliver na ang binili nating dalawampu't isang refurbished UH-1H Helicopter, apat na combat utility helicopters, mga radyo at iba't ibang communication equipment, rifles, mortars, mobile diagnostic laboratories, kasama pa ang station bullet assembly. Pagdating naman po ng 2013, lalapag na ang sampung attack helicopters, dalawang naval helicopters, dalawang light lift aircraft, isang frigate, at mga force protection equipment.

At hindi lang po natin sa armas ipinaparamdam ang pagkalinga sa ating pulis at kasundaluhan. Nabawasan na rin po ang mga pasanin nila sa pamumuhay dahil sa mahigit dalawampu't dalawang libong bahay ang naipatayo na sa ilalim ng AFP-PNP housing program.

Hindi po ito tungkol sa pakikipag-girian o pakikipagmatigasan. Hindi ito tungkol sa pagsisiga-sigaan. Tungkol ito sa pagkamit ng kapayapaan. Tungkol ito sa kakayahan nating ipagtanggol ang ating sarili-- isang bagay na kaytagal nating inisip na imposible. Tungkol po ito sa buhay ng isang sundalong araw-araw sumasabak sa peligro; tungkol ito sa pamilya niyang nag-aabang na makabalik siyang ligtas, ano man ang kanyang makaharap.

At ngayon ngang inaaruga na sila ng taumbayan, lalo namang ginaganahan ang ating kasundaluhan na makamtan ang kapayapaan. Tagumpay pong maituturing ang dalawandaan at tatlong rebeldeng sumuko at nagbabalik-loob na sa lipunan, at ang 1,772 na bandidong nawakasan na ang karahasan. Halimbawa po ang kilabot na teroristang si Doctor Abu, na hindi na makakapaghasik ng lagim. Nagpupugay rin po tayo sa panunumbalik ng katahimikan sa mga lugar na matagal nang biningi ng putukan. Ang resulta nga po ng bayanihan: 365 na barangay ang naagaw sa kamay ng kaaway, 270 na gusali't paaralan ang naipaayos, at 74 health centers ang naipagawa.

Kung kapayapaan na lang din po ang usapan, dumako naman tayo sa lugar na matagal naging mukha ng mga mithiing di makamtan-kamtan. Bago po magsimula ang mga reporma natin sa ARMM, may mga ghost student doon, na maglalakad sa isang ghost road, tungo sa isang ghost school, para magpaturo sa isang ghost teacher. Ang mga aparisyon pong gumulantang kay OIC Governor Mujiv Hataman: Apat na eskuwelahan na natagpuang may ghost students; iniimbestigahan na rin ang mga teacher na hindi lumilitaw ang pangalan sa talaan ng Professional Regulation Commission, gayundin ang mga tauhan ng gobyernong hindi nakalista sa plantilya. Limampu’t limang ghost entry ang tinanggal sa payroll. Ang dating paulit-ulit na pagsasaboy ng graba sa kalsada para lang pagkakitaan ng pera, bawal na. Wala nang cash advance sa mga ahensya, para maiwasan ang pagsasamantala. Ang mga multo sa voters list, mapapatahimik na ang kaluluwa. Kaya nga po kay OIC Gov. Mujiv Hataman, ang masasabi natin: isa ka nang certified ghost buster.

Ang pumalit po: pabahay, tulay, at learning center para sa mga Badjao sa Basilan. Mga community-based hatchery, lambat, materyales para maglinang ng seaweeds, at punlang napakinabangan ng 2,588 na mangingisda. Certified seeds, punla ng gabi, casava, goma, at mga punong namumunga para sa 145,121 na magsasaka. Simula pa lang po iyan: nakalaan na ang 183 million pesos para sa mga municipal fishing port projects sa ARMM; 310.4 million pesos para sa mga istasyon ng bumbero; 515 million pesos para sa malinis na inuming tubig; 551.9 million pesos para sa mga kagamitang pangkalusugan; 691.9 million pesos para sa daycare centers; at 2.85 billion pesos para sa mga kalsada at tulay na babagtas sa rehiyon. Ilan lang po iyan sa patutunguhan ng kabuuang 8.59 billion pesos na ipinagkaloob ng pambansang gobyerno para isakatuparan ang mga reporma sa ARMM. Lilinawin ko rin po: hindi pa kasama rito ang taunang suportang natatanggap nila, na ngayong 2012 ay umabot sa 11.7 billion pesos.

Miski po ang mga dating gustong tumiwalag, nakikita na ang epekto ng reporma. Kinikilala natin bilang pahiwatig ng kanilang tiwala ang nakaraang pitong buwan, kung kailan walang nangyaring sagupaan sa pagitan ng militar at ng MILF. Sa peace process naman po: hayag at lantaran ang usapan; nagpapamalas ang magkabilang panig ng tiwala sa isa't isa. Maaaring minsan, magiging masalimuot ang proseso; signos lang po ito na malapit na nating makamit ang nag-iisa nating mithiin: Kapayapaan.

Mapayapang pag-uusap rin po ang prinsipyong isinulong natin upang mabuo ang ating Executive Order ukol sa pagmimina. Ang kaisipan sa likod ng nabuong consensus: mapakinabangan ang ating likas na yaman upang iangat ang buhay ng Pilipino, hindi lamang ngayon kundi pati na rin sa susunod na salinlahi. Hindi natin pipitasin ang ginintuang bunga ng industriyang ito, kung ang magiging kabayaran ay ang pagkasira ng kalikasan.

Ngunit unang hakbang lamang ito. Isipin po ninyo: Noong 2010, 145 billion pesos ang kabuuang halaga na nakuha mula sa pagmimina, subalit 13.4 billion lamang o siyam na porsyento ang napunta sa kaban ng bayan. Ang likas na yaman, pag-aari ninyo; hindi tayo papayag na balato lang ang mapupunta sa Pilipino. Umaasa po tayo sa pakikiisa ng Kongreso upang makapagpasa ng batas na sisigurong napapangalagaan ang kalikasan at matitiyak na makatarungan ang magiging pakinabang ng publiko at pribadong sektor sa mga biyayang makukuha natin mula sa industriyang ito.

Pag-usapan po natin ang situwasyon sa Disaster Risk Reduction and Management. Dati, ang gobyernong dapat tumutulong, nanghihingi rin ng tulong. Ngayon, nasa Pasipiko pa lang ang bagyo, alam na kung saan idedestino ang ayuda, at may malinaw nang plano upang maiwasan ang peligro.

Tuwing pag-uusapan nga po ang sakuna, lagi kong naaalala ang nangyari sa Tarlac nang minsang bumagyo. Sa lakas ng ulan, bumigay ang dike. Nang nagising ang isang barangay captain, tinangay na ng baha ang kanyang pamilya at mga kagamitang pangsaka. Buti nga po't nakaligtas ang buong mag-anak. Malas lang po ng kalabaw nilang naiwang nakatali sa puno; nabigti ito sa lakas ng ragasa.

Walang kalaban-laban din po ang marami sa tinamaan ng bagyong Ondoy, Pepeng, at Sendong. Napakarami pong nasawi sa paghagupit ng mga delubyong ito. Sa ilalim ng bagong-lunsad na Project NOAH, isinakay natin sa iisang bangka ang mga inisyatiba kontra-sakuna, at hindi na rin po idinadaan sa tsamba ang paglilikas sa mga pamilya. Gamit ang teknolohiya, nabibigyan na ng wastong babala ang Pilipino upang makapaghanda at makaiwas sa disgrasya.

Real-time at direkta na ang pakinabang ng walumpu't anim na automated rain gauges at dalawampu’t walong water level monitoring sensors natin sa iba’t ibang rehiyon. Bago matapos ang 2013, ang target natin: animnaraang automated rain gauges at apatnaraan at dalawampu’t dalawang water level sensors. Ipapakabit po natin ang mga ito sa labingwalong pangunahing river basins sa buong bansa.

Isa pa pong pagbabago: Dati, ang mga ahensya'y kanya-kanyang habulan ng numero, kanya-kanyang agenda, kanya-kanyang pasikatan. Ngayon, ang kultura sa gobyerno: bayanihan para sa kapakanan ng taumbayan. Convergence po ang tawag natin dito.

Dati pa naman po naglipana ang mga programa sa tree-planting. Pero matapos magtanim, pababayaan na lang ang mga ito. Kapag nakita ng mga komunidad na naghahanap din ng kabuhayan, puputulin ang mga ito para gawing uling.

May solusyon na po rito. Mayroon na pong 128,558 hectares ng kagubatang naitanim sa buong bansa; bahagi lang po iyan ng kabuuang 1.5 million na ektaryang matatamnan bago tayo bumaba sa puwesto. Nakapaloob po rito ang mga komunidad na nasa ilalim ng National Convergence Initiative. Ang proseso: pagkatanim ng puno, makikipag-ugnayan ang DSWD sa mga komunidad. Kapalit ng conditional cash transfer, aalagaan ang mga puno; mayroon ding mga magpapalago ng bagong punla sa nursery. 335,078 na po ang mga Pilipinong nakakakuha ng kabuhayan dito.

Sa isa nga pong programa, nakiambag din ang pribadong sektor, na nagbibigay ng spesyal na binhi ng kape at cacao sa komunidad, at tinuturuan silang alagaan at siguruhing mataas ang ani. Itinatanim ang kape sa lilim ng mga puno, na habang nakatayo ay masisigurong hihigop ng baha at tutulong makaiwas tayo sa pinsala. Ang kumpanyang nagbigay ng binhi, sure buyer na rin ng ani. Panalo ang mga komunidad nay may dagdag kita, panalo ang pribadong sektor, panalo pa ang susunod na salinlahing makikinabang sa matatayog na puno.

Matagal na pong problema ang illegal logging. Mula nga po nang lumapag ang EO 23, nakasabat na si Mayor Jun Amante ng mahigit anim na milyong pisong halaga ng troso. Nagpapasalamat tayo sa kanya. Sa Butuan pa lang ito; paano pa kung magpapakita ng ganitong political will ang lahat ng LGU?

Ang mga trosong nakukumpiska ng DENR, lalapag sa mga komunidad na naturuan na ng TESDA ng pagkakarpintero. Ang resulta: upuan para sa mga pampublikong paaralan na hawak naman ng DepEd. Isipin po ninyo: ang dating pinagmumulan ng pinsala, ngayon, tulay na para sa mas mabuting kinabukasan. Dati, imposible nga ito: Imposible kung nagbubulag-bulagan ang pamahalaan sa ilegal na gawain.

Kaya kayong mga walang konsensya; kayong mga paulit-ulit isinusugal ang buhay ng kapwa Pilipino: maghanda na kayo. Tapos na ang maliligayang araw ninyo. Sinampolan na natin ang tatlumpu't apat na kawani ng DENR, isang PNP provincial director, at pitong chief of police. Pinagpapaliwanag na rin po natin ang isang Regional Director ng PNP na nagbingi-bingihan sa aking utos at nagbulag-bulagan sa mga dambuhalang trosong dumaan sa kanilang tanawin. Kung hindi kayo umayos, isusunod namin kayo. Magkubli man kayo sa lilim ng inyong mga padrino, aabutan namin kayo. Isasama na rin namin ang mga padrino ninyo. Kaya bago pa magkasalubong ang ating landas, mas maganda sigurong tumino na kayo.

Mula sa sinapupunan, sa pag-aaral at pagtatrabaho, may pagbabago nang haharap sa Pilipino. At sakaling piliin niyang magserbisyo sa gobyerno, tuloy pa rin ang pag-aaruga ng estado hanggang sa kanyang pagreretiro. Tatanawin ng pamahalaan ang kanyang ambag bilang lingkod-bayan, at hindi ipagdadamot sa kanya ang pensiyong siya rin naman ang nagpuhunan.

Isipin po ninyo: may mga pensyonado tayong tumatanggap ng 500 pesos lamang kada buwan. Paano niya ito pagkakasiyahin sa tubig, kuryente, at pagkain araw-araw? Ang atin pong tugon: Pagsapit ng bagong taon, hindi na bababa sa limanlibong piso ang matatanggap na buwanang pensyon ng ating old-age and disability pensioners. Masaya tayong matutugunan natin ang pangangailangan nila ngayon, nang hindi isinusugal ang kapakanan ng mga pensyonado bukas.

Iba na po talaga ang mukha ng gobyerno. Sumasabay na nga po sa pribadong sektor ang ating pasahod para sa entry level. Pero kapag sabay kayong napromote ng kaklase mong piniling mag-pribado, nagkakaiwanan na.

Mahahabol din po natin iyan; sa ngayon, ang good news natin sa mga nagtatrabaho sa pamahalaan: Performance Based Incentives. Dati, miski palpak ang palakad ng isang ahensya, very satisfactory pa rin ang pinakamababang rating ng empleyado. Dahil sa pakikisama, nahihirapan ang bisor na bigyan ng makatarungang rating ang mga tauhan niya. Nakakawawa tuloy ang mga mahusay magtrabaho; nawawalan sila ng dahilan para galingan dahil parehas lang naman ang insentibo ng mga tamad at pursigido.

Heto po ang isa lamang sa mga hakbang natin upang tugunan ito. Simula ngayong taon, magpapatupad tayo ng sistema kung saan ang bonus ay nakabase sa pagtupad ng mga ahensya sa kanilang mga target para sa taon. Nasa kamay na ng empleyado ang susi sa kanyang pag-angat. Ang insentibo, maaaring umabot ng tatlumpu’t limang libong piso, depende sa pagpapakitang-gilas mo sa iyong trabaho. Dagdag pa ito sa across-the-board na Christmas bonus na matatanggap mo.

Ginagawa natin ito, hindi lamang para itaas ang kumpiyansa at ipakita ang pagtitiwala natin sa ating mga lingkod-bayan. Higit sa lahat, para ito sa Pilipinong umaasa sa tapat at mahusay na serbisyo mula sa lingkod-bayan, at umaasang sila at sila lamang ang ituturing na boss ng kanilang pamahalaan.

Simula pa lang mayroon nang mga kumuwestiyon sa sinasabi nating, "Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap." Hanggang ngayon mayroon pa rin pong mangilan-ngilang nagtatanong: nakakain ba ang mabuting pamamahala? Ang simpleng sagot: Siyempre.

Isipin po natin ang ating pinanggalingan: Dati, parang wild west ang pamumuhunan sa Pilipinas. May peligro na nga ang negosyo, sinagad pa ang risko dahil sa di tiyak at nakalihim na patakaran. Kakamayan ka nga gamit ang kanan, kokotongan ka naman gamit ang kaliwa.

Ngayon: Dahil patas na ang laban, at may hayag at hindi pabagu-bagong mga patakaran, patuloy ang pagtaas ng kumpiyansa sa ating ekonomiya. Patuloy ang pagpasok ng puhunan; patuloy ang pagdami ng trabaho; patuloy ang positibong siklo ng pagkonsumo, paglago ng negosyo, at pagdami ng mamamayang naeempleyo.

Dahil maayos ang paggugol ng gobyerno, walang tagas sa sistema. Dahil maayos ang pangongolekta ng buwis, lumalago ang kaban ng bayan. Bawat pisong nakokolekta, tiyak ang pupuntahan: Piso itong diretso sa kalsada, piso para sa bakuna, piso para sa classroom at upuan, piso para sa ating kinabukasan.

Dahil maayos ang paggawa ng tulay, kalsada, at gusali, itinatayo ang mga ito kung saan kailangan. Maayos ang daanan, mas mabilis ang takbo ng produkto, serbisyo, at mamamayan.

Dahil maayos ang pamamahala sa agrikultura, tumataas ang produksyon ng pagkain, at hindi pumapalo ang presyo nito. Stable ang pasahod, at mas malakas ang pambansang ekonomiya.

Tunay nga po: Ang matatag at malakas na ekonomiyang pinanday ng mabuting pamamahala ang pinakamabisang kalasag laban sa mga hamon na kinakaharap ng daigdig. Dalawang taon po nating binaklas ang mga balakid sa pag-unlad, at ngayon, tayo na lang mismo ang makapipigil sa ating sariling pag-angat.

Ginawa po natin ang lahat ng ito habang binubuno rin ng bawat bansa sa iba't ibang sulok ng daigdig ang kani-kanilang problema't pagsubok.

Hindi po tayo nag-iisa sa mundo, kaya't habang tinutugunan natin ang sarili nating mga suliranin, angkop lamang na bantayan din ang ilang pangyayaring maaaring makaapekto sa atin.

Naging maugong ang mga kaganapan sa Bajo de Masinloc. May mga mangingisdang Tsinong pumasok sa ating teritoryo. Nasabat ng mga bangka natin sa kanilang mga barko ang endangered species. Bilang pinuno, kailangan kong ipatupad ang batas na umiiral sa ating bansa. Sa pagsulong nito, nagbungguan ang Nine Dash Line Theory ng mga Tsino, na umaangkin sa halos buong West Philippine Sea, at ang karapatan natin at ng marami pang ibang bansa, kasama na ang Tsina, na pinagtitibay naman ng United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Sea.

Ibayong hinahon ang ipinamalas natin. Ang barko ng Hukbong Dagat, bilang tanda ng ating malinis hangarin, ay agad nating pinalitan ng barkong sibilyan. Hindi tayo nakipagsagutan sa mga banat ng kanilang media sa atin. Hindi naman po siguro kalabisan na hilingin sa kabilang panig na galangin ang ating karapatan, gaya ng paggalang natin sa kanilang mga karapatan bilang kapwa bansang nasa iisang mundong kailangang pagsaluhan.

Mayroon po tayong mga miron na nagsasabing hayaan na lang ang Bajo de Masinloc; umiwas na lang tayo. Pero kung may pumasok sa inyong bakuran at sinabing sa kanya na ang kanyang kinatatayuan, papayag ba kayo? Hindi naman po yata tamang ipamigay na lang natin sa iba ang sadyang atin talaga.
Kaya nga po hinihiling ko sa sambayanan ang pakikiisa sa isyung ito. Iisa lang po dapat ang kumpas natin. Tulungan ninyo akong iparinig sa kabilang panig ang katuwiran ng ating mga paninindigan.
Hindi po simple ang sitwasyon, at hindi magiging simple ang solusyon. Magtiwala po kayo: kumokonsulta tayo sa mga eksperto, at sa lahat ng pinuno ng ating bansa, pati na sa mga kaalyado natin-- gayundin sa mga nasa kabilang panig ng usaping ito-- upang makahanap ng solusyon na katanggap-tanggap sa lahat.

Sa bawat hakbang sa tuwid na daan, nagpunla tayo ng pagbabago. Ngunit may mangilan-ngilan pa ring pilit na bubunot nito. Habang nagtatalumpati ako ngayon, may mga nagbubulungan sa isang silid at hinihimay ang aking mga sinasabi; naghahanap ng butas na ipambabatikos bukas. Sasabihin nila: Salita lang ito, at hindi totoo ang tuwid na landas. Sila rin po ang magsasabing hayaan na, magkaisa na; forgive and forget na lang para makausad na tayo.

Hindi ko po matatanggap ito. Forgive and forget na lang ang sampung taon na nawala sa atin? Forgive and forget na lang para sa magsasakang nabaon sa utang dahil sa kakaangkat natin ng bigas, gayong puwede naman palang pagyamanin ang kanyang lupa?

Forgive and forget na lang ba para sa pamilya ng isang pulis na namatay nang walang kalaban-laban, dahil batuta lang ang hawak niya habang hinahabol ang armadong masasamang-loob?

Forgive and forget na lang ba para sa mga naulila ng limampu't pitong biktima ng masaker sa Maguindanao? Maibabalik ba sila ng forgive and forget? Forgive and forget ang lahat ng atraso ng mga naglubog sa atin sa bulok na estado? Forgive and forget para maibalik ang lumang status quo? Ang tugon ko: Ang magpatawad, maaari; ang makalimot, hindi. Kung ang nagkasala ay hindi mananagot, gagarantiyahan mo ang pagpapahirap muli sa sambayanan.

Ang tunay na pagkakaisa at pagkakasunduan ay magmumula lamang sa tunay at ganap na katarungan. Katarungan ang tawag sa plunder case na isinampa laban sa dating pangulo. Katarungan na bigyan siya ng pagkakataong harapin ang mga akusasyon at ipagtanggol ang kanyang sarili. Katarungan ang nasaksihan natin noong ika-dalawampu’t siyam ng Mayo. Noong araw na iyon, pinatunayan natin: Posibleng mangibabaw ang katarungan kahit na ang kabangga mo ay may mataas na katungkulan. Noong araw na iyon, may isang Delsa Flores sa Panabo, Davao del Norte, na nagsabing, "Posible pala: iisang batas lang ang kailangang sundin ng court interpreter na tulad ko, at ng Punong Mahistrado." Posible palang maging patas ang timbangan; maaaring isakdal at panagutin miski ang mayaman at makapangyarihan.

Kaya po sa susunod na magiging Punong Mahistrado, malaki ang inaasahan sa inyo ng sambayanan. Napatunayan na po nating posible ang imposible; ang trabaho natin ngayon, siguruhing magpapatuloy ang pagbabago tungo sa tunay na katarungan, matapos man ang ating termino. Maraming sira sa sistemang kailangan ninyong kumpunihin, at alam kong hindi magiging madali ito. Alam ko po kung gaano kabigat ang pasanin ng isang malinaw na mandato; ngunit ito ang atas sa atin ng taumbayan; ito ang tungkuling ating sinumpaan; ito ang kailangan nating gampanan.

Simple lang ang hangad natin: kung inosente ka, buong-loob kang haharap sa korte, dahil kampante kang mapapawalang-sala ka. Kung ikaw ang salarin, anuman ang apelyido mo, o gaano man karami ang titulong nakakabit sa iyong pangalan, may katiyakan din na pananagutan mo ang ginawa mong kasalanan.

Salamat din po kay Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, sa pagtanggap ng hamon na maging tunay na tanod-bayan. Kung tutuusin, pwede na niyang tanggihan ang responsibilidad at sabihing, "Retirado na ako, puwede bang 'yung iba na lang?" Subalit nangibabaw ang kaniyang malasakit sa bayan. Sa kabila nito, may nagregalo pa rin sa kanya ng granada sa bahay. Ma'am, may mga darating pa pong pagsubok; baka po paglaon, magaya na kayo sa akin na tinatawag na ganid na kapitalista na komunista din patungong diktador dahil sa sigasig ng mga repormang ipinapatupad natin.

Bilib po ako sa inyong pagpapakitang-gilas. Maraming salamat sa pagiging instrumento ng katarungan, lalo na noong kasagsagan ng impeachment trial. Salamat din po sa dalawang institusyong bumubuo ng Kongreso: Sa Senado at Kamara de Representante, na tinimbang ng taumbayan at nakitang sapat na sapat.

Sa lahat po ng tumulong sa pagpapagana ng mga prosesong pangkatarungan: Dumaan kayo sa matinding pagsubok, batikos at agam-agam; kasama pa ang kaba na kung natalo tayo, kayo ang unang pupuntiryahin ng kalaban. Pero di kayo natinag. Umasa sa inyo ang Pilipino, at pinatunayan ninyong tama ang pag-asa sa inyo. Hindi ninyo binigo ang sambayanan; ipinaliwanag ninyo lalo ang ating kinabukasan.

Paalala lang po: hindi natatapos ang laban sa isang tiwaling opisyal na natanggal sa puwesto, sa isang ma-anomalyang kontratang napigil ipatupad, o sa isang opisinang naituwid ang pamamalakad. Kaya naman nananawagan po tayo sa Kongreso na ipasa ang panukala nating pag-amyenda sa Anti-Money Laundering Act, upang mas mapaigting pa natin ang pagpapanagot sa mga tiwali.

Itong tinatamasa natin ngayon: ang bawat nailawan at iilawan pang sitio; ang bawat daan, tulay, paliparan, tren, at daungan; ang bawat kontratang walang bukol; ang kaligtasan at kapayapaan mula lungsod hanggang nayon; ang pagbalik ng piring sa sistemang pangkatarungan; ang bawat classroom, upuan, at aklat na napapasakamay ng kabataan; ang bawat Pilipinong nahahandugan ng bagong kinabukasan-- ang lahat ng ito, naabot natin sa loob lamang ng dalawang taon.

Pagtabihin po natin ang dalawang taon na ito, at ang nakaraang siyam at kalahating taon na ating pinagdusahan. Di po ba't sumusulong na ang agenda ng pagbabago? Ang kapareho namin ng adhikain, malamang, kasama namin sa agendang ito. At kung kontra ka sa amin, kontra ka rin sa ginagawa namin. Kung kumukontra sila sa agenda ng pagbabago, masasabi ba ninyong sila'y nasa panig ninyo?

Paparating na naman po ang halalan. Kayo po, ang aming mga boss, ang tangi naming susundan. Ang tanong ko sa inyo, "Boss, saan tayo tatahak? Tuloy ba ang biyahe natin sa tuwid na landas, o magmamaniobra ba tayo't aatras, pabalik sa daan na baluktot at walang patutunguhan?"

Naalala ko pa po noong nagsimula tayo. Mulat na mulat ako sa bigat ng pasaning sasalubong sa atin. Kabilang ako sa mga nag-isip: Kaya pa bang ituwid ang ganito kabaluktot na sistema?

Heto po ang aking natutuhan sa dalawampu't limang buwan ng pagka-pinuno: Walang imposible. Walang imposible dahil kung nakikita ng taumbayan na sila ang tanging boss ng kanilang pamahalaan, bubuhatin ka nila, gagabayan ka nila, sila mismo ang mamumuno tungo sa makabuluhang pagbabago. Hindi imposible na ang Pilipinas ang maging kauna-unahang bansa sa Timog-Silangang Asya na magbibigay ng libreng bakuna para sa Rotavirus. Hindi imposible para sa Pilipinas na tumindig at sabihing: "Ang Pilipinas ay sa Pilipino--at handa kaming ipagtanggol ito." Hindi imposible na ang Pilipinong kaytagal nang yumuyuko tuwing may makakasalubong na dayuhan--ang Pilipino, ngayon, taas-noo, tinitingala ng buong mundo. Talaga namang ang sarap maging Pilipino sa panahong ito.

Noon pong nakaraang taon, hiniling ko sa taumbayan: Magpasalamat sa mga nakikiambag sa positibong pagbabago sa lipunan. Hindi po biro ang mga pagsubok na dinaanan natin, kaya angkop lamang na pasalamatan ang mga taong nakibalikat, sa pagkukumpuni sa mga maling idinulot ng masamang pamamahala.

Sa lahat ng miyembro ng aking Gabinete: Maraming, maraming salamat. Mapalad po ang sambayanan at may mga tulad ninyong handang isuko ang pribado at mas tahimik na pamumuhay para sa paghahatid serbisyo-publiko, kahit pa batid ninyong ang kapalit nito ay mas maliit na sweldo, panganib, at pambabatikos.

Huwag din po sana nilang masamain dahil personal ko silang papangalanan: Kina Father Catalino Arevalo, at Sister Agnes Guillen, na dumidilig at nagpapalago sa aking buhay spirituwal, lalo na sa mga panahong sukdulan ang pagsubok sa amin, maraming, maraming salamat po.

Ito po ang aking ikatlong SONA, tatlo na lamang din po ang natitira. Papasok na po tayo sa kalagitnaan ng ating liderato. Noong nakaraang taon, ang hamon ko sa inyo: iwaksi ang kultura ng negatibismo; sa bawat pagkakataon, iangat ang kapwa-Pilipino.

Batid po sa tinatamasa natin ngayon: hindi kayo nabigo. Sa inyo nagmula ang pagbabago. Ang sabi ninyo: posible.

Humaharap po ako sa inyo bilang mukha ng isang gobyernong kayo ang boss at kayo pa rin ang lakas. Inuulat ko lamang ang mga pagbabagong ginawa ninyong posible.

Kaya nga po sa lahat ng nurse, midwife, o doktor na piniling magsilbi sa mga baryo; sa bawat bagong graduate na piniling magtrabaho sa gobyerno; sa bawat atletang Pilipinong bitbit ang watawat saanmang panig ng mundo; sa bawat kawani ng pamahalaan na tapat na nagseserbisyo: Kayo-- ang gumawa ng pagbabago.

Sa tuwing haharap ako sa isang ina na nagsasabing, “Salamat at nabakunahan na ang aking sanggol,” ang tugon ko: ikaw ang gumawa nito.

Sa tuwing haharap ako sa isang bata na nagsasabing, “Salamat sa papel, sa lapis, sa pagkakataong makapag-aral,” ang tugon ko: ikaw ang gumawa nito.

Sa tuwing haharap ako sa isang OFW na nagsasabing, “Salamat at puwede ko na muling pangaraping tumanda sa Pilipinas,” ang tugon ko: ikaw ang gumawa nito.

Sa tuwing haharap ako sa isang Pilipinong nagsasabing, “Salamat, akala ko hindi na magkakakuryente sa aming sitio. Akala ko hindi ko na aabuting buhay ang liwanag na ganito,” ang tugon ko: ikaw ang gumawa nito.

Sa bawat pagkakataon na haharap ako sa isang magsasaka, guro, piloto, inhinyero, tsuper, ahente sa call center, karaniwang Pilipino; sa bawat Juan at Juana dela Cruz na nagsasabing “Salamat sa pagbabago,” ang tugon ko sa inyo: kayo ang gumawa nito.

Inuulit ko: posible na ang dating imposible. Humaharap po ako sa inyo ngayon, at sinasabing: hindi ko SONA ito. Kayo ang gumawa nito. SONA ito ng sambayanang Pilipino. Maraming, maraming salamat po.