Feeling Rody's SONA

ABSENT THE brilliance of Marcos and his rhetorical prowess too, the speechwriter of Cory, the smarts of Ramos, the charm of Erap and the statistical savvy of Gloria, Rody Duterte still managed to deliver his first SONA with enough aplomb to impact his message to the Filipino people.

It was enough for Duterte to be simply Duterte to deliver. And how. On the emotional plane, to me, personally.  

He got this non-believer at: We cannot move forward if we allow the past to pull us back.  Finger-pointing is not the way. That is why I will not waste precious time dwelling on the sins of the past or blaming those who are perceived to be responsible for the mess that we are in and suffering from.

Except maybe extract a lesson or two from its errors we will not tarry because it is the present that we are concerned with and the future that we should be prepared for.

And as if he were reading my mind: Lest I be misunderstood, let me say clearly, that those who betrayed the people’s trust shall not go unpunished and they will have their day in Court.

Instantly flashed there that meme of the recently released GMA telling former President BS Aquino III “O, Noy ikaw naman”    

No, I did not cry – as Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said he did just reading the draft of the SONA – but I shared some epiphanic high with:  Thus to our religious bishops, leaders, priests, pastors, preachers, imams let me assure you that while I am a stickler for the principle of separation between church and state, I believe quite strongly that there should never be a separation between God and State…

And high still: Human rights must work to uplift human dignity. But human rights cannot be used as a shield or an excuse to destroy the country — your country and my country.

Patriotism stirred, right there. Even deeper: All of us want peace, not the peace of the dead, but the peace of the living. We express our willingness and readiness to go to the negotiating table, and yet we load our guns, fix our sights, pull the trigger. It is both ironic and tragic— and it is endless.  While we extol the bravery and heroism of our soldiers — kayo, the rebels -- do the same for your members and fighters.  What I see instead are the widows and the orphans. And I feel their pain and grief.  And no amount of cash assistance or the number of medals can compensate the loss of a human life. Sorrow cuts across every stratum of society. It cuts deeply and the pain lasts forever.

A different pain though, as searing and less empathetic, inflicted anew: …(H)uwag kayong umasa diyan sa mga pari pati Human Rights, hindi nakakapigil yan ng kamatayan. So huwag ninyong gawin. Eh tapos nandiyan ka nakabulagta and you are portrayed in a broadsheet na parang Mother Mary cradling the dead cadaver of Jesus Christ.  Eh yan yang mga yan magda-dramahan tayo dito.

Dead cadaver. But for the intensity of the pathos that picture exuded, the editor in me could have laughed at, even ridiculed, Duterte’s redundancy of double dead there. 

So he philosophized, in some attempt to convince: He who is the cause of the cause is the cause of them all.  Ikaw yung nag umpisa, you swallow —

No, I cannot swallow such causality to (ir)rationalize murder.

Ulitin ko ha: He who is the cause of the cause is the cause of them all. No matter how often, how strongly, iterated.

On the other hand, and closer to heart, some other lingering pain finding relief: The PCO, in coordination with the Office of the Executive Secretary, is drafting the Administrative Order on the Task Force on media killings.

This government does not condone violence and repression of media. The bona fide media... Bona fide media...Sometimes they pronounce it "bonafid". But whatever that thing is, the bona fide media has always been our partner for change. Medyo klaro yan. Anong gawin mo sa hindi bona fide media? Iyan ang problema.

And release: There is an Executive Order, it's out. As an example on the part of the Executive Branch to make transparency and integrity as yardsticks in government performance, savings and expenses while engaging the public to be vigilant in participating in government programs and projects.

Ending on the highest note, whence springs renewed hope: We are imbued with resiliency that has been tested and proven. More difficult times as in the past. We have a bond to act together. We have to help each other. For then and only then can we truly prevail. And the Filipino, disciplined, informed, involved, shall rise from the rubbles of sorrow and pain. So that all the mirrors in the world will reflect the face of a passion that has changed this land.

Aye, no SONA – and I have had a surfeit of these from the Marcosian to the Cory-ente, from the Fidelisms to the Eraptions, from the Glorenomics to the Noynoyan – ever roused the full scale of sentiments in me than Duterte’s first.  

So high and so deep that the issues of the West Philippine Sea, lower taxes, unilateral ceasefire with the CPP-NPA-NDF, the Lumad land, Gina Lopez’s crusade against mining, and all others promising a greater life to the Filipino, aye, even our pet advocacy of the Clark airport as domestic hub, became no more than afterthoughts.     

Yeah, beyond merely thinking while listening to Duterte’s SONA, I so felt it. As much better, as for the worse. Wow.