Wang-wang SONA: Too much noise, too little substance

“There’s one thing in common between this year’s SONA and wang-wang, its favorite object: they both send out too much noise.”

This was labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno’s reaction to Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III’s State of the Nation Address this year, saying the speech failed to present the real situation of the Filipino workers and people and to push for much-needed reforms.

“Like a wang-wang, the 2011 SONA is a display of the president’s privilege to inflict upon the public a blown-up accomplishment report and too much feel-good but empty rhetoric. We were transported to fantasy-land again,” said Elmer “Bong” Labog, KMU chairperson.

“This year’s SONA failed to address the concerns of the country’s farmers and workers, who compose the majority of the population. Pressing demands for a significant wage hike, for an end to contractualization, for lower prices of oil and other basic necessities, and for genuine land reform – all of these were left out of a speech describing the state of the nation,” he added.

“What is missing is a strategic vision for development, a plan to develop industries and implement land reform. Without such a vision, the so-called good news which were reported by the president appear isolated and coincidental,” he said.

Selective data, hype on employment

KMU criticized Aquino for being highly selective in presenting data and being overblown in his rhetoric, citing the SONA’s section on employment as example.

Pres. Aquino presented data on the reduction of the unemployed from 8% in April 2010 to 7.2% in April 2011.

“Aquino failed to cite data from the same National Statistics Office survey showing an increase from 17.8% last April 2010 to 19.4% this April of the number of underemployed. That means the number of Filipinos who are not earning enough from their jobs and are seeking additional work increased by more than half a million,” Labog said.

“These data show that the available jobs in the country remain low-paying and poor-quality ones. It is simply a lie to say, on the basis of these data, that Filipinos now have a choice to not leave the country to find decent work,” he added.

“In fact, the number of Filipinos leaving the country to find jobs abroad increased under Pres. Aquino’s first year. We cannot even bring home our OFWs from crisis-torn countries,” Labog said.

According to independent NGO Center for Trade Union and Human Rights, the number of Filipinos going abroad to seek employment increased from 3,500 everyday in 2009 to 4,413 in 2010.