SONA: So? Na!
Noynoy is to deliver his state of the nation address this afternoon. Except for journalists and those who have to be there to listen, the overwhelming majority of Filipinos are not expected to drop whatever it is they may be doing for a speech they know will not make a difference in their lives.
As his continuing drop in ratings suggests, Noynoy has ceased to be relevant in the lives of people. Life goes on -- in comfort for some, in misery for many -- even without Noynoy. In Tacloban, for instance, the true state of life there is continuing to live in a tent without water and light, no matter what Noynoy says.
Besides, most Filipinos already know what Noynoy has to say. He is going to say only that which pleases him, not what people need to hear. That is why he always chooses to speak in Tagalog. He doesn't want foreign dignitaries to know or understand what he is talking about.
There used to be a time when a state of the nation address truly reflected the state of a nation, or at least the positive things people have to know, things that are verifiable by fact and experience. But not anymore. Noynoy has corrupted the SONA into a pack of lies so incredible only fools can believe them.
There is no better proof of Noynoy's SONA having lost significance than in the fact that it is being eclipsed, as a matter of interest and anticipation, by the sideshow it spawned -- the Oscars-like red carpet event featuring a fashion show of the best gowns and suits the PDAF or DAP can buy.
I cannot imagine an occasion more laced with hypocrisy than this SONA, that while the self-proclaimed saint of incorruptibility will continue to proclaim that incorruptibility, he will be unmindful of the ocean of glitter and finery that will bedeck his sycophants of unconstitutional means.
While nobody has gone out of his way to make a guessing game of what lies Noynoy will tell the nation this time, one giant network has actually come up with a program that asks viewers the kind of fashion sense they expect to be flaunted by the who's who.
In a way, this reflects the manner with which the network appreciates the priorities people will be left with after being betrayed cruelly by Noynoy. The network, hugely biased in his favor, correctly guesses the interchangeability of frivolity and lack of substance.
Since there's no point in listening to a leader whose idea of leadership is to be correct all the time and for everybody else to be wrong unless he says otherwise, then why not devote precious airtime letting the world see instead what the privileged few at the SONA are wearing. That is how sick this country has become.
Still, if for nothing else, the state of the nation address of Noynoy should be interesting in one respect -- which enemies he will attack this time, and in what manner he will be attacking them. His reasons for doing so will not be anymore relevant. Noynoy has long ceased to be a springboard for reason.
Indeed, the speeches of Noynoy, whether as august as a SONA, or just some hotel opening gig that allows him a wonderful opportunity to emerge from frequent bouts of hibernation and noynoying, have become remarkable in their consistency in two things -- as platforms for unwarranted attacks, or inappropriateness of subject.
Noynoy is notorious for out-of-turn fluctuations of mood, like attacking the very people who invite him to speak at an otherwise happy gathering, such as an anniversary or something, or for out-of-this-world surges of inspiration, as in telling the people of Japan, there in Japan, what they should do with their constitution.
A person like this cannot be expected to come up with a state of the nation address that is a state of the nation address -- a guidepost or road marker that tells people going in a certain direction the progress they have made in that direction. He stands better at some streetcorner cursing everyone for passing by.
At the Batasan where Noynoy is to speak, they better made sure the electricity does not go out, lest he be forced to depart from his prepared speech and deal with certain realities no speechwriter will be able to gloss over or embellish with lies.
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