But do people truly care about the SONA?

The question is asked in the above title because never in all speeches of a president, popular or otherwise, is there so much noise before delivery, and then even more noise after all is said and done. The noise prior to delivery arises from the clash between what people want to hear and what they think they will actually hear. And without having yet heard anything, they begin to quarrel over the as-yet-unspoken.

 Then the speech is made and the noise is even louder because, in addition to the expected failed expectations and the unexpected surprises that just seem to fall short of surprising anyone, into the mix goes the clash over the manner in which the speech was made (too short, too long, too many digressions), where emphasis was placed or misplaced, who got mentioned or left out, what promise was new or yet remained unfulfilled, etc. etc.

No other country probably generates as much noise as the Philippines when it comes to the annual State of the Nation Address of its president. Just like this country's overly long Christmas season, things SONA start to fill the air as early as a month before schedule. And here I am, one among many still writing about the SONA days after its Monday delivery.

So let me answer my own question. Do I truly care about the SONA? Of course I don't. My only interest in it is what I might derive from it, and the environment it creates, as a potential subject for a column. And because I really got nothing from it, as expected I must admit, so here I am writing about why there is so much noise about something we might do better to keep silent about.

I do not care about the SONA because I do not need anyone, not even the president, to tell me what the state of my country, and therefore my own life, is like. According to a line in a Bob Dylan song, which I have quoted here maybe more times than Dylan himself sang the song, "You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows."

I know because I live it. I know how the country is responding to China and why. I know how the country is responding to COVID-19 and why. I know why the internet speed is slow and why. I know why ABS-CBN failed in its bid for a franchise renewal and why. I know why taxes are never enough and why there is a forever need to slap the people silly with even more.

So, am I brighter than most people? Ha ha ha. Of course not. I am just an ordinary average person. What I do have is the willingness to accept things for what they are. It is this willingness that allows me the freedom and the independence from SONAs. Depending on what color your politics are, a SONA is just a hyped-up compliance with a constitutional requirement that people use as a prop for their own unreleased angst.

If there is someone else who truly understood what the SONA is and used it to score a point, let me single out Senator Franklin Drilon, whom I have never liked. Drilon knows the temperament of the president. So just days before the SONA, he baited the president with a remark that mentioned his daughter. Right off the bat in his SONA, the president went for Drilon's jugular. Call a SONA by another name and it is just dignified banter.