Pia dares Palace: "Test-run SONA in Plaza Miranda"

Senator Pia S. Cayetano today dismissed the glowing review by a Palace spokesperson of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's 'farewell' State of the Nation Address (SONA), which the President rehearsed in the presence of her Cabinet members yesterday.

"What a self-serving statement! But of course he'll say the speech was great, coming from Mrs. Arroyo's yes-man," said the lady senator, in reaction to deputy spokesperson Gary Olivar who reported to the media how cabinet members praised and applauded the first draft of Mrs. Arroyo's speech.

"To get a real feel of the public pulse, why don't they try a test-run of the President's SONA in a neutral place like Plaza Miranda and see how ordinary folk will react to her report there? It's a public park with a rich tradition for free speech where people freely debate and exchange ideas."

She added that the President could also go on a tour of state universities, poor communities, and even business groups.

"Compared to her predecessors in the post-Marcos era, Mrs. Arroyo was given the privilege of serving as President for one-and-a-half terms. This should have allowed her to invest on medium- and long-term programs on health, education and the economy that would have lifted the quality of life in the country."

But Cayetano said that after eight years under Mrs. Arroyo, basic social indicators such as the country's targets to the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are still way below target.

The lady senator has consistently been pushing to prioritize the country's commitments to the MDGs in the President's annual SONA and Congress' deliberations on the yearly national government budget.

She said government resources should be specifically earmarked to keep track of these goals, particularly to improve maternal health (MDG No.5), reduce child mortality (MDG No.4) and achieve universal primary education (MDG No.2) -- indicators which experts say the Philippines is unlikely to meet by 2015.

She noted that the Philippines only allots a budget equivalent to 2 to 3 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for health services, which is way below the recommendation of the World Health Organization (WHO) that developing countries should allot at least 5 percent of their GDP for health.