—Confucius
By Alex P. Vidal
WHAT many Ilonggos want to hear now is the SOPA (State of the Province Address), SOCA (State of the City Address), SOMA (State of the Municipality Address), and even State of the Barangay Address (SOBA).
There are also such alphabet speeches other than the President’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) in the Philippines? The answer is a big yes.
These speeches by the local chief executives have direct impact on the lives of Iloilo folks and are not difficult to decipher.
There were cases when local chief executives found it more comfortable and practical to communicate with their constituents in this manner rather than dish out paid propaganda rigmaroles.
These localized executive speeches are also attractive and doable in many aspects since it is precipitated with frankness and variation; it’s easy to hold the local chief executives—governors, mayors, punong barangay (village chiefs)—accountable without going after the empty promises they made during the campaign period.
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What they deliver, plan, and promise in the SOPA, SOCA, SOMA, SOBA can be considered as the total assessment of their performance and competence while in office.
Promises they made during the election campaign can be rescripted, copyedited and forgotten, but not during this special edition of a frontal conversation with their constituents, which can be italicized and crosshatched.
Unlike the President’s SONA, which is required by the 1987 Constitution, SOPA, SOCA, SOMA, SOBA speeches are not mandated by law, but are delivered usually as a matter of practice or tradition.
On a national scale, SONA, normally given every fourth Monday of July at the Plenary Session Hall of the Batasang Pambansa Complex in Batasan Hills, Quezon City, has always been much anticipated, scrutinized and even vilified. It depends on who gives the grade.
Vituperation for the President’s critics and praises to high heavens for the President’s loyal supporters and admirers.
The opposition normally has its own version of the speech delivered after the SONA.
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The social and mainstream media, including the news websites, have been burning hot with President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s SONA before and after.
Supporters and critics have lined up the things the president should have done in the past years—and the things he has to (and should) do in the coming years.
Local chief executives give their own addresses modeled after the SONA.
The Philippine Independent Church, a Christian denomination formed in the wake of the Philippine Revolution in the spirit of a national church, has also made a practice of releasing an annual "State of the Church" Address coming from the Supreme Bishop or Obispo Maximo.
When guests, spouses, and the female legislators themselves dressed like queens and Hollywoods stars, the “state” addresses were also subjected to intense criticism by various sectors.
If the “state” addresses tilted into being ostentatious and flashy with politicians and media personalities treating the occasion as a red-carpet fashion show, negative opinions flooded both the mainstream and social media.
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PRAYER. I would like to share my simple prayer as I embark to reinvent myself starting this week:
Father, I thank You that You are instructing me and teaching me in the way I should go and that You are guiding me with Your eye. I thank You for Your guidance and leadership concerning Your will, Your plan and Your purpose for my life. I do hear the voice of the Good Shepherd, for I know You and follow You. You lead me in the paths of righteousness for Your name's sake.
Thank you, Father, that my path is growing brighter and brighter until it reaches the full light of day. As I follow You, Lord, I believe my path is becoming clearer each day.
(The author, who is now based n New York City, used to be the editor of two daily newspapers in Iloilo.—Ed)
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