Full Transcript Of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s SONA 2009

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Thank you, Speaker Nograles, Senate President Enrile, Senators, Representatives, Vice President de
Castro, President Ramos, Chief Justice Puno, Ambassadors, friends:

The past twelve months have been a year for the history books. Financial meltdown in the West spread
throughout the world…

Tens of millions lost their jobs; billions across the globe have been hurt—the poor always harder than the
rich. No one was spared….
It has affected us already. But the story of the Philippines in 2008 is that the country weathered a
succession of global crises in fuel, in food, then in finance and finally the economy in a global recession,
never losing focus and with economic fundamentals intact…

A few days ago, Moody’s has just announced the upgrade of our credit rating, citing the resilience of our
economy. The state of our nation is a strong economy. Good news for our people, bad news for our
critics…

I did not become President to be popular. To work, to lead, to protect and preserve our country, our
people, that is why I became President. When my father left the Presidency, we were second to Japan . I
want our Republic to be ready for the first world in 20 years…

Towards that vision, we made key reforms. Our economic plan centers on putting people first. Higit sa
lahat ang layunin ng ating mga patakaran ay tulungan ang masipag na karaniwang Pilipino. New tax
revenues were put in place to help pay for better healthcare, more roads, a strong education system.
Housing policies were designed to lift up our poorest citizens so they can live and raise a family with
dignity. Ang ating mga puhunan sa agrikultura ay naglalayong kilalanin ang ating mga magsasaka bilang
backbone ng ating bansa, at bigyan sila ng mga modernong kagamitan to feed our nation and feed their
own family….

Had we listened to the critics of those policies, had we not braced ourselves for the crisis that came, had
we taken the easy road much preferred by politicians eyeing elections, this country would be flat on its
back. It would take twice the effort just to get it back again on its feet—to where we are now because we
took the responsibility and paid the political price of doing the right thing. For standing with me and doing
the right thing, thank you, Congress…

The strong, bitter and unpopular revenue measures of the past few years have spared our country the
worst of the global financial shocks. They gave us the resources to stimulate the economy. Nabigyan nila
ang pinakamalaking pagtaas ng IRA ng mga LGU na P40 billion itong taon, imparting strength throughout
the country and at every level of government…

Compared to the past, we have built more and better infrastructure, including those started by others but
left unfinished. The Subic-Clark- Tarlac Expressway is a prime example of building better roads. It creates
wealth as the flagship of the Subic-Clark corridor.

We have built airports of international standard, upgraded domestic airports, built seaports and the RORO
system. I ask Congress for a Philippine Transport Security Authority Law….

Some say that after this SONA, it will be all politics. Sorry, but there’s more work….

Sa telecommunications naman, inatasan ko ang Telecommunications Commission na kumilos na tungkol

sa mga sumbong na dropped calls at mga nawawalang load sa cellphone. We need to amend the
Commonwealth- era Public Service Law. And we need to do it now….
Kung noong nakaraan, lumakas ang electronics, today we are creating wealth by developing the BPO and
tourism sectors as additional engines of growth. Electronics and other manufactured exports rise and fall
in accordance with the state of the world economy. But BPO remains resilient. With earnings of $6 billion
and employment of 600,000, the BPO phenomenon speaks eloquently of our competitiveness and
productivity. Let us have a Department of ICT….

In the last four years tourism almost doubled. It is now a $5 billion industry…

Our reforms gave us the resources to protect our people, our financial system and our economy from the
worst of shocks that the best in the west failed to anticipate….

They gave us the resources to do reforms para palawakin ang suportang panlipunan and enhance
spending power….For helping e raise salaries through joint resolution, thank you Congress.

Cash handouts give the most immediate relief and produce the widest stimulating effect. Nakikinabang
ang 700,000 na pinakamahihirap na pamilya sa programang Pantawid Pamilya.

Our preference is to invest in projects with the same stimulus effects but also with long-term contributions
to national progress….

Sa pagpapamahagi ng milyun-milyong ektaryang lupa, 700,000 na katutubo at mahigit isang milyong

benepisyaryo ng CARP ay taas-noong may-ari na ng sariling lupa. Hinihiling ko sa Kongreso na ipasa agad
ang pagpapalawig ng CARP, at dapat ma-condone ang P42 billion na land reform liabilities dahil 18%
lamang ang nabayaran mula 1972. Napapanahon dahil it will unfreeze the rural property market. Ang
mahal kong ama ang nag-emancipate ng mga magsasaka. Ii-mancipate naman natin ngayon ang titulo….

Nakinabang ang pitong milyong entrepreneurs sa P165 billion na microfinance. Nakinabang ang 1,000 sa
economic resiliency plan. Kasama natin ngayon ang isa sa kanila, si Gigi Gabiola. Dating household service
worker sa Dubai , ngayon siya ay nagtatrabaho sa DOLE. Good luck, Gigi…
Nakinabang ang isang milyong pamilya sa programang pabahay at palupa, mula sa PAG-IBIG, NHA,
community mortgage program, certificates of lot awards, at saka yung inyong Loan Condonation and
Restructuring Act….

Our average inflation is the lowest since 1966. Last June, it dropped to 1.5%. Paano nakamit ito? Proper
policies lowered interest rates, which lowered costs to business and consumers.

Dahil sa ating mga reporma, nakaya nating ibenta ang bigas NFA sa P18.25 per kilo kahit tumaas ang
presyo sa labas mula P17.50 hanggang P30 dahil sa kakulangan ng supply sa mundo. Habang, sa unang
pagkakataon, naitaas ang pamimili ng palay sa mga magsasaka, P17 mula sa P11…

Dahil sa ating mga reporma, nakaya nating mamuhunan sa pagkain—anticipating an unexpected global
food crisis. Nakagawa tayo ng libu-libong kilometro ng farm-to-market roads at kasama ng pribadong
sector, natubigan ang dalawang milyong ektarya. Mga Badjao gaya ni Tarnati Dannawi ay tinuruan ng
modernong mariculture. Umabot na sa P180,000 ang kinita niya mula noong nakaraang taon.
Congratulations, Tarnati. We will help more fisherfolk shift to fish farming with a budget of P1 billion…

Dahi dumarami na naman daw ang pamilyang nagugutom, mamumuhunan tayo ng bago sa Hunger
Mitgation program na nakitang mabisa. Tulungan nito ako dito Kongreso…

Mula noong 2001, Nanawagan tayo ng mas murang gamot. Nagbebenta na tayo ng mga gamot na
kalahating presyo sa libu-libong Botika ng Bayan at Botika ng Barangay sa maraming dako ng bansa. Our
efforts prodded the pharmaceutical companies to come up with low-cost generics and brands like RiteMed.
I supported the tough version of the House of the Cheaper Medicine Law. I supported it over the weak
version of my critics. The result: the drug companies volunteered to bring down drug prices, slashing by
half the prices of 16 drugs. Thank you, Congressman Cua, Alvarez, Biron and Locsin….
Pursuant to law, I am placing other drugs under a maximum retail price. To those who want to be
President, this advice: If you want something done, do it hard, do it well. Don’t pussyfoot. Just do it. Don’t
say bad words in public.

Sa health insurance, sakop na ang 86% ng ating populasyon…

Sa Rent Control Law ng 2005 hanggang 2008, hanggang sampung porsyento lang maaaring itaas taon-
taon ang upa. Iyong kakapirma nating batas naglagay ng isang taong moratorium, tapos pitong porsyento
lang ang maaaring itaas. Salamat, Kongreso….

Noong isang taon, nabiyayaan ng tig-P500 ang mahigit pitong milyong tahanan bilang Katas ng Pantawid
Koryente para sa mga small electricity users….
Iyong power rates, ang EPIRA natin ang pangmatagalang sagot. EPIRA dismantled monopoly. But minana
natin iyong power purchase agreements under preceding administrations, so hindi pa natin makuha iyong
buong intended effect. Pero happy na rin tayo, dahil isang taon na lamang iyan. The next generation will
benefit from low prices from our EPIRA. Thank you…

Samantala, umabot na sa halos lahat ng barangay ang elektrisidad. We increased indigenous energy from
48% to 58%. Nakatipid tayo sa dollars tapos malaki pa ang na-reduce pa iyong oil consumption. The huge
reduction in fossil fuel is the biggest proof of energy independence and environmental responsibility.
Further reduction will come with the implementation of the Renewable Energy Act…and the Biofuels
Act….again, thank you.

The next generation will also benefit from our lower public debt to GDP ratio. It declined from 78% in
2000 to 55% in 2008. We cut in half the debt of government corporations from 15% to 7. Likewise foreign
debt from 73% to 32%. Kung meron man tayong malaking kaaway na tinalo, walang iba kundi ang utang,
iyong foreign debt. Past administrations conjured the demon of foreign debt. We exorcised it….

The market grows economies. A free market, not a free-for-all…

To that end, we improved our banking system to complement its inherent conservatism. The Bangko
Sentral has been prudent. Thank you, Governor Tetangco, for being so effective. The BSP will be even
more effective if Congress will amend its Charter….

We worked on the Special Purpose Vehicle Act, reducing non-performing loans from 18% to 4% and
improving loan-deposit ratios….

Our new Securitization Law did not encourage the recklessness that brought down giant banks and
insurance companies elsewhere and laid their economies to waste. In fact, it monitors and regulates the
new-fangled financial schemes. Thank you, Congress….

We will work to increase tax effort through improved collections and new sin taxes to further our capacity
to reduce poverty and pursue growth. Revenue enhancement must come from the Department of Finance
plugging leaks and catching tax and customs cheats. I call on tax-paying citizens and tax-paying
businesses: help the BIR and Customs spot those cheats…

Taxes should come from alcohol and tobacco and not from books. Tax hazards to lungs and livers, do not
tax minds. Ang kita mula sa buwis sa alak at sigarilyo ay dapat pumunta sa kalusugan at edukasyon. Sa
kalusugan, pondohan ang Philhealth premiums ng pinakamahihirap. Ponhodhan ang mas maraming
classroom at computers…..

Pardon my partiality for the teaching profession. I was a teacher….

Kaya namuhunan tayo ng malaki sa edukasyon at skills training….

Ang magandang edukasyon ay susi sa mas mabuting buhay, the great equalizer that allows every young
Filipino a chance to realize their dreams…
Nagtayo tayo ng 95,000 na silid-aralan, nagdagdag ng 60,000 na guro, naglaan ng P1.5 billion para sa
teacher training, especially for 100,000 English teachers. Isa sa pinakamahirap na Millennium
Development Goals ay iyong Edukasyon para sa Lahat pagdating ng 2015, na nangunguhulugang lahat ng
nasa edad ay nasa grade school. Halos walang bansang nakakatupad nito. Ngunit nagsisikap tayo. Binaba
natin ang gastos ng pagpasok. Nagtayo tayo ng mga eskwela sa higit isang libong barangay na dati
walang eskwelahan, upang makatipid ng gastos ng pasahe ang mga bata. Tinanggal natin ang
miscellaneous fees para sa primary school.

Hindi na kailangan ang uniporme sa mga estudyante sa public schools…

We assist financially half of all students in private high schools….

We have provided 600,000 college and post-graduate scholarships. One of them Mylene Amerol-
Macumbal, finished Accounting at MSU-IIT, went to law school, and placed second in the last bar exams–
the first Muslim woman bar topnotcher. Congratulations…

In technical education and skills training, we have invested three times that of three previous
administrations combined. Narito si Jennifer Silbor, isa sa sampung milyong trainee. Natuto siya ng
medical transcription. Now, as an independent contractor and lecturer for transcriptions in Davao ,
kumikita siya ng P18,000 bawat buwan. Good job.

The Presidential Task Force on Education headed by Jesuit educator Father Bienvenido Nebres has come
out with the Main Education Highway towards a Knowledge-Based Economy. It envisions seamless
education from basic to vocational school or college….

It seeks to mainstream early childhood development in basic education. Our children are our most
cherished possession. In their early years we must make sure they get a healthy start in life. They must
receive the right food for a healthy body, the right education for a bright and inquiring mind—and the
equal opportunity for a meaningful job….

For college admission, the Task Force recommends mandatory Scholastic Aptitude Tests. It also
recommends that private higher education institutions and state universities and colleges should be
harmonized. It also recommends that CHED will oversee of local universities and colleges. For professions
seeking international recognition—engineering, architecture, accountancy, pharmacy and physical therapy
—it recommends radical reform: 10 years of basic education, two years of pre-university, three years of
university…

Our educational system should make the Filipino fit not just for whatever jobs happen to be on offer
today, but also for whatever economic challenge life will throw in their way….

Sa hirap at ginhawa, ang ating overseas Filipinos ay pinapatatag ang ating bansa. Iyong padala nilang $16
billion noong isang taon ay record. Itong taon, mas mataas pa….

I know that this is not a sacrifice joyfully borne. This is work where it can be found—in faraway places,
among strangers with different cultures. It is lonely work, it is very hard work….

Kaya nagsisikap tayong lumikha ng mga trabahong maganda ang bayad dito sa atin so that overseas work
will just be a career choice, not the only option for a hardworking Filipino in search of a better life…

Meanwhile, we should make their sacrifices worthwhile. Dapat gumawa tayo ng mga mas malakas na
paraan upang proteksyonan at palawak ang halaga ng kanilang pinagsikapang sweldo. That means
stronger consumer protection for OFWs investing in property and products back home. Para sa kanila,
pinapakilos natin ang Investors Protection Task Force….

Hindi ako nag-aatubiling bisitahin ang ating taong bayan at ang kanilang mga hosts sa buong mundo –
mula Hapon…hanggang Brazil, mula Europa at Middle East hanggang sa American Midwest, nakikinig sa
kanilang mga problema at pangangailangan, inaalam kung paano matulungan sila n gating pamahalaan—-
by working out better policies on migrant labor, or by saving lives and restoring liberty….

Pagpunta ko sa Saudi, pinatawad ni Haring Abdullah ang pitong daang OFW na nasa preso. Pinuno nila
ang isang buong eroplano at umuwi kasama ko….
Mula sa ating State Visit to Spain , it has become our biggest European donor. At si Haring Juan Carlos ay
nakikipag-usap sa ibang mga bansa para sa ating mga namomoblemang OFW. Ganoon di si Sheikh
Khalifa, ang Prime Minister ng Bahrain ….

Pagpunta ko sa Kuwait , Emir al-Sabah commuted death sentences. For overseas workers, maraming
salamat.

Our vigorous international engagement has helped bring in foreign investment. Net foreign direct
investments multiplied 15 times during our administration.
Kasama ng ating mga Together with our OFWs, they more than doubled our foreign exchange reserves.
Pinalakas ang ating piso at naiwasan ang lubhang pagtaasng presyo. They upgraded our credit because
our reserves grew by $3 billion while those of our peers have shrunk…..

Our international engagement has also corrected historical injustice. The day we visited Washington ,
Senator Daniel Inouye successfully sponsored benefits for our veterans as part of America ’s fiscal
stimulus package…

I have accepted the invitation of President Obama to be the first Southeast Asian leader to meet him at
the White House, this week….
That he sought us the Philippines testifies to our strong and deep ties….

High on our agenda will be peace and security issues. Terrorism: how to meet it, how to end it, how to
address its roots in injustice and prejudice—and most and always how to protect lives….

We will also discuss nuclear non-proliferation. The Philippines will chair the review of the nuclear weapons
non-proliferation Treaty in New York in May 2010. The success of the talks will be a major diplomatic
achievement for us….

There is a range of other issues we will discuss, including the global challenge of climate change,
especially the threat to countries with long coastlines. And there is the global recession, its worse impact
on poor people, and the options that can spare them from the worst.

In 2008 up to the first quarter of 2009 we stood among only a few economies in Asia-Pacific that did not
shrink. Compare this in 2001, when some of my current critics were driven out by people power, Asia was
then surging but our country was on the brink of bankruptcy….

Since then, our economy has posted uninterrupted growth for 33 quarters; more than doubled its size
from $76 billion to $186 billion. The average GDP growth from 2001 to the first quarter of 2009 is the
highest in 43 years.

Bumaba ang bilang ng nagsasabing mahihirap sila, mula 59% sa 47%. Kahit na lumaki ang ating
populasyon, nabawasan ng dalawang milyon ang bilang ng mahihirap. GNP per capita rose from a Third
World $967 to $2,051. Lumikha tayo ng walong milyong trabaho, an average of a million per year, much,
much more than at any other time….

In sum:

1. We have a strong economy in a strong fiscal position to withstand political shocks….

2. We built new modern infrastructure and completed unfinished ones.

3. The economy is more fair to the poor than ever before….

4. We are building a sound base for the next generation….

5. International authorities have taken notice that we are safer from environmental degradation and man-
made disasters….

As a country in the path of typhoons and in the Pacific Rim of Fire, we must be as prepared as the latest
technology permits to anticipate natural calamities when that is possible; to extend immediate and
effective relief when it is not….The mapping of flood- and landslide-prone areas is almost complete. Early
warning, forecasting and monitoring systems have been improved, with weather tracking facilities in
Subic, Tagaytay, Mactan, Mindanao , Pampanga….

We have worked on flood control infrastructure like those for Pinatubo, Agno, Laoag, and Abucay, which
will pump the run off waters from Quezon City and Tondo flooding Sampaloc. This will help relieve
hundreds of hectares in this old city of its age-old woe….

Patuloy naman iyong sa Camanava, dagdag sa Pinatubo, Iloilo , Pasig-Marikina, Bicol River Basin , at mga
river basin ng Mindanao ….

The victims of typhoon Frank in Panay should receive their long-overdue assistance package. I ask
Congress to pass the SNITS Law….

Namana natin ang pinakamatagal ng rebelyon ng Komunista sa buong mundo.

Si Leah de la Cruz isa sa labindalawang libong rebel returnee. Sixteen pa lang siya nang sumali sa NPA.
Naging kasapi sa regional White Area Committee, napromote sa Leyte Party Committee Secretary. Nahuli
noong 2006. She is now involved in an LGU-supported handicraft livelihood training of former rebels. We
love you, Leah!

There is now a good prospect for peace talks both with both the Communist Party of the Philippines and
the MILF, with whom we are now on ceasefire….

We inherited an age-old conflict in Mindanao , exacerbated by a politically popular but near-sighted policy
of massive retaliation. This only provoked the other side to continue the war….

In these two internal conflicts, ang tanong ay hindi, “Sino ang mananalo?” kundi, bakit ba kailangang
mag-away ang kapwa Pilipino tungkol sa mga isyu na alam ng dalawang panig over issues na malulutas
naman sa paraang demokratiko.

There is nothing more that I would wish for than peace in Mindanao . It will be a blessing for all its people,
Muslim, Christian and lumads. It will show other religiously divided communities that there can be
common ground on which to live together in peace, harmony and cooperation that respects each other’s
religious beliefs….

At sa lahat ng dako ng bansa, kailangan nating protektahan an gating mamamayan kontra sa krimen — in
their homes, in their neighborhoods, in their communities.

How shall crime be fought? Through the five pillars of justice. We call on Congress to fund more policemen
on the streets….

Real government is about looking beyond the vested to the national interest, setting up the necessary
conditions to enable the next, more enabled and more empowered generation to achieve a country as
prosperous, a people as content, as ours deserve to be….
The noisiest critics of constitutional reform tirelessly and shamelessly attempted Cha-Cha when they
thought they could take advantage of a shift in the form of government. Now that they feel they cannot
benefit from it, they oppose it.

As the process of fundamental political reform begins, let us address the highest exercise of democracy…
voting!
In 2001, I said we would finance fully automated elections. We got it, thanks to Congress….

At the end of this speech I shall step down from this stage…but not from the Presidency. My term does not
end until next year. Until then, I will fight for the ordinary Filipino. The nation comes first. There is much
to do as head of state—to the very last day….

A year is a long time. Patuloy ang pamumuhunan sa tinatawag na three E’s ng ekonomiya, environment at
edukasyon. There are many perils that we must still guard against….

A man-made calamity is already upon us, global in scale. As I said earlier, so far we have been spared its
worst effects but we cannot be complacent. We only know that we have generated more resources on
which to draw, and thereby created options we could take. Thank God we did not let our critics stop us….

As the campaign unfolds and the candidates take to the airwaves, I ask them to talk more about how they
will build up the nation rather than tear down their opponents. Our candidates must understand the
complexities of our government and what it takes to move the country forward. Give the electorate real
choices and not just sweet talk….

Meanwhile, I will keep a steady hand on the tiller, keeping the ship of state away from the shallows some
prefer, and steering it straight on the course I set in 2001….
Ang ating taong bayan ay masipag at maka-Diyos. These qualities are epitomized in someone like Manny
Pacquiao….Manny trained tirelessly, by the book, with iron discipline, with the certain knowledge that he
had to fight himself, his weaknesses first, before he could beat his opponent. That was the way to clinch
his victories and his ultimate title: ang pinakadakilang boksingero sa kasaysayan……….Mabuhay ka,
Manny!

However much a President wishes it, a national problem cannot be knocked out with a single punch. A
President must work with the problem as much as against it, and turn it into a solution if I can…

There isn’t a day I do not work at my job or a waking moment when I do not think through a work-related
problem. Even my critics cannot begrudge the long hours I put in. Our people deserve-a-governmen t that
works just as hard as they do…
A President must be on the job 24/7, ready for any contingency, any crisis, anywhere, anytime….

Everything right can be undone by even a single wrong. Every step forward must be taken in the teeth of
political pressures and economic constraints that could push you two steps back-if-you flinch and falter.. I
have not flinched, I have not faltered. Hindi ako umaatras sa hamon….

And I have never done any of the things that have scared my worst critics so much. They are frightened
by their own shadows….

In the face of attempted coups, I issued emergency proclamations just in case. But I was able to resolve
these military crises with the ordinary powers of my office. My critics call it dictatorship. I call it
determination…. We know it as strong government….

But I never declared martial law, though they are running scared as if I did. In truth, what they are really
afraid of is their weakness in the face of this self-imagined threat….

I say to them: do not tell us what we all know, that democracy can be threatened. Tell us what you will do
when it is attacked….
I know what to do:

I know what to do, as I have shown, I will defend democracy with arms when it is threatened by violence;
with firmness when it is weakened by division; with law and order where it is subverted by anarchy; and
always, I will try to sustain it by wise policies of economic progress, so that a democracy means not just
an empty liberty but a full life for all….

I never expressed the desire to extend myself beyond my term. Many of those who accuse me of it tried
to cling like nails to their posts….

I am accused of misgovernance. Many of those who accuse me of it left me the problem of their
misgovernance to solve. And we did it….

I am falsely accused, without proof, of using my office for personal profit. Many of those who accuse me of
it have lifestyles and spending habits that make them walking proofs of that crime….

We can read their frustrations. They had the chance to serve this good country and they blew it by serving
themselves….

Those who live in glass houses should cast no stones. Those who should be in jail should not threaten it,
especially if they have been there….

Our administration, with the highest average rate of growth, recording multiple increases in investments,
with the largest job creation in history, and which gets a credit upgrade at the height of a world recession,
must be doing something right, even if some of those cocooned in corporate privilege refuse to recognize
it….

Governance, however, is not about looking back and getting even. It is about looking forward and giving
more—to the people who gave us the greatest, hardest gift of all: the care of a country.

From Bonifacio at Balintawak to Cory Aquino at EDSA and up to today, we have struggled to bring power
to the people, and this country to the eminence it deserves….

Today the Philippines is weathering well the storm that is raging around the world. It is growing stronger
with the challenge. When the weather clears, as it will, there is no telling how much farther forward it can
go. Believe in it. I believe…

We can and we must-march-forward- with-hope, optimism and determination.

We must come together, work together and walk together toward the future.

Bagamat malaking hamon ang nasa ating harapan, nasa kamay natin ang malaking kakayahan. Halina’t
pagtulungan nating tiyakin ang karapat-dapat na kinabukasan ng ating Inang Bayan….

And to the people of our good country, for allowing me to serve as your President, maraming salamat.
Mabuhay ang Pilipinas.