The Journey Continues…

It was not an official holiday for President Noynoy’s first State of the Nation Address (SoNA) so I have to report to school. At first glance, today’s task was simple, it was stocks and sauces preparation, we were assigned to prepare brown stock (beef base), other groups handled fish, chicken and vegetable stocks. Ours takes longer time since we need to first brown the beef bones and the mirepoix (carrots, onions and celery) before turning it into stock.

The we prepared 2 sauces, Béchamel and Hollandaise, two sauces that demands continuous whisking, Béchamel being a roux base sauce with milk needs to constant whisking to prevent the milk from curdling and Hollandaise is made of egg and butter mixture must be whisked briskly for the mixture to emulsify.

The session ended around 12NN which gives me enough time to travel and catch up with today’s biggest event in Philippine Politics, the first SoNA of President Noynoy Aquino. A few days ago, the palace hinted that the President’s SoNa will be a bomb that will shock the whole nation. I believe that this has tickled the curiosity of the citizenry and awaited for whatever bomb the president is about to explode.

So I watched the president’s State of the Nation Address speech, which was delivered in Filipino, he started by telling the people on how the previous almost emptied the budget for the fiscal year 2010 and how the calamity fund (for 2010) was diverted to benefit former President (and now Pampanga 2nd District Congresswoman) Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo constituents in Pampanga.

These among other findings of anomalous transactions dominated the first half of the president’s speech, nothing was shocking at least for me, these have been told before, even during GMA’s reign in power. But I would admit that it was a good prelude to what the president wants his speech to be remembered. He’s not like GMA.

In his plans of action, he certified several legislative agenda, (1) the Fiscal Prosperity Bill, (2) the passing of National Land Use Bill, (3) [amending] National Defense Act, (4) enacting the Whistleblower’s Bill, (5) strengthening the Witness Protection Program, and (5) re-codification of the laws to ensure that no law is contradicting with another.

In his speech, the president mentioned about the constructing an expressway from Manila that would pass the provinces of Bulacan, Neva Ecija, Nueva Vizcaya and Cagayan Valley, the pushing through with the rehabilitation of the railway system and the building of grain terminals, refrigeration facilities, road networks and post-harvest facilities, all would be under private – public partnership.

The private – public partnership looks vague to me, how is it differs to the BOT (Build Operate and Transfer) scheme that past administrations entered into that made more harm than help, take for example the north and south Luzon toll ways that increased it’s toll fees by more than 300% after being taken over by a private firm.

I’m looking for a concrete plans of action, not the additional 2 years of basic education but making sure that our public school would be a conducive place for our children to learn more even only having 10 years of basic education. That jobs will be created (and not just recycled) in this country to cater our graduates and assure them of their security of tenure. That Filipinos would take overseas job as their last resort and not because it’s the only way for them to support the needs of his/her family.

We don’t only need post-harvest support but more so, the government needs to assure that the land that these farmers are tending to will be their own.

And if the president is serious about his election slogan “kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap” he could have certified the Freedom of Information Bill as a part of the priority legislation.

It’s quite disappointing, or maybe I was expecting this administration to fulfill the promises that they made during the election.