EXAMPLE OF A REACTION PAPER ON SONA 2008 OF PRESIDENT GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO

This is an example of the REACTION PAPER ON SONA 2008 OF PRESIDENT GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO using the suggested outline in this page.

INTRODUCTION

The first sentence should include the TITLE, THE AUTHOR OR THE SPEAKER AND WHERE AND WHEN IT WAS DELIVERED:

REACTION PAPER ON THE SONA-STATE OF THE NATION ADDRESS 2008 BY PRESIDENT GLORIA MACAPAGAL- ARROYO


Once again, this month of the year, the STATE OF THE NATION ADDRESS OF President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for 2008 was delivered at the joint session of the Congress of the Philippines on July 28, 2008.

The SONA can be summarized into two basic ideas. The Philippines is facing economic crisis and what the government is doing to solve the problems on a short and a long time basis. She admitted that she can not point what brought the new crisis as compared in the past since there are many contributing factors which she thought brought as this new wave of challenges. The governments’ solutions as well as the accomplishments on some areas were also discussed. In closing, she called on each and everyone, the citizens, the businessmen, the government’s leaders and the church and to help promote peace and prosperity of the country.

I agree that every citizen should contribute in their own little way to make this country a progressive and prosperous nation despite the fact that I feel that the government failed in its own role in solving the problems that prevents the nation from going towards the right direction. In Tagalog, tinimbang ko siya pero kulang.


THE BODY OF THE REACTION PAPER

Yes, I weighed everything what have been written in the SONA and I found it wanting.
I am not an economist and therefore I will not be discussing the GDP or any economics
Terminologies which would just confuse the reader. What I wrote is my own view as a student and I am presenting it as simple as possible with the use of a scale in order to demonstrate that it is really “kulang”.

PGMA’s scale: First, we must have a targeted strategy with set of precise prescriptions to ease the price challenges we are facing.

My scale: I can not find one which matches with this statement. Instead I found her justification of the Value Added Tax which to me as a student is additional burden whenever I pay for my books, my school supplies and my “baon”.

We all know that Value added tax is an additional burden to the consumers as it increased the prices so I feel that it runs in conflict with reducing the burden of the poor.

So I added more items on her scales.

PGMA’s scale:Lalong lumakas ang tiwala ng mga investor dahil sa VAT. Mula P56.50 kada dolyar, lumakas ang piso hanggang P40.20 bago bumalik sa P44 dahil sa mga pabigat ng pangdaigdigang ekonomiya. Kung alisin ang VAT, hihina ang kumpiyansa ng negosyo, lalong tataas ang interes, lalong bababa ang piso, lalong mamahal ang bilihin.

My scale: I am not at all surprise to know that investors are happy with the VAT. It is not them who are paying these indirect taxes. They are merely collectors. The exchange rate of the peso does not depend solely on the VAT. There are so many things to consider; namely the dollar which the peso is pegged on, the OFW remittances which contribute to the supply of dollars in the financial system and there is the real estate meltdown in the US which brought the dollar weaker. The weaker the dollar, the stronger the peso. In my simple understanding, that is how it is.

PGMA’s scale:Second, food self-sufficiency; less energy dependence; greater self-reliance in our attitude as a people and in our posture as a nation.

My Scale: I can not reconcile our importation of rice to the food self-sufficiency that she talked about.

I take note however of the subsidy of the NFA rice. But who has to grab every opportunity to buy this rice. The commercial rice as she has said remains at 32.00.
I reduce my rice consumption by one half.

PGMA’s scale: She claimed that one farmer improved his cavan per harvest because of VAT funded irrigation project.

My Scale: This is only one farmer, what about other farmers. This was in 2001 and he had quadrupled his harvest. If this were true for many farmers, by this time, we can already have rice sufficiency. Thank you to the VAT?

PGMA’s scale:Para sa mga namamasada at namamasahe sa dyip, sinusugpo natin ang kotong at colorum upang mapataas ang kita ng mga tsuper. Si Federico Alvarez kumikita ng P200 a day sa kaniyang rutang Cubao-Rosario. Tinaas ito ng anti-kotong, anti-colorum ngayon P500 na ang kita niya.

My Scale: Honestly, I appreciate the effort and I wish it would continue but mentioning just one driver and one route is not enough to assure me that this program is a success.

PGMA’s scale: Third, short-term relief cannot be at the expense of long term reforms. These reforms will benefit not just the next generation of Filipinos, but the next President as well.

My Scale: The release of two billion pesos to subsidize the poor’s energy bills may be laudable but it is a short term relief. The energy conservation program where loans is made available to jeepney owners to convert to LPG or CNG or biofuel is a great project but I still have to wait when the savings from gas is translated to lower jeepney fare.
The billion funds provided for the poor students scholarships and loans are fully appreciated. This is a short term relief but need a long time to wait for the investment’s payback. Without the employment creation program, the poor students will just leave for greener pastures.


FROM HERE, YO CAN ADD SOME MORE, WRITING WHAT GMA HAS SAID AND WHAT OU THINK ABOUT IT?

CONCLUSION:

In conclusion, I stand on my opinion that the government has still too much things to do in order to attain the goal that it has set. We have given it more than six years and the economic progress that it claimed to have accomplished is still short to reduce the nation’s poverty, to assure the citizens of a brighter future.

My role as a student is to study hard, make myself a productive citizen in the future and find ways by which I can help alleviate my family’s condition which means one household less that would depend on this government’s dole-outs and short term solutions for big problems.

So what do you think is your role?