|
Bishops scored Arroyo's SONA
26 July 2006 - While they extolled President Arroyo's programs for the country, Catholic bishops yesterday scored her State of the Nation Address (SONA) saying it did not deal with the country's real situation and problems.
Lingayen-Daguapn Archbishop Oscar Cruz said what the President did was a futuristic approach because the present state of the nation is "dim and dismal."
"While it is understandable to say where the country is going and what people can expect, it is incongruous to have a SONA precisely so much focused instead on what it is not," he said.
Cruz noted that Arroyo's SONA "cannot but be commended in its content and spirit," but it provided blurred directions for achieving the reforms and addressing the poverty.
Arroyo vowed to share power with provinces and outlined a massive spending in her vision of a great future for the country basically in terms of an aggressive nationwide socio-economic development outlined in her SONA on Monday in Congress.
The bishops, however, are cynical with Arroyo's agenda becoming concrete realities.
Cruz underscored that there must be a sufficient funding to do them, unity among government leaders and enough time. Arroyo has less than 4 years left in her term to have her plans done.
"But then, if the same national leadership cannot even clean the country of a stupid illegal numbers game like 'jueteng', it is quixotic for it to even imagine that it can deliver so many fantastic and grandiose national projects," he said.
Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Iñiguez also said Arroyo should have discussed the several impeachment complaints she is facing because it shows the real picture of the country.
"It's something that undermined the situation of the country," said Iñiguez, also the chair of the Catholic Bishop's Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) Public Affairs Committee.
The Citizens' Battle Against Crime and Corruption (CIBAC) yesterday filed the sixth impeachment complaint before the office of House Secretary General Roberto Nazareno.
House Speaker Jose de Venecia immediately referred to the Committee on Justice all six impeachment bids lodged against Arroyo.
This, he said, was done to break speculations that he and other pro-Arroyo legislators are blocking the referral of the complaints to protect the president.
The complaints filed by different groups had been endorsed by some minority lawmakers.
Bishop Antonio Tobias, meanwhile, was dismayed over Arroyo's enumeration of accomplishments saying they totally contradict the current situation of most Filipinos.
"Arroyo said that poverty had been reduced but I don't agree because there are still two million people that are poor," he said.
He said the issue of legitimacy remains unsolved and hounding Arroyo from governing the nation.
Tobias added that the President must also learn to offer self-sacrifice and let the truth prevail on the controversies and issues haunting her bureaucracy.
|
