State of Denial

(published on August 7, 2008 in Philippine Collegian)
by Richard Jacob Dy

Arroyo's SONA: Polls on self-rated poverty down to a 20-year low in 2007
People's SONA: Self-rated poverty jumps to 59 percent in the 2nd quarter of 2008 (Social Weather Station)

Arroyo's SONA: Funds for high school and college scholarships have quadrupled
People's SONA: Government spending per student has declined since 2001 by 2.4 percent annually

Arroyo's SONA: Creation of a million new jobs in 2007
People's SONA: 16 million Filipinos in the labor force are unemployed or underemployed; 8.7 million Filipinos work abroad as of 2007 (IBON Foundation Inc.)

Arroyo's SONA: Low inflation rate in 2007
People's SONA: 11.4 percent inflation rate recorded in June, the highest in 14 years

Arroyo's SONA: Value added tax (VAT) on oil contributes P80 billion in government revenues
People's SONA: VAT nonsensical, as revenue uncollected from smuggling amounts to P140 billion (Senator Francis Escudero)

Arroyo's SONA: Allocation of more than P3 billion for anti-graft fund
People's SONA: Office of Ombudsman 2008 budget was only P991 million

Arroyo's SONA: We import 10 percent of the rice we consume
People's SONA: 14 percent of yearly rice necessity was imported in 2007 (AGHAM)

Arroyo's SONA: P32/kg-commercial rice addresses existing food problem
People's SONA: Cost of commercial rice up to P39 as of July (National Food Authority)

Arroyo's SONA: Natural family planning limited population growth to 2.04 percent annually during her administration
People's SONA: Most Filipinos prefer artificial over natural methods (2006 Family Planning Survey, National Statistics Office)