BY JULLIE Y. DAZA
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ALL eyes on the President for his SoNA on Monday. All ears, too. We’re hungry for some good news, Sir, not the usual mindboggling statistics prepared by your IATF club.
We’re not out of the woods yet. – IMF
The worst is yet to come. – WHO
No light at the end of the tunnel. – You, me, and millions of others.
This is the first time a State-of-the-Nation Address will be delivered in the midst of a killer pandemic, to be staged before an audience of only 50 to 70 persons in the House of Representatives. As usual, cops will be deployed “in full force” on roads leading to the Batasan. What’s not usual: No welcome ceremonies as soon as the President alights from his chopper; no fashion show; no handshaking and chitchat in the holding room; no afternoon cocktails; no live music.
While Malacañang has announced the theme of the SoNA as “a roadmap for recovery,” it would be more fun to see the President go off-script as his usual self, a raconteur with outrageous jokes, anecdotes, even threats. If he did this, would his director, Star Cinema hitmaker Joyce Bernal, suffer a mild heart attack (after what she and ABS-CBN star Piolo Pascual went through in Sagada and Benguet to collect footage for visual support)? UP Prof. Clarita Carlos’ wish is that the President “keep it short.” Direk Joyce’s wish is for the show to be a surprise. Police wish rallyists will do it on-line.
I would be surprised if the congressmen who delivered the fatal blow to ABS-CBN’s application for a franchise did not occupy the best seats in the House. Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, who presided over the massacre of 11,000 jobs, will occupy one of the two preeminent seats behind the President with Senate President Tito Sotto. I would be surprised if the congressmen physically present will not be at their best behavior – unlike the colleagues who made a mockery of the rules of parliamentary etiquette during Congress’ most recent, most scandalous hearings.
In October 2016, three months after the Mayor President’s first SoNA, the venerable Juan Ponce Enrile advised journalists, “Give him time to succeed, let him perform his job and pray that he’s correct and will succeed.”
