Why people didn’t want to listen to the Sona

MANY people no longer wanted to listen to the sixth and, hopefully, the last State of the Nation Address (Sona) of President Aquino, on the ground that he is not going to say anything new anyway, nothing that would yield substantive benefit on their day-to-day lives, even as he may yet focus on finger-pointing again, an informal survey in a radio program showed on Monday, hours before the president’s speech.

Listeners were asked: Would you still want to listen to Aquino’s Sona? The answer was, no, they won’t listen anymore, because it would just be a waste of time. Actually, Vic said he didn’t want to listen to Aquino, too, except that, as the Malacanang reporter, he had no choice but cover that speech.

As for me, I also didn’t want to listen anymore. My reasons jibed with the reasons given by our listeners in our program. Indeed, if Aquino and his handlers would really like to know the true sentiments of the people about him and his government, he should listen to the radio program more often.

Why did I say, “hopefully”, when I referred to Aquino’s sixth Sona? Well, it is still possible that no elections will push through in 2016, for one reason or another, but principally because the Commission on Elections may fail to adequately prepare for that electoral exercise.

While the 1987 Constitution does not provide for any “hold-over presidency” in case a presidential election does not push through since there is a well-defined Constitutional rule on who should assume the presidency in a situation such as this, Aquino may opt to cancel the Charter which his own mother crafted, and then grab political power for himself.
••
The release of the Veritas Truth Survey, or the survey conducted by Radio Veritas during the second quarter of 2015, just days before the last Sona must be causing grave nightmares for him.

Instead of confirming his projected rosy assessment of his tenure as the president of the Philippines from 2010 to 2016 in his last Sona, the truth survey, from the radio station of the Philippine Catholic Church, confirms what many people have known all along: that Aquino is a total failure, not only in battling corruption but in improving the lives of poor Filipinos.

Can Aquino still do something to make good the promises he made in 2010? I believe he can, but only if he resolves to go hammer and thongs even among his closest political allies, by firing them from his Cabinet and suing them for plunder and corruption. But, unfortunately, he is not known to let go of his friends and allies.

Indeed, what can a president who has only six years to run the country really do to introduce meaningful changes in the lives of the people who have been poor, gravely abused, and lacking in opportunities in their own land for as long as they can remember?

A six-year term is indeed very short, and will not really yield any substantial changes, even for a president who is highly competent and a proven nationalist. There is simply not much time in a period of six years, especially so when the president is inexperienced, and is bereft of any vision as to how to change the country and its people towards success and prosperity.

That is why it is necessary for anyone aspiring to become president who will have only six years in office to be focused on only one thing, if he or she would like to leave a lasting legacy to our country and our people. What is this one thing that must be focused on by any incoming president?

It is introducing a program to strengthen the spirituality and faith in God of the Filipino people, regardless of religion, early on in his term. This theory proceeds from the premise that we have, as a nation, already engaged in a lot of programs intended to uplift the welfare of the greater mass of the people, but that these programs have miserably failed to do anything.

We now have to try to include in the agenda of an incoming president an agenda of God, side-by-side with the usual agenda on good governance. We must now insist that a moral recovery program be implemented across all barangays of the country, funded by government money, and which is based on the Bible (and the other holy books of other religious denominations).

Conducting Bible studies, focusing on the lives of men and women who listened to God and obeyed His commands and not simply on religion, must be pursued, including the holding of prayer sessions, in each and every locality, in each and every office of government, whether national or local. This may seem irrelevant, but then it will teach our people to seek out God more often.
••
Anyway, I am excited by the declaration attributed to Vice President Jejomar Binay that his belief is that winning the presidency is the result of “99% prayer.” I don’t know what he meant by “99% prayer” (since, truly, a 99% prayer is not a complete prayer because it is still not 100%), but then he must be reminded that God does not answer all prayers.

There are prayers He grants, and there are prayers that He does not pay attention to. This is the truth that is laid out in the Holy Bible, particularly in its Matthew 7:21, which quotes Jesus, our God and Savior. This verse has Jesus saying: “Not all who calls on me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven…”

What then prompts Jesus to respond favorably to prayers? He also says what, in the second part of Matthew 7:21, which reads, “…only those who does the will of the Father will enter the kingdom of heaven.” Clearly, not all prayers will be granted by God, including prayers by politicians so they can win the positions they aspire for. There is a condition that those who pray must comply with, if their prayers are to be acted upon favorably.

What is the condition? It is that, the person who is asking God for something through prayers must “do the will of the Father in heaven” first, which is that, we must listen to Him, through His Word in the Bible, and obey His commands, principal of which is for everyone to be holy, like He is holy. Surely, if one is not holy in his life, God will never answer his prayers, no matter how urgent those prayers maybe.

E-mail: batasmauricio@yahoo.com