Third SONA was big leap towards real nation-building

The one hour and 22-minute presidential SONA was a continuous information deluge to most people who watched, had great expectations or criticisms on the year’s administration report.

Lowering rice prices at the same time, initiating record-breaking local production of farmers, granting medical allowances to government employees, increasing retirement benefits and additional stipend to teachers, doubling of PhilHealth benefits, and establishments of specialty centers such as Philippine Cancer center, super health centers with one mobile clinic per province are among the many commendable acts worth noting.

Another heartwarming account was the graduation of 420,000 students under the 4Ps program with 4,000 poor students passing the Licensure exams for Teachers (LET).   Khane Jevie Rose Solante Cervantes who finished magna cum laude in Cateel, Davao Oriental and later topped the LET in May 2024. Another 4P beneficiary, Alexis Alegado, topped the Civil Engineering Licensure Exam in 2023.

It was refreshing to hear that Sixty-three Higher Educational Institutions (HEI) mostly public schools, were included in the WURI Global Top 300 innovative Universities list of top HEIs in the world.  Special mention was made to the Mabalacat city College in Pampanga awarded the Technological and ‘digital Innovation of the Year, and Samar State University which for the second straight year, topped rankings on digitally pioneering R&D project entries.

The President also announced the completion of the four-decades old “Unified Philippine grid”, that finally interconnected the Luzon Visayas and Mindanao power grid, ensuring supply of electricity throughout the nation. I was excited to hear the President hinting on lower electric prices, that includes fair lifeline rates for the poor, suspension of costs of WESM red alerts, suspensionof Fit-all Tariff, removal of franchise fees, including amending the EPIRA law.

In sharp contrast to the past administration, Marcos Jr.  said his “bloodless” anti-drug campaign conducted 71,000 drug operations that yielded P44B worth of illegal drugs was, without any loss of life. “Extermination was never one of them”, he said.

But most applauded was his surprising announcement banning POGOS effective today. He ordered PAGCOR and DOLE to wind up operations of all POGOS by the end of this year. This was a bombshell loaded with political mines because most unlicensed POGOs are linked to politicians and businessmen identified with the Duterte administration.

At the end of the speech, the President’s SONA shows that he is addressing all major concerns of our people, despite numerous challenges. Road maps were laid on every aspect from his third year in power onto 2028. 

There was no mention of amending the Charter, no mention of the political administration or opposition, no mention of VP Sara or even the most recent destabilization attempts on his administration. Perhaps, it is worth mentioning that the President finished visiting all 82 provinces, distributing additional government funds and relief budgets to all LGU officials with disregard to party affiliations.

On our territorial dispute with China, he clearly stumped what every Filipino feels on the issue., “The West Philippines is not merely a figment of our imagination. It is ours and will remain ours if the spirit of our beloved country, burns brightly”.

“The Philippine cannot yield, the Philippines cannot waver”, he reiterated.

In watching the whole third SONA, I hope other politicians would emulate his actions. Because what I saw was a president who projected the aspirations of majority of our people. His third State of the Nation address manifested to me very clearly that he is an all-inclusive, pro-poor, fair, just, non-politicking, patriotic and pro-Filipino leader. Against all odds, I hope he succeeds.

DEEPFAKES COMING THIS MIDTERM ELECTIONS

The emergence of the “pulvoronic video” released by a Maisug gathering in Los Angeles, USA, hours before PBBM’s third SONA signals the emergence of a dark and dangerous episode in Philippine politics.

Just months ago, at the height of controversies on the West Philippine Sea, an alleged deep fake content emerged making our President appear like he is asking the Armed Forces to act against another country. As of this writing, the “pulvoronic video” was called a destabilization plot by the DND while the earlier fake BBM audio on the West Philippine Sea was being considered as an act of terrorism.

Admittedly, there is still no law in the country that directly tackles  deep fakes. And all candidates from national to local  will face deep fakes , whether video or audio recordings, meant to destroy  their political target.  Once shared on the internet, it will be difficult to stop and by experience, most critical would be about 60 days before the election.

In the US, AI images depicted former president Donald Trump with teenage girls in Jeffrey Epstein’s place circulated early January this year.  Also, a fake version of US president Joe Biden’s voice was featured in robocalls to Democrats participating in election primaries.

And quickly, several American states such as California, Michigan, Minnesota, Texas and Washington have passed laws that regulate deepfakes in elections. More than two dozen states have such pending legislation. But the law in Minnesota , requires  all candidates to disclose AI manipulated media. It also declared as crime,  if someone disseminates a deepfake intended to harm a candidate within 90 days of the election. This, I think, is a great idea.

COMELEC recently formed a task force Katotohanan, Katapatan at Katarungan (KKK) sa Halalan (Truth, Honesty and Justice in the Elections) to combat disinformation, misinformation and malinformation, including those committed using artificial intelligence (AI) and deepfakes. They are  targeting issuance of guidelines by the second week of August even without a law defining Artificial intelligence and deep fakes, its use and abuse in elections.

Chair Garcia posed an interesting question, “We want to know what part of AI that is being used for elections should be regulated and prohibited, if any, and if regulated and prohibited, will we be violating any law or right?”

Between now and the May polls next year, it is a big challenge  whether Congress and Malacañang will prioritize the enactment of a law against Deepfakes. With  barely  thirty eight days before the official filing of certificates of candidacies in October and worsened by a ack of a law against it, deep fakes will definitely fool our voters in this elections..