The state of what?

Political tradition dictates our current practice regarding the State of the Nation Address. The Constitution itself has minimal—one might even say minimalist—expectations. The last provision of the Article establishing the executive specifies the president’s duty in the broadest of terms: “The President shall address the Congress at the opening of its regular session.” Section 15 of the preceding Article establishing the legislative branch of government merely stipulates the day: “The Congress shall convene once every year on the fourth Monday of July for its regular session …”

But drawing on our political history, as well as the example of the American constitutional experience which provided the template for the Philippine experiment, we have come to view the Sona as the primary means for an incumbent president to take stock of his administration’s achievements, and to present his agenda for the next legislative year.

Only occasionally does the annual exercise represent the actual state of the nation—when it captures, in whole or in part, the national mood of renewed hope (as in 2010) or the national community’s collective sense of relief (as in 2004, in the wake of the release of captured truck driver Angelo de la Cruz). More often, the Sona is about the state of the administration, or of the country as filtered through the lens of incumbency.

We can expect President Aquino on Monday, therefore, to highlight his administration’s record in the continuing war on corruption, or in attracting investments and credit rating upgrades, or in the attempted reform of the mining sector, or in advancing peace negotiations with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. We hope that his remarks on the continuing struggle against corruption, which will inevitably involve the impeachment and unprecedented conviction of a chief justice and the filing of plunder and other cases against a former president, will not turn out to be a triumphalist retelling but rather a sober and instructive account.

But we also wish to hear the President commit himself fully and finally to the passage of landmark bills in the third and last session of the 15th Congress. We realize, for instance, that the administration has not been idle on the Freedom of Information front, but the outcome or, rather, the lack of outcome, these past two years means that on this vital issue the President could not resolve his administration’s internal differences on the bill in favor of the transparency he had himself campaigned on. We also understand the political pressure being brought to bear on politicians supporting the Reproductive Health bill, given that the third session ends with next year’s mid-term elections, but if the President cannot exercise his leadership on an issue he is himself morally convinced about, we fear for the future of any similar bill.

We also need to hear from the President about his administration’s response to the power shortages in Mindanao, and to the rise in criminality, the continuing killings of journalists, the steady decimation of witnesses to the Ampatuan massacre, the ever-rampant human rights violations.

But even if President Aquino were to avoid any mention of any of these, even if he were to adopt a minimalist interpretation of his Sona responsibilities, Monday’s address may still rise to the level of a true reading of the state of the nation if he would do only one thing: allay our anxieties and strengthen our resolve with a full and persuasive explanation of his China strategy.

Contrary to the advice of some politicians with influence in Malacañang, for the President to avoid any mention of China and our dispute with the emerging superpower during the Sona, we think the President should use the occasion to define, to defend, to explain, to encourage, to argue, to appeal.

An instructive overview of the solid basis of our territorial claims; a sincere exposition of our military and economic limitations; a persuasive detailing of our political, diplomatic and legal options; not least, an emphatic restatement of our responsibilities as a free people in the context of our abiding friendship with the people of China—all this will both reflect the public mood, and redirect public opinion.