Militant solons to boycott Sona again

MANILA, Philippines – Saying they were tired of hearing more “lies” and “illusions” that the country has been better under her nine years in office, eight militant partylist representatives on Monday announced that they would not attend President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s State of the Nation Address (Sona) next week.

Instead, Representatives Satur Ocampo, Teodoro Casiño, and Neri Colmenares of Bayan Muna; Liza Maza and Luz Ilagan of Gabriela, Rafael Mariano and Joel Maglunsod of Anakpawis; and Raymond Palatino or Kabataan would join protesters on the streets.

In boycotting the Sona, the partylist lawmakers said they were also expressing their opposition to moves to convene the House of Representatives into a constituent assembly without the Senate after the Sona.

This would be the third straight year that the militant congressmen will be skipping the President’s Sona, Ocampo told a news conference in the House of Representatives. Last year, Ocampo, Maza, Ilagan, Mariano, and Casiño showed up inside the session hall but walked out just as Arroyo was about to deliver her speech.

Ocampo said it was time to put an end to Arroyo’s nine years of “misrule” and “devious intention” to stay in power after her term expires in June 2010.

He called on the signatories of House Resolution 1109 calling for the convening of the constituent assembly to withdraw their support for the move and thwart attempts to railroad the process of amending the Constitution.

“She would be peddling again lies and delusions in the hope that in repeating these lies, she would be able to convince herself that they are the truth,” Ilagan said, adding that “the true state of the nation speaks of poverty.”

The boycott manifests the people’s frustrations over Arroyo’s administration, Maza said.

Maza said that a few months after Arroyo assumed power in 2001, they presented to her a “people’s agenda” containing the concerns of the people from various sectors, including the plight of comfort women, repeal of the oil deregulation law, and increase in worker’s wage. But nothing happened, she said.

Mariano said seven out of eight farmers have remained without land and some 10 million Filipinos were without a stable source of livelihood under Arroyo’s administration.

Maglunsod added that minimum wage of workers in Metro Manila have been pegged at P387 per day, while the cost of living have tripled to P992. From 3.8 million unionized workers in 2001, it is now down to 1.9 million workers. A total of 91 workers have also been killed during Arroyo’s nine years in office.

Palatino and Colmenares, who were supposed to experience their first Sona since assuming office in April this year, said they would rather spend it with the people on the streets and listen to the real state of the nation address.