Philippines State of the Nation Address – A Pinoy Twitterfest

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo presented her ninth and final State of the Nation Address (Sona) which focused on grandstanding the administration’s achievements stating successful programs and round statistical figures and even goes about lashing out on her critics. Her bit started with a short prayer for the ailing former President Corazon Aquino, who is battling colon cancer (causing quite a stir in Twitter and the Blogosphere) and afterwhich the President moved on to her real agenda to address the nation.

A Twitterfest

Much can be said and debated upon if we lay all the things that PGMA has discussed point-by-point but what has been amazing is the overwhelming response of Filipinos over the internet as live coverage streams were put up allowing Pinoys at home or even those out of the country to take a peek at the action and tweet their thoughts out loud. Twitter users provided real-time feedback to the live coverage displaying the true State of the Nation according to the Filipino people themselves.

The twitterfest was not confined to the ordinary Filipinos as the trending also involved prominent personalities such as senators, celebrities and media outfits.

Senator Mar Roxas, an opposition senator, tweeted right after the SONA over one of PGMA’s critic-lashing lines.

“MARoxas: Gloria, I have to say bad words in public because of bad deeds done in secret. #sona”

This was in response to PGMA saying this bit in her address, “To those who want to be President, this advice: If you really want something done, just do it. Do it hard, do it well. Don’t pussyfoot. Don’t pander. And don’t say bad words in public.”

Running a search for the hashtags #sona or SONA on Twitter would reveal how much SONA-related activity is going on the social network.

“Sanity is not statistical.”

All the lies, half truths and ommissions as quoted from the novel 1984 written George Orwell. What could you expect? Statistics mean nothing to the masses who are still living under priviledged lives due to lack of equal opportunities in getting jobs or capital.

The true State of the Nation has not been addressed and has never been and not only during Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s term.

We now bring this bit to a close with another quote from the famed book 1984 by George Orwell: