SONA Points

Bikol militants have presented a 10-point agenda for the "consideration" of President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III as he undertakes his first State of the Nation Address or SONA. We believe that many of these points are worth supporting and redound to the common good and not simply in the advancement of a particular ideology.

For instance, we agree that "genuine agrarian reform needs to be implemented and that the P150 billion coconut levy fund should also be immediately be returned to genuine small coconut farmers." The latter, a long-standing issue, can be effectively addressed by the Aquino Administration if it exercises determinedly its political will in the face of interests, among them those of LP stalwarts, which would be undermined.

Similarly, we support the call to "generate enough jobs with decent wages in the Bikol region so that the underemployment rate would go down," as well as the "scrapping of the oil deregulation law and the expanded value added tax (EVAT) especially on oil, water and electricity, as well as other basic commodities." Think tank IBON recently stated that while the present government does need to generate revenues (no doubt due to the Arroyo Administration's depletion of government coffers), it must do so by "placing the burden of adjusting to the fiscal crisis on those that have the greater capacity to pay." The EVAT on basic commodities does not equitably spread out this burden since those who have less can ill afford to support themselves; much more, to spend the little that they have on taxes. IBON suggests "restoring the corporate income tax from 30% to 35 percent, which will generate an estimated revenue of P16 billion for the government. This is possible because top corporations saw a 20%-increase in their 1^st quarter 2010 profits."

Another point raised by the militants is "ending large scale mining in the region particularly in Rapu-rapu, Albay, Aroroy in Masbate and Paracale in Camarines Norte." INECAR has constantly and scientifically backed its opposition to large scale mining in the region because of the environmental degradation it causes in the short-term as well as in the long-term. Business interests have, sadly, constantly prevailed; the DENR, especially when it was helmed by Angelo Reyes, acted more as an advocate of these business interests rather than a protector of our environment and natural resources.

Finally, we join the militant groups in seeking to "ensure that the region has enough affordable power" and that Bikol become energy self-sufficient before the President's term ends. The cruel irony of having to pay higher rates for electricity when much of that power emanates from our region has not been lost on many Bikolanos. It is high time that Bikol's power truly benefits the region.

We hope these point be considered by Malacañang in its quest to tread "ang daang matuwid" in the next six years.