Officials react to PGMA’s SONA

by S.C. Aro

La Trinidad, Benguet (1 August) — The State-of-the-Nation Address of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo gathered various reactions from officials of the government.

Benguet Vice Governor Crescencio Pacalso admitted, “If our economy was not affected due to the global financial crunch, our gains could have been higher. I agree with what President Arroyo said that the government is doing right and is doing something about it.”

Pacalso added that the government programs on economy are good, saying, “Our economy is stable. We did not fully feel the global crunch as there were only a few companies that folded up compared to the other countries. We credit the efforts of the administration.”

However, despite the achievements of the government, our problems are still deep which were passed on by the previous administrations, Pacalso said. “There was a slight decrease in poverty and there were job placements, but the problems are still there. We could hardly cope due to the increasing ratio of population perhaps,” he further added.

On the part of Board Member Rogelio Leon, he said, “Our economy showed good statistics. It showed good growth compared to the past administration. However, generally, the effects could not be directly felt. But in the case of Kapangan, I could see how the administration has truly helped in the infrastructure project particularly the Acop-Kapangan-Kibungan road. Aside from the P60 million fund, there were also additional funds earmarked for the project,” he further said.

Tuba Mayor Florencio Bentrez commented everything the President said is true supported by statistics. There was truly an improvement in economy such as infrastructure, health services otherwise we could have been greatly affected by the global economic crunch.

Kapangan Mayor Roberto Canuto expressed his gratitude saying, “I am happy that the

President emphasized education as one important feature of her governance. In our case in Kapangan, aside from the free tuition fee in public schools, the national government is also subsidizing half of the tuition fee of a private school in our area, the St. Theresa’s High School. It has also granted scholarships to deserving college students. TESDA also sponsored lots of skills training and development in the area.”

He thinks the President has done a lot for the economy of the government. Some results might yet be forthcoming and there are still economic policies to be realized.

But Canuto still believes that the President has done much on the improvement of Gross Domestic Product/Gross National Product. The President is successful in the financial management of the country as we are not so much affected by the global economic crunch which was mostly suffered by the western countries, he further said. (PIA-Benguet)