Supot

I remember as a kid in the lead up to New Year's Eve festivities lighting one of those big rebentadors expecting a loud bang after the fuse hits home. Most of the time I wasn't disappointed. But a few of them were duds that fizzled out. The street term for these duds comes to mind in the aftermath of Benigno "P.Noy" Aquino III's first State of the Nation Address: supot.

BongV of AntiPinoy.com sees it as having more bark than bite. An English translation of the Noynoy's first SONA is provided in that article.

Walden Bello echoed many of the sentiments of various Philippine lawmakers in making this observation:

Walden Bello said the speech did not mention clear solutions to the problems.

"The Sona was strong in condemning corruption and revealing shocking cases of graft in the previous administration, but lacking on hardheaded solutions," he said.

Bello noted that Aquino did not mention his programs for agrarian reform, wage increase for workers, the need to reverse trade liberalization and address foreign debt.

"It was well-intentioned but we need teeth and the teeth were missing. Hopefully, tougher policies will emerge in the next few weeks," Bello said.

As usual, our pre-emptive strikes from AntiPinoy.com, the first from Ilda in her seminal President Noynoy Aquino's first State of the Nation Address (SONA)...

One thing is for sure; P.Noy's first SONA will be filled with what he will refer to as a list of the former administration's "faults."

P.Noynoy Aquino will have another opportunity to lambast the former administration and to stress that he is "not superman" and that he "hopes that the Filipino people will have ‘reasonable' expectations of him" or something to that effect or anything to lower peoples' expectation of his performance for the next six years.

...and from Yours Truly in SONA Shock Jock President Noynoy Aquino...

The Filipino desperately wants to believe that Arroyo looted the National Budget. Why? Because it gives him some semblance of a rational reason why he remains the impoverished wretch that he is today — living and feeding off mounds of garbage instead of taking his place at the top of that green hill where his peers in the East Asian region picnic today.

Quite fortunate for "P.Noy". He is poised to deliver today that assurance that Da Pinoy is not responsible for his own poverty — essentially the main point of the SONA he will be dishing out. It'll be a PR bonanza, this SONA. At a time when Da Pinoy is mired in bewilderment over his chronic poverty, a SONA telling him that his poverty is the result of an ex-President consciously depriving him of his entitlements will be a breath of fresh air.

...both written before the actual speech itself was delivered were bang on bulls-eyes.

It sucks to be right all the time. Where's the challenge?

Here are some, and the delusion in these is quite palpable.

A report from GMANews.tv...

Judging by the loud applause of the crowd, it seems that President Benigno Simeon “Noynoy" Aquino III has made good on his promise to make the State of the Nation Address (SONA) “memorable."

The audience at the Session Hall of the House of Representatives at the Batasan Pambansa Complex in Quezon City, applauded the President’s SONA 32 times.

... but then...

The last SONA of his predecessor, former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, was applauded 126 times in 2009.

No problemo. After all...

Although his SONA received less applause, Aquino’s trust ratings are considerably higher than those of his predecessor.

Pulse Asia's survey says that PNoy's trust rating is at 85 percent. The Social Weather Station, on the other hand, pegs PNoy's trust rating at 88 percent.

Whatever you say, guys. Whatever you say.