The kind of SONA we shall never hear

I have a dream, with apologies to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, that in his fourth State of the Nation Address, President BBM will finally level with Filipinos. That he set aside the prepared SONA and talk to the nation straight from the heart.

- Atty. Josephus B. Jimenez

This is the SONA that I dream he will deliver:

"My countrymen, I come to tell you what you never expected me to say today. I come to bear the bad news and sad realities. I come to share with you the pains, anxieties, fears, and angers of our people. I come to invite you this afternoon to open your eyes and see all the sufferings of the Filipinos. This time, I shall not read from any prepared speech.

"I am discarding all the notes prepared by the speechwriters. I shall not adorn my language with oratory or hyperbole. I will just say my piece in plain and simple language, so that all the tricycle drivers, fish vendors, rice farmers and fisherfolks shall understand what I'm trying to convey.

"Our country is in bad shape. The economy is in shambles. Our national debt has reached an alarming P16 trillion. Our national budget next year will be another P6.7 trillion, and sadly again, for the nth time, most of the expenditures next year shall be funded from foreign and domestic borrowings. Our debt to GDP ratio reached a very risky rate of more than 60%. And soon we cannot borrow anymore from the IMF, World Bank, nor any creditors because our capacity to pay has reached rock bottom.