All eyes are expected to focus on the President come July 22. For those disinterested and giving the Chief Executive the cold shoulder, think again.

I’m not saying we should all agree with Mr. Marcos. Still, these are very trying times for our nation, and affording him our ears when he gives the State of the Nation Address (SONA) is more expressive of our concern for the country as Filipinos than representative of our varying political beliefs.

We and our families deserve to know the state of our country’s affairs from the man designated to make decisions for our country: New taxes? Tariff rate adjustments? War?

The upcoming SONA is more for us than it is for the man who speaks for our government. If we truly care for our country, its direction, and our future, we must allot our time to listen to the President.

The ‘designated survivor’

I expect the same from Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio. After all, she helped in getting him elected. And until last month, she was still very much part of the Cabinet that runs this country.

Her political gravitation away from Mr. Bongbong Marcos’s circle of trust does not exempt her from tuning in to the SONA – she’s still VP, right?

But what’s troubling is that in a GMA Regional TV interview in Davao City last Thursday, she said that not only is she skipping attendance of the SONA; but she is also “appointing herself as the designated survivor.”

For those unfamiliar with the term “designated survivor,” it refers to an official of high standing in government who is purposely and safely kept away from a general assembly of high-ranking officials led by the President so that in case of a catastrophic occurrence — like a bombing or an earthquake — that kills or renders the top state leaders incapacitated, the designated survivor will assume leadership.

Isn’t that disturbing that Inday Sara is loosely or even jokingly projecting such a scenario by declaring herself as the designated survivor? Why, does she know of a catastrophic occurrence that should render Mr. Marcos and other officials incapacitated or dead?

Perhaps, she should clarify her statement for the benefit of the public.

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SHORT BURSTS. For comments or reactions, email firingline@ymail.com or tweet @Side_View via X. Read current and past issues of this column at http://www.thephilbiznews.com

‘Twas a long time coming, but they finally got the public-whipping they needed.

The big bosses of Smart Communications and Globe Telecom couldn’t have turned a deaf ear this time when President Duterte expressed dismay over the quality of their wireless services, choosing to call them out in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) last July 27.

There was no way of sugar-coating his threat to the Top 2 telecoms companies in the country – improve your services in the next five months or be shut down and expropriated! At least, that’s what I heard from the big man in Malacanang.

This was not a work-from-home dad’s customer service call put on hold for 15 minutes or a disgruntled online student’s rambling post on Facebook about slow Internet speeds at Apartment 21-B. If you ask me, the message came across more like a gangland-style threat, anybody a shade less powerful than the President can swing like a wrecking ball.

Now, let’s be fair. Three days later, Globe President-CEO Ernest Cu came to the table at the COVID-19 task force meeting with the President. Cu had the chance to air his complaints about the “many, many years” of red tape when securing permits from different national agencies and local governments.

Cu said telcos need to secure 25 to 29 permits and pay various miscellaneous fees for every tower they build. He said this tedious process for permits would take about eight months to complete and blamed these setbacks for preventing telcos from building more telecom towers to improve their services.

The next day, Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año addressed Cu’s concerns, announcing that the DILG, together with other government agencies, issued a joint memorandum circular to “streamline” the application process for permits to build telecom towers, reducing the end-to-end process from eight months to “less than a month”.

The memo ditched city council resolutions and written consents from homeowners’ associations and condos in the list of requirements. What’s left to secure are the barangay clearance, Unified Application Form for Locational Permit, Fire Safety Evaluation Certificate, building permit, property documents from owners or occupants of registered or untitled lands, and “select ancillary permit and accessory permit requirements”.

Apparently, this solves Cu’s problems and eliminates any reason not to get things done. Globe and Smart need to buckle down to work and race against Duterte’s patience for the next five months and, hopefully, ramp up connection services.

As the country awaits the entry of third telco, Dito Telecommunity, owned by Duterte favorite Dennis Uy, I’m sure Globe and Smart will take the shutdown threats very seriously, taking into account the precedent that befell the country’s largest media conglomerate, ABS-CBN.

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SHORT BURSTS. For comments or reactions, email firingline@ymail.com or tweet @Side_View. Read current and past issues of this column at https://thephilbiznews.com