ASSIGNMENT FOR AUGUST 2

last meeting we were asked to do a compare/contrast 2 President's State of the Nation Address. And we were given 4 choices. I chose PNOY and GMA's SONA.


I searched in Google for former President Arroyo's copy of SONA and the 2009 SONA popped in. I scrutinized the copy of her speech since I listened to PNOY's SONA last week I dont need to criticize it that much.

ON GMA's SONA one thing that I really noticed is her appreciation and redundant praise to the congress. For some reason, in political view, GMa is already pleasing and appeasing the congress. Constant sarcasm is also present in her speech. " To those who want to be President, this advice: If you really want something done, just do it. Do it hard, do it well. Don’t pussyfoot. Don’t pander. And don’t say bad words in public."

With such GMA stated the projects that her administration had encountered and those formulated policies for the success of this projects. Just like every other president Arroyo enumerated all her administration's accomplishment and what they did for the country.

Moving on, I personally think that listening to Arroyo's state of the nation address was listening to a government who took time to formulate a domestic and foreign policy which the administration will all agree about and something that can be easily implemented.

This SONA emphasizes the importance of policy making. And implementing it.


ON PNOY's SONA

Last monday, before I come to class, I was with my dad, watching the SONA. Using my iPad I was online and logged in to twitter to see the streaming and reactions of the mob. Most people was mad right after the SONA and maybe even in the middle of the speech. And most were impressed with PNOY's SONA. For some reason, I think they were wrong to be impressed though.

PNOY's speech focused on his rants about the past administration. Which I think was wrong the impression for me was he was playing it safe. NO policies were raise and was mentioned. Yes, he did stated some of the things that his administration had done for the past week. But his speech is about rant, complain and in short negativity.

But since it was his first SONA, there's still a room for error. I hope that in the next SONA he will be able to lay down his policies and plan. In his last SONA I felt like he was still campaigning.

July 26 Session

July 26 Session
I usually leave my crib around 4.30pm to come to my 6pm class. But since it was PNOY's first SONA. I don’t wanna miss it and since we were also asked to listen to his speech. I tried to scrutinize every discussion he mentioned.

I was watching the SONA with my dad. My dad being a lawyer, can’t hold his thought about what the President was stating. Some of our maids who were also watching the SONA was amazed, I remember one of them commented how Noynoy became a strong and confident speaker which he is not known for.


On analyzing the SONA me and my dad share the same opinion. His SONA is all about complain and pin-pointing the former administration. For me, PNOY was playing it safe by blaming the Arroyo administration. I am not an Arroyo administration supporter just to make it clear. And I didn’t vote for Noynoy as well. So I’m not taking sides on anyone here.

I just hope that the President could’ve lay his policies. So that we Filipino’s will know what to expect in his administration in his cabinet members. Rather than blaming the other administration. With conviction all I want to say is “Now is not the right time to pin-point anyone, we should work together and put a clear image on the Philippine government.”

July 19 session

JULY 19 SESSION


Last session we discussed about policy making. Amazing because what I learned in PHIFOCY class the other night I was able to use it in in my Pitrela class. My Pitrela professor asked us on how foreign policy is being formulated. Confident with what I learned last night I raised my hand and discuss the answer.

Good thing Miss Dela Cruz discussed it to us the night before and she cite examples that made it more interesting. Decision making- implementation- evaluation I have that in my mind. I learned that foreign policy making is a process. Not just a process but a continuous process. You don’t just stop after implementing it, but you take time to evaluate the policy. You should know if this policy is being implemented the right way and if not you should be open for amendment.

July 12

July 12, 2010 Session

It was definitely one of the evening I can't forget. The air condition is not working which made it hard for us to focus on the discussion. But without further delay we started with the discussion. The focus was on the foreign policy process making. Although our professor engaged about 30minutes on answering about some blog questions RE: the discussions from the previous meeting. She managed to shift those questions and connect it to the new topic.
Foreign policy always starts with the domestic policy of the state. You have to start local before going international. Today I learned that foreign policy is not constant. I learned that the three pillars are non negotiable, and this three pillars are connected to the realities of the President.

We were divided to six groups. I was on group 5. We were assigned with an activity about foreign policy decision making using what we had learned tonight from implementation to evaluation and so on. Our group will focus on human trafficking specifically on EU. It's a great topic for me I should admit. As they say it in Tagalog "pumapanahon" with the remaining time for that we had our group managed to exchange ideas about our topic and I was assigned to take the part of OWWA with regards to human trafficking. Our leader asked us to email our work on Wednesday so that we can have it ready for the next meeting.

Meryl destura

Meryl destura is: witty, moody, complex, fun and shy at the same time. Hopes to become a lawyer someday

June 28 Philippine history etc

JUNE 28 SESSION (Supposedly June 21)
The Philippine History, Institutions and Decision Making Processes in Foreign Policy
PHIFOCY is my only class every Monday, around 2pm I went online and checked our EGROUPS. When I checked the readings I was surprised that next meeting our discussion will involve Philippine history. Then I remember my high school days.

After reading the article and finished my note making I rushed to school and we discussed everything about the article. One thing that I will always remember is like a theory, history is a basis. We need to be aware of what had happened in the past in order to somehow know how to deal with the future. Different presidents or politicians had done it. Studying about the previous administration and getting the best from that administration and applying it for the future

I learned the same day, that there is always something new about your country that you need to know. History is there as a basis but what your country have now is important and this needs to be develop. Tonight our professor also shared her experience which made it easier for us to understand the value of the history of your country.

One world many theories

1ST FORMAL DISCUSSION

One World, Rival theories and One World-Many Theories

Provided with the reading uploaded on the egroups we are supposed to read two articles about theories. being a CDA student part of our core subjects is international relations having a background on international relations and reading the articles provided on the egroups it was quite easy understanding it. With the theories discussed in the article it proved that theories will always act as the basis of the states decision making and actions.

With this different theories, comes different approach, different outcomes, basis and decisions and at times it all comes to a clash. Each state somehow have their own choice of theory. As we know in states relationship with each other one day your friends or allies next days your enemies. The hanging question which is always left unanswered is which theory should a state use to improve their standing and achieve their goal?

On the session that we discussed today, we reviewed and take a look back on this theories and 3 dominant theories took our time in the discussion.


Realism is always a struggle for power and this theory was dominant during the cold war.
It’s about survival. A state can only rely on its resources in order to live.

Liberalism is an economic interconnectedness “spider web of interconnectedness” between a state and other actors. In liberalism, state is not the only actor.

Constructivism talks about the transition and changing norms of sovereignty, power and human rights.

In this session I want to thank our professor for citing examples on how this theories are applied and used. I know this review is important since this theories plays a very important part for a CDA student like us.

May 31 orientation

First day orientation day in Phifocy class. Phifocy is my 1^st 6-9 class since I came back from the US after my 1 year leave of absence from the college.5:50pm I arrived in class scheming for a friendly face. Today wasn't my lucky day at all I didn't know anyone in class. Then I realized I have to make friends or even just an acquaintance. I'll be in class 3 hours, once a week. I met a couple of students who share the same feeling that I did. A feeling of being left out. 6pm on the dot our professor came. It was the first time that I saw her. Silently she entered the class and stand at the center of the platform. Our professor is young. I think she’s around 23-25. As I find myself sitting at the back, we waited for another 10 minutes before we start the session. Our professor told us that she’s expecting 40 students in that section. Before introducing herself, she asked us to double check our EAF’s to make sure if we really belong to the class, since there’s two PHIFOCY class this term.

The syllabus was distributed to us while our professor was setting up the computer for her power point presentation. As we scheme to the paper in our hands I found certain activities that I was confused about, learning logs, note-making, note-taking and blogs.. It was explained clearly to us. So I'm good. And being the obsessive compulsive person that I am I wrote every explanation that our professor stated about her requirements. We were asked to join an egroup which was new to me since I am only used in using yahoo groups. The attendance was based on joining the egroups which was great. When I arrived at home, I schemed and open every link in the Egroup, yes I was curious. I was amazed on how the Egroups is organized, I tried to check the schedule of discussion for the whole term in class our professor even have it on PDF file. Which made me happy because this only means that she knows what she wants to teach us even before the term starts.

My ID number is 107. That means that my batch mates already told me or gave me a brief background on what I expect to learn in this class. I know that this subject will be the foundation of my other subjects. Since it’s Philippine Foreign Policy. I am expecting to know the approach, procedure and application of our country’s foreign policy and to be able to analyze it critically based on my learning in this course. With the reading list that I saw on our Egroups I know that it would be beneficiary for me since I love to read. I know I will pass this course not just because I need to but I want to.

July 5, 2010 Seat work

JULY 5 ACTIVITY

1.The DFA advises and assists the president in planning, organizing, directinng, coordinating, integrating and evaluating the total national effort in the field of foreign relations in pursuit of its constitutional mandate

Republic Act No. 7157 "Philippine Foreign Service Act of 1991" it gives mandate to the Department of foreign affairs to implement the 3 pillars of the Philippine foreign policy, as follows:

1. Reservation and enhancement of national security.
2. Promotion and attainment of economic security.
3. Protection of the rights and promotion of the welfare and interest of Filipino overseas

2.The eight realities in the regional and international environment that would guide the President’s foreign policy are as follows:

1. The paramount influence of China, Japan and the United States in the security and economic evolution of East Asia;
2. The growing context of the Asean in global affairs;
3. The role of the international Islamic community;
4. The looming importance of inter-regional organizations;
5. The protection of the environment, natural resources and maritime territory;
6. The drive for foreign markets and foreign investments in which Europe is also a major source along with the US, Japan, China and Asean;
7. The importance of international tourism; and
8. The crucial role of the overseas Filipinos in the socio economic stability.