“Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result.” — Winston Churchill

Notwithstanding views to the contrary, the ultimate State of the Nation (SoNA) Address of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was a good fighting oration and her best that received thunderous applause and grudging consent from an audience of strange political bedfellows.

Without boring the readers with statistics and details, suffice it to say that the speech took the invited guests and members of Congress by surprise, and some were taken aback by the president’s direct references to her critics and sideswiping eloquence on her perceived rivals.

With the self-confidence of a veteran campaigner, President Gloria Arroyo literally dished it out with guns blazing away, so to speak, against her known critics and rivals. She triumphed.

For a change, the speech was not mundane and the youngish looking Chief Executive, she will only be 63 years old next year, pre-empted the audience by announcing that she was stepping down when her term officially ends in June, 2010.

However, she did not categorically state that she was retiring from politics. What she did say is that one remaining year is a long time, and she expects to accomplish more, and roll the dice, as it were, in a glorious finish.

“At the end of this speech I shall step down from the stage but not from the presidency. My term does not end until next year,” and, if we may add, a lot of things can happen along the way.

First, we have always maintained that history will vindicate President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s watch.

After the smoke of war, the sourgraping, the allegations of wrongdoing, and the many perceived hurts shall have subsided, the Filipino people will be more forgiving and kinder to President Gloria Arroyo who had after all accomplished more than she had expected, and had brought unprecedented economic growth in the last nine years.

The Filipino people had been known to have short memories, Christian-like sense of forgiveness, and deeply rooted family values.

Eventually, her unpopularity at the survey polls shall have been forgotten, and shall have been replaced by reconciliation and praise.

Nevertheless, there will be individuals and politicians who will be adamant and intent in filing cases of corruption and plunder against the President for which she is prepared as par for the course.

Second, while on the one hand, her accomplishments in infrastructure, microfinance, education, poverty alleviation, housing, agriculture, investments, job generation, economic and political reforms are verifiable, visible, and accountable, there are, on the other hand, many problems that cannot be resolved overnight. They will take more than nine years to overcome, such as, insurgency, population growth, industrialization, infrastructure, social reforms, universal education, electoral and Constitutional reforms which require continuity of administration, consistency of policies, and long-term vision.

When all is said and done, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will go down in history as the most hardworking, gutsy, lucky, determined, skillful, and perceptive politician and leader whose impressive achievements will eventually be recognized and appreciated by the Filipino people for which only history can pass judgment, justice and vindication.

You be the judge. (For comments and views, please e-mail: chaff_fromthegrain@yahoo.com.ph)