Was I going to write about the State of the Nation Address, again? Was I going to do something that I have done over the last oh-so-many years?

Frankly, I wasn't thinking about it. Don't get me wrong. I was still listening to Bongbong Marcos' second address to a joint session of Congress, outlining is legislative priorities and highlighting his supposed victories along the way. However, I was watching for the day job, with the view of writing a column more attuned to the concerns of my audience of supply chain stakeholders. I have that column bouncing around in my head now, and I don't have to really put it down in paper until Friday. I can use the time to read more analysis pieces tomorrow.

Apart from that... I wasn't really thinking about it. At least not as urgently. For one, the fact that I haven't been promoting this blog on my socials means I have stripped myself of the pressure to be able to say something as soon as possible. There's also my changing view of politics, in part because I have had a better understanding of the overlaps between what our politicians say in public and what our civil servants do in between. In a way, constantly raging on isn't all that productive to me anymore - not that there's nothing to rage about. I suppose my approach to things have changed, perhaps to the chagrin of those who hope to enlist another one to their side.

That, and I'm just tired. You know what happened to me in the past twelve months. Or at least maybe you do. Between that, and work, and everything else, you just get tired and want to take a break from it all. Doesn't stop me from making quips about how I genuinely had to watch the SONA for work. It's not an excuse. It's not in the job description either, but as a master articulator for an underappreciated industry, you have to absorb as much as you can. (I am reserving my thoughts on Bongbong's pronouncements on the Kadiwa stores and food security and his administration's thrusts toward increased self-sufficiency in general for that column. Sorry.)

So, I watched the SONA. I listened intently to what the president had to say. I felt weird about that, because there weren't any discursions or weird speech quirks to notice. Is that one way for Bongbong Marcos to rehabilitate his family's name? Sound competent, seem to know what he's talking about, pepper just enough jargon and speak confidently? It's not the only reason why I have been more... forgiving than in the past. I know how things can move slowly, and not for lack of political will. The president spoke of the increasingly dominant role of online payments in our economy, but didn't explicitly say anything about furthering government support for it. But then, in the last SONA he declared the Internet Transactions Act a legislative priority, and last I checked it is still undergoing deliberations in the legislature. It's moving, but there really isn't much to say at the moment. Does that make it a broken promise?

But I don't know. Maybe I have tuned out, finally, not because of a lack of hope or a lack of engagement or anything, but because people do change, and priorities do change, and I just felt there were better things to do with my time. Like, pack clothes for my work trip tomorrow.

Still, I read back on what I wrote last year, and I realized that I spent a lot of time on the theater and spectacle of Bongbong's last SONA - and I realized that, this year, they did the same thing in the beginning, beat-by-beat. I don't begrudge the government taking advantage of the opportunity to mythologize itself as competent despite questions on the rising cost of living, for instance. But it all reminds me of the point I made last time: the elephant in the room, the whole thing about squashing corruption. It's an important plank - but not the only plank - in ensuring better delivery of services from the government to its people. But then, all that matters is this government seems to know what it's doing. I mean, maybe that's why I was a bit tuned out.