SONA 2009: Real-time reactions from cyberspace

While her allies in the halls of Congress were applauding nearly every sentence, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's State of the Nation Address (SONA) was getting a different reaction from an invisible audience. “Bbbooo!" said one audience member. “Oh come on," said another. Neither was ejected. They couldn’t be -- they weren’t in the august chamber. They were posting their reactions in cyberspace.

For the first time in the Philippines, GMANews.tv married a live stream of the speech with Facebook Connect, a service of the popular Web 2.0 service that allows any number of users to comment about a single topic. The combination allowed site visitors to simultaneously watch the speech and post their reactions via their Facebook (FB) status updates. The interactivity feature was first used to wide acclaim by CNN.com during the Obama inauguration last January. Barely had President Arroyo started talking when the comments started pouring in: dozens of Facebook users posted updates so swiftly that they turned into a running commentary. Many of the remarks, written in short-hand English and Filipino that wasn’t always grammatical, were testy and sarcastic. A few complimented her fuschia pink terno by Inno Soto. Reacting to the President’s recital of her achievements, one visitor said: “Totohanin mo na sana yan, ilang beses ka na nagsisinungaling sa bayan?" (If only you could actually make that come true, how many times have you lied to the nation?) “Hello Garci, ‘di ka ata kasama," wrote another visitor, referring to the 2004 scandal where President Arroyo allegedly colluded with an election commissioner to fix the votes. Yet another dismissed the speech: “Wala naman kwenta tulad ng dati." (Worthless, just like the others before) “GMA is bragging on the things that she has done for the Filipino people," reminded one user, adding “did she forget that is indeed her responsibility?" The remarks streamed swiftly across the small window: “She is shameless;" “Nakakatawa siya, ‘no" (she's funny, isn't she). When Mrs. Arroyo started to belittle her critics and political foes, there were pointed responses. Marvic Leonen, dean of the UP College of Law, said: “State of the Nation Address should be a time to tell our societies what the Office of the President sees as our collective challenge and a call for support. It should not be an occasion to divide further. This is not a boxing match." Another user invited everyone “to compare this woman to Governor Grace (Padaca) who quietly and firmly puts violators of the law in their place and merely says she is just enforcing the law. This woman can't even follow it!" Occasionally, some FB users expressed support for Mrs. Arroyo, the most unpopular president the country has had since 1986. “Wag natin tingnan ang negatibo... makinig muna bago komento," (Let's not look at the negative, listen first before commenting), someone cautioned. “I love my nation. I thank God that we have a great and brilliant president," asserted another user. “That was really a FIERCE and BRAVE SONA," said a partisan someone. When the speech ended, there was no lack of posters trying to evaluate it. Tony La Viña, dean of the Ateneo School of Government, said: “Overall, a defensive speech, a speech about the past, not the future. Next year, maybe we will be inspired." Another poster said: “I wasted my time watching this SONA... Campaign Speech lang naman lahat. For the last time bagsak pa rin ang grade mo PGMA." One FB user said: “Dapat i-congratulate... hirap nung ginawang rehearsal nun." (She should be congratulated, it must have been hard rehearsing that speech) - GMANews.TV