MONDAY, July 27, was a day of extremes, reported VERA Files roving photographer Mario Ignacio. Weatherwise, a heavy downpour followed sweltering heat in Quezon City, particularly along Commonwealth Avenue which was the focus of headline-making activities.
On the stretch of road going toward the Batasan Pambansa area, militant groups had converged, burning effigies of President Gloria Arroyo and challenging her claims of a robust economy and stable politics.
Down the road, inside the halls of the House of Representatives, Arroyo was making what her critics doubt to be her last State of the Nation Address, listing the achievements of her eight-year presidency. Arroyo credited herself for giving jobs to overseas Filipino workers, raising incomes, reducing foreign debt, building roads and bridges, and finishing the projects her predecessors left undone. Ignacio snapped photos of Marikina residents as they listened to this litany.
Even as Arroyo spoke, news reports talked of more Filipino families going hungry in the last quarter than in the one before that, a problem Press Secretary Cerge Remonde blamed on the fighting in Mindanao.
Ignacio’s camera caught the flurry of activity on Commonwealth and the usual display of biting, irreverent, humorous and sad commentary on the true state of the nation.