President Aquino on Monday urged the country’s 1.7 million self-employed and professional taxpayers to shake off their “wang-wang” attitude, or mindset of entitlement, by paying the proper taxes.

In his second State of the Nation Address at the opening of the second regular session of the 15th Congress, Mr. Aquino said there is no reason for anyone not to pay the right taxes since his administration is committed to judicious spending, and ensuring that public funds are spent for the intended purpose.

In his 53-minute speech broken by 48 rounds of applause, the President enumerated the measures that his administration is pursuing to rid the government of what he called the wang-wang mentality—first through leadership by example by literally giving up his presidential privilege to use car sirens to speed up road travel and flout traffic rules, at great inconvenience to other motorists.

While the mindset of entitlement among public officials seems to be changing, he said “it still exists in the private sector.” He cited a Bureau of Internal Revenue report that there are 1.7 million self-employed and professional taxpayers—lawyers, doctors and businessmen—who paid only a  total of P9.8 billion in income taxes in 2010, or only an average of P5,783 in income tax. “If this is true, then they each must have earned only P8,500 a month, which is below the minimum wage,” he said.

“I find this hard to believe. Today, we can see that our taxes are going where they should and, therefore, there is no reason not to pay the proper taxes. I say to you: It’s not just the government, but our fellow citizens, who are cheated out of the benefits that these taxes would have provided,” he said.

At his inauguration, Mr. Aquino promised to do away with the official use of the wang-wang or car siren, which had “come to symbolize abuse of authority,” and that “this one gesture has become the symbol of change, not just in our streets, but even in our collective attitude.”

“It was routinely used by public officials to violate traffic laws, inconveniencing ordinary motorists—as if only the time of the powerful few, and no one else’s, mattered. Instead of behaving like public servants, they acted like kings.... Abusing privilege despite promising to serve—this is the wang-wang mindset; this is the mindset of entitlement. They had no right to do this,” he said.

The President said his administration’s fight against the wang-wang has “yielded results” on many fronts, among them, the fight against hunger as self-rated hunger has gone down from 20.5 percent in March to 15.1 percent in June.

“As for business, who would have thought that the stock market would reach seven record highs in the past year?  At one time, we thought that for the PSE Index to reach 4,000 points would be, at best, a fluke. We now routinely exceed this threshold,” he said.

In his first year as Chief Executive, he said the Philippines obtained four credit-rating upgrades from international credit-rating agencies “in recognition of our prudent use of funds and creative financial management”—compared to just one credit-rating upgrade and six downgrades during the nine-and-a-half years of the previous administration.

In the Department of Energy, he said the elimination of the wang-wang mentality has “revived the confidence of investors in our energy sector,” noting that “140 companies, all ready to participate in the exploration and strengthening of our oil-and-natural gas resources, can attest to this.”

“Compare this to the last energy contracting round in 2006, which saw the participation of only 35 companies. Just last Friday, a new contract was signed for a power plant to be constructed in the Luzon grid, so that by 2014, our country will have a cheaper, more reliable source of energy,” the President said.

He said the old attitude had allowed used helicopters to be bought at prices for brand-new models, and allowed officials in the Philippine National Construction Corp. to pay themselves fat bonuses even if they didn’t deserve them and had even “drowned their agency in debt.”

“We are holding accountable—and we will continue to hold accountable—those who practice this culture of entitlement in all government offices, as there are still some who think they can get away with it,” the President said.

He cited Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson, in particular, for removing a district engineer from his post and suspended the awarding of a project pending a thorough investigation of a questionable project.

“We will blacklist all contractors proven to have engaged in foul play,” the President said.

He added that his administration is eliminating patronage politics in the Department of Public Works and Highways, and “replacing it with a culture in which merit prevails.”

In the fight against corruption, Mr. Aquino said there is criticism that he takes the anti-corruption campaign “personally” and that everybody else should take this stance since “we have all been victimized by corruption.”

“What is wrong remains wrong, regardless of how long it has been allowed to persist. We cannot simply let it pass. If we ignore the crimes of the past, they will continue to haunt us. And if we do not hold people accountable, then they will do it again and again,” he said.

Among the anomalies that his administration had uncovered is the “astounding” expenses of the previous management  of  the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) for coffee consumption, amounting to P1 billion.

“At P100 per cup, that would be 10 million cups of coffee over the last several years. Where did all that coffee go? Who drank it? Perhaps we can find the people who consumed all that coffee and ask if they have been able to sleep in the last few years,” he quipped.

The President said he believes his administration has generated “confidence” and “hope” and that it is “now fulfilling its promises.”

“You created a government that truly works for you. We still have five years left to ensure that we will not return to what once was. We will not be derailed, especially now that what we have begun has yielded so many positive results,” he said.

On jobs, Mr. Aquino said the unemployment rate was reduced to 7.2 percent in April 2011 from 8 percent in April 2010 and  that “the number of jobs generated in our country can only grow from here.”

“According to the Philjobnet web site, every month there are 50,000 jobs that are not filled because the knowledge and skills of job seekers do not match the needs of the companies. We will not allow this opportunity to go to waste; at this very moment, DOLE, CHED, Tesda and DepEd are working together to address this issue,” he said.

The President said “curricula will be reviewed and analyzed to better direct them to industries that are in need of workers, and students will be guided so that they may choose courses that will arm them with the skills apt for vacant jobs.”

He said efforts to enhance the capabilities of law enforcers “are already succeeding” as there were only 460 cases of car and motorcycle theft in the first six months of this year, compared with 1,010 cases  during the same period last year, while the drive against human trafficking has improved the Philippines’s standing in the US State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report.

Mr. Aquino also expressed hope that Congress would again see through the early passage of the proposed 2012 national budget, which the Executive will deliver to Congress on Tuesday, and called for support for the passage of administration measures “that will bring us closer to the fulfillment of our pledge to the nation.”

“We aim to give due compensation to the victims of martial law; to grant our househelp the salaries and benefits that they deserve; and to improve the system that awards pensions to our retired soldiers,” the President said.

He said his administration supports the expansion of the scope of scholarships granted by the Department of Science and Technology to outstanding but poor students; the advancement of universal quality health care; responsible management of the environment; and facilities to ensure the safety of citizens during disasters and calamities.

The President also urged local government units to consider the national interest even as they strive to provide for their communities, and cited their plan to tax electricity transmission lines that run through their jurisdictions.

“Although this will augment local coffers, the rest of the Filipino people will have to deal with higher electricity rates. Let us try to balance the interests of our constituencies with that of the nation as a whole,” the President said.

Mr. Aquino thanked leaders of the Catholic Church who have continued to dialogue with his administration, such as Manila Archbishop Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales and retired Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal.

“Cardinal Rosales and I may not be the closest of friends, but I believe that he did all that he could to reduce the tensions between the Church and the government,” he said.

The President said the election of Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma, whom he described as a “defender of human rights and of the environment,” as head of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines “only bolsters my confidence that the state and the clergy will be able to engage each other in a positive manner.”

“I likewise thank my Cabinet, who have sacrificed their personal comfort to fulfill the national agenda. I give special mention to Pagasa, which now truly delivers reliable advice and warnings during times of calamity,” he said.