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Manila, Philippines - President Aquino will report on the gains of his anti-corruption campaign and reveal his plans for his second year in office when he addresses Congress for his State of the Nation Address (SONA) tomorrow.
“We must remember that President Aquino was elected in 2010 because of his promise of an anti-corruption program as among his priorities and the President will show what he has done to fulfill that promise in the year or so that he has been in office,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said in an interview with government-run radio dzRB.
Valte said the SONA will not focus on the anomalies of former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo but would still touch on the efforts done by the administration to effect reforms in the government.
Arroyo earlier said she would not attend Aquino’s SONA. House Senior Deputy Minority Leader Danilo Suarez and Occidental Mindoro Rep. Amelita Villarosa said members of the opposition bloc advised Arroyo not to attend the SONA where she is expected to be the subject of scathing remarks from Aquino.
Valte said the SONA is prepared “with total indifference” to Arroyo’s presence.
“The SONA is being prepared with total indifference to her presence or whether she will be there or not. It’s a constitutional mandate and as such the President will give the State of the Nation Address whether there are certain personalities who will be absent or present,” she said. Lawmakers have mixed reactions on the theme of Aquino’s SONA and his decision to deliver it entirely in Filipino.
Deputy Speaker and Quezon Rep. Lorenzo Tañada III said Aquino should “answer the question why the future looks brighter with what he has done in one year. What should we expect and where after one year he wants to take the Philippines.”
President Aquino delivers his State of the Nation Address (SONA) entirely in Filipino tomorrow so that a majority of Filipinos would be able to understand it, Malacañang said yesterday. Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma said an English translation will be provided. Foreign dignitaries will be able to listen to the English version of the address through headsets.
Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone said it is important that the reforms pursued by the Aquino administration are sustained.
“The confidence of the Filipino people and the international community in the government must be translated into concrete and positive socio-economic actions that will be felt by the ordinary people,” he said.
Suarez, however, belied the theme of the SONA that the country had emerged from darkness.
“During the first meeting of the Development Budget Coordinating Council composed of the Aquino administration’s economic managers last year, they put on record that they inherited a healthy economy,” Suarez said. Lawyer Raul Lambino, the legal spokesman of Arroyo, said the Aquino administration inherited a sound economy.
“When this administration began, the economy was sound with nearly eight percent growth despite the global recession. But now they’re predicting a growth of only 4.8 percent. We have increasing unemployment. And this administration has been quarreling with all sectors local and foreign,” Lambino said.
Zambales Rep. Milagros Magsaysay said Aquino’s address will be “another SONA of unrealized goals and promises that matter to the people.” Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano said President Aquino should provide an honest assessment of the country’s state and a clear plan to move the nation forward. Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., meanwhile, said the House of Representatives is ready to receive Aquino for his second SONA.
“I am gratified by the efforts and close coordination among the concerned agencies of both the national and local governments, the military and police and our own House Secretariat to ensure the success of the SONA,” he said.
Belmonte heads the formal opening of the second regular session of Congress tomorrow morning to approve a Joint Senate-House Resolution declaring the readiness of Congress to receive the President for his SONA.
Regular business will resume on Tuesday with plenary session.
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