President Benigno “PNoy” Aquino III
delivered his fifth State Of The Nation Address in front of senators and
congressmen in Batasan Complex, Quezon City, on July 22, 2014. This year’s SONA
had no published theme, but the striking message he mentioned was, “The
Filipino is definitely worth fighting for”.
PNoy started his speech by touching
the controversial Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) which was declared
unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. He trumpeted the benefits of the
mechanism which helped 220, 00 students of Technical Education and Skills
Development Authority (TESDA) to the tune of P1.6 million DAP funds.
The address also enumerated the
achievements of his administration over the past year, which includes good
economic performance, increased budget in infrastructure, success of
public-private partnerships, calamity efforts and among others.
PNoy also was combative against the
critics of his administration, saying that they were actually against his
“Boss”, the people. He also had strong words against rice hoarders and corrupt
officials at the Bureau of Customs.
At the end of his speech, the
president praised some religious leaders, local government heads, NGO’s,
soldiers and artist who made significant contributions.
He turned emotional when he
reflected on the memory of his parents, slain Senator Benigno Aquino Jr. and
the late President Corazon Aquino. And to conclude the address, he urged the
Filipino people to be the key in continuing the positive transformation that
his administration started.
This was the best SONA of President
Aquino in his 4 years of being the head of the country. It was simple and
concise, and his appeal to the emotions was genuine and felt by the listeners,
even his critics. He was also wise not mention the Supreme Court and the three
Senators who were in jail for the pork barrel scam.
And it was a relief that he did not
blame this time the past administration of Gloria Arroyo for the problems the
country is now facing.
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