Malacañang: Visuals to back up SONA
President Aquino’s third State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 23 before Congress will be backed up by “visuals” and not by mere theatrics, a Palace official said yesterday.
“Normally, the President sticks to visuals and not theatrics,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said, adding there is “no such inclination” or even the slightest of suggestions to use theatrics to prove a point, since Aquino always sticks to facts.
“Visuals will really become his default. But what kind of visuals? We still don’t know yet at this point,” she said over state-run radio dzRB. “The need for visuals comes after more or less we already know the general run of his speech.”
Aquino is presently reviewing the “first draft” his speechwriters wrote, and this will more likely be a work in progress until a week before the presidential address, where all the inputs have been included in the SONA.
He is expected to cite the indictment of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal- Arroyo on the non-bailable offense of electoral sabotage, the removal of chief justice Renato Corona and the resignation of Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez as among his accomplishments.
Aquino is also expected to outline the achievements he made on the economic front, by way of increasing the number of beneficiaries of the conditional cash transfer program, the country’s rice selfsuffi ciency by 2013 and increased investments, among others.
Valte acknowledged that much still needs to be done.
“While much has been achieved, much remains to be done. The Aquino administration continues to build on the momentum we have already gained,” she said.
“With everyone’s commitment, we are sure to lengthen our strides along the straight and righteous path. The message remains the same: honest and accountable governance is the anvil upon which our people can forge better futures for themselves,” she said.
“The President remains grateful to the Filipino people, whose unwavering support has allowed him the confidence to implement reform. They remain his fount of strength, and the focus of each program and policy advanced by his administration,” Valte added.
She said the first two years of the Aquino administration “have been marked by genuine, meaningful change: in the way government is run, in the way our country is viewed by the international community, and in the way we aspire and view our own futures.
“No longer is the Filipino mired in paralysis and despair; he has seen the seemingly diffi cult tasks achieved, and is one with the government in creating a society that is truly just, prosperous, and equitably progressive,” she stressed.
Aquino open to suggestions
Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said Aquino is open to suggestions while he is drafting his SONA and the President is willing to take inputs from several sectors if possible.
“The President has been accessible to suggestions. In fact, we have been receiving a number of suggestions from the public. The President receives texts hoping that this will be the theme of the SONA or this should be included in the SONA,” he related.
“He has his idea of the SONA and let’s remember that the President revolutionized SONA in the first place by stating, by speaking in Filipino. He has continued to do so.
“The President is open to suggestions, but, at the end of the whole discussion, a theme has to be made, and the President’s version will have to prevail,” Lacierda stressed. “We’ve been receiving suggestions. The President has been receiving text messages.”
Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Secretary Ricky Carandang, under whose office the speechwriters are assigned, said “we are going to give a bit of accomplishment report and go forward-looking.”