STATE OF NATION ADDRESS

July 25, 2010, 5:27pm

All eyes are on President Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” C. Aquino III as he goes before Congress on Monday at the Batasang Pambansa
in Quezon City for his first State-of-the-Nation Address (SoNA) to set the tone and priorities of his leadership for the coming year.

In a “straightforward address” that will be delivered mostly in Filipino, the President is expected to inform the people he considers
“his boss” about the state of the nation, including an inventory of problems inherited from the past government and his solutions to
“fix the mess.”

The address is expected to make some grim assessments, including the extent of the government’s negative financial position.

The President is also expected to outline his priorities for the country, particularly efforts to stave off a runaway deficit, combat
corruption, and reduce poverty in the country.

“We have to ascertain what the problems are. Therefore, these problems will point to certain solutions that would be best to solve all
of these problems that we’ve already identified,” the President told reporters recently when asked about preparations for his SONA.

“If you misidentify the problem you are guaranteed to not come up with the correct solution and you will exacerbate the problem,” he
added.

Mr. Aquino admitted that the problems inherited from the Arroyo government have left him “gasping for breath at what has been
done.”

One of the anomalies uncovered by the Aquino leadership is the depletion of the P1.54-trillion national budget for 2010 to only around
P100 billion.

“In the reverse side of that, we are very, very hopeful of the developments with regard to fulfilling the wants and needs of our state
without more pressure on the GAA (General Appropriations Act),” he said.

“In terms of gaining knowledge, Monday’s SONA will really shed the truth on so many things,” said the President, who continues to
hold the confidence of most Filipinos based on recent opinion polls.

“The questionable transactions and expenses were really without rhyme or reason. But the burden is now on us to fix this mess,” Mr.
Aquino added.

In the past few days, the President has been working until late hours to complete his SoNA with a team of speechwriters, mostly from
the Communications Group.

The President’s SoNA, which will likely be conversational similar to his inaugural address, will be 30 to 35 minutes long, said
Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda.

It will be bereft of gimmicks as the President will be frank about the “realities” facing the nation.

“We gave President Aquino the draft last night (Saturday), and I’m very sure he will go through it again and by today (Sunday), he
will have finalized his State- of- the- Nation Address,” Lacierda, one of the co-writers of the SONA, said.

He said the President’s SONA will be “memorable and fighting speech” like his inaugural address last June 30 where he claimed the
people is his boss. “It will be a realistic speech. It will speak of the truth. It will spell out his programs, his doable solutions. It will
also spell out some of the ills of the (past) administration,” he said.

The supposed misdeeds of the past administration would comprise only “less than a third” of the SONA, according to Lacierda. He
said the President will state the “realities” inherited from the Arroyo administration and “then move on to his solutions, move to the
budget, and move on to the other things that he believes will wipe out corruption and alleviate poverty.”

Mr. Aquino, who won the presidency on a campaign agenda “Kung Walang Corrupt, Walang Mahirap,” is also expected to make a
call on the people to rally behind his government, said Lacierda.
In his speech, the President will also make a case for the legislative bills that he hopes Congress would pass this session. The
government will propose a P1.757-trillion budget for next year, which is 14% more than this year’s P1.54-trillion outlay, amid plans
to spend more on infrastructure and social services to stimulate economic growth.

Other people helping the President write his speech are former news anchor Ricky Carandang, former columnist Manolo Quezon III,
his speechwriter Mai Mislang, and Secretary Julia Abad who heads the Presidential Management Staff (PMS).

Carandang and Quezon are members of the Communications Group, which has yet to be formed officially through an executive order.

Lacierda said it was likely the President has invited his sisters and Councilor Shalani Soledad to attend his SoNA in Congress on
Monday. Cabinet members are also expected to listen to the President’s speech at Batasan complex. “The President was given tickets
for his own guests,” he added.

Malacañang recently said the President’s speech will be a lot different from his predecessor. For one, it will be a no-frills speech sans
human props and audio visual presentation. Only the truth and facts will be included in the President’s speech, Lacierda said, denying
speculations they were out to deliberately embarrass former President Arroyo.

He said the President has scrutinized the figures and other documents presented to him by the cabinet during their meetings in
preparation for the SONA. “If he wants to cite figures, it’s important for him that should have basis. He doesn’t want his speech to
become an enchanted kingdom,” he said.

Reconciliation with political opponents, however, will be absent in the President’s SONA, according to Lacierda. “Let me go to the
broad strokes, peace process will be discussed. But reconciliation with his political opponents, that is no longer important. What we’re
focused on is policy direction, what programs of President Aquino will be in the next six years,” he said.

Former President Fidel Ramos, meantime, said President Aquino’s SONA should “not be recitation of the problems of the nation –
because most of those are already well-known.”

“Hopefully, he will focus more on what he visualizes the Philippines should be at the end of his watch and beyond – and, equally
important, how he proposes to navigate our ship “Pilipinas” towards a better future,” Ramos said in his column at the Manila Bulletin.

Ricardo Saludo, former spokesman of President Arroyo, advised Mr. Aquino’s speech writers to “make the people the star of every
SoNA.”

In his first SoNA in 1998, former President Joseph Estrada claimed that Ramos administration left the national coffers bankrupt, as he
unveiled plans to revitalize the economy and fight the spate of crime in the country.

Then President Arroyo, in her SONA in 2001, divulged her efforts to create jobs, improve education, provide housing and food
security to the people. These programs were taken from wishes of the three children from Payatas, Quezon City also now known as
“Bangkang Papel” kids, whom she presented in the SONA.

Before she ended her term, then President Arroyo said she was turning over a Philippines with a strong and stable economy after
inheriting a nation in political chaos and economic disarray in 2001.

SOLONS EAGER FOR SOLUTIONS IN SONA

Members of the House of Representatives said Sunday they had certain expectations from Monday’s SoNA other than hearing how
President Aquino will tackle the controversial issues surrounding the administration of former president-now-Pampanga 2nd District
Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Neophyte lawmakers like Bacolod City Rep. Anthony Golez said he would rather hear an enumeration of solutions to the country’s
problems from the new President.

“The President has all the right to do whatever he wants to do in his SONA because that is his own.

He should know what the things he wants to say are,” Golez told Manila Bulletin.

“But as lawmakers, we expect to hear what his programs are for our countrymen. I hope that he will give more plans on how to solve
our problems (than revealing anomalies committed by the previous government),” he added.
Golez, who served National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) director and eventually as presidential deputy spokesperson
during the Arroyo administration, belongs to the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC).

Interestingly, the new lawmaker has committed to go along with his party in supporting Aquino’s bet, Quezon City Rep. Feliciano
“Sonny” Belmonte, for the speakership race to align themselves in the majority bloc in the House of Representatives.

Valenzuela Rep. Rex Gatchalian also expressed desire to hear more solutions to the country’s problems even as Aquino declared
earlier that his revelations in the SoNA about the past administration will shock everyone.

“We are expecting P-NOY (President Noynoy) to lay out the details of his economic plans for the country as these plans will spell
how he will raise our country out of its third world status,” Gatchalian said in a text message.

More than the anomalies, Gabriela Women’s Party Rep. Luzviminda Ilagan said her group would like to hear of Aquino’s agenda on
human rights, particularly on extra-judicial killings and political prisoners.

“The late President Cory Aquino earned much international acclaim for immediately releasing political prisoners. We hope PNoy will
do the same, especially as Judielyn Oliveros, who is among the 43 health workers illegally arrested and detained gave birth last July
23. She and her colleagues should be released,” Ilagan said.

Ilagan also said Gabriela will be looking out for pronouncements in relation to poverty alleviation, Charter change, pursuing peace in
Mindanao and the presence of US troops.

Lakas-Kampi-CMD spokesperson Raul Lambino said allies of Mrs. Arroyo in the House advised her not to attend Monday’s SoNA
since they expect Aquino to divulge information that would put her administration in a bad light.

Meanwhile, House acting Secretary-General Marilyn Barua-Yap said the Inter-agency Task Force SoNA assured that all preparations
are on track for the event at the Batasan Pambansa at 4 p.m. Monday. (Rio Rose Ribaya)

SECURITY CHECK

Police are ready to maintain peace and order and man critical traffic chokepoints in the vicinity of the Batasan Complex in Quezon
City, where the SoNA will be held, the National Capital Regional Police Office (NCRPO) assured Sunday.

Director Roberto Rosales, NCRPO director, said the Chief Superintendent Benjardi Mantele, Quezon City Police District (QCPD)
director, has already laid out a traffic rerouting and personnel deployment plan for Monday’s event.

Joining the 6,000 policemen deployed Monday are augmentation forces from other Police Regional Offices (PROs), the Armed Forces
of the Philippines’ (AFP’s) National Capital Region Command (NCRCom), the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), the QC Department
of Public Order and Safety (DPOS), the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), and the Philippine National Red
Cross (PNRC). (Jean Fernando)

TRAFFIC REROUTING

For his part, Mantele reported that advisories have been posted for motorists to abide by the traffic re-routing plan that will be
implemented starting 6 a.m. Monday.

Under the direction of police personnel and traffic aides, north bound vehicles or vehicles coming from Quezon City Memorial Circle
going to Fairview must take the U-turn slot fronting Jocfer Building, and use part of the opposite lane, under the direction of traffic
officers, up to the U-turn slot in San Simon Street fronting the Commission on Audit (COA) building.

All vehicles must take the U-turn slot at San Simon (Riverside) to go back to normal traffic flow towards Fairview.

Vehicles of VIPs with authorized car passes will pass through the U-turn Slot in front of St. Peter Church going to the Batasan
Complex.

For southbound vehicles or those coming from Fairview going to Quezon City Memorial Circle, traffic flow will be normal. (Jean
Fernando)
MUSLIMS AWAIT MINDANAO AGENDA

Like every Filipino, the estimated eight to 10 million Muslims in the country are keenly awaiting the first State-of-the-Nation Address
(SoNA) of President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III Monday, eager to hear his formula for peace in Mindanao.

“We hope the President’s speech will be ‘straightforward,’” said Amina Rasul, lead convenor of the Philippine Council for Islam and
Democracy (PCID).

In a statement, the PCID enumerated the need to attain genuine and just peace; re-orientation of the government’s strategy from all-out
wars to getting to the conflict’s root causes; strengthening of rule of law, not the political warlords, in the Autonomous Region in
Muslim Mindanao (ARMM); for a genuine autonomy for Muslim Mindanao; and democratic reforms in the 2011 ARMM elections
with non-interference of Malacañang. (Edd K.Usman)

CBCP WATCHES

Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Iñiguez, known as an outspoken critic of government, said Sunday that he will be closely monitoring the
SoNA.

“Of course, I will listen to it,” said Iniguez, chairman of the Public Affairs Committee Chairman of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference
of the Philippines (CBCP).

The prelate is particularly interested in the President’s handling of issues related to graft and corruption; the Comprehensive Agrarian
Reform Program with extension and reforms or CARPER; and illegal gambling. (Leslie Ann G. Aquino)