Former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. CONTRIBUTED FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—Will former President and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo be present during President Benigno Aquino III’s third State of the Nation Address (Sona)?
House minority leader and Quezon Province’s 3rd District Representative Danilo Suarez, an ally of the detained former chief executive, said that it was very unlikely Arroyo can make it.
“I don’t think she will attend,” Suarez told reporters in a phone interview on Thursday, explaining that the Arroyo was unlikely to be allowed by the Pasay regional trial court to appear at the House of Representatives on July 23.
And although Arroyo’s health condition was improving, Suarez said that she was not fit enough to leave the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC), where she has been placed under hospital arrest for charges of electoral sabotage.
The former President was also a no-show in Aquino’s first and second Sona.
But even in the absence of Arroyo, the minority leader stressed that the minority bloc will show up in full force to witness what Aquino had to say after two years of leading the country.
Asked when they would come up with a “kontra Sona”, Suarez said they have yet to prepare the said counter speech for release Wednesday next week.
He however pointed out that the kontra Sona will not be used to criticize Aquino’s speech but would instead be used to deliver the comments of the minority bloc on issues to be brought up by the chief executive.
Suarez has recently expressed his personal admiration of Aquino’s honesty.