IN THE KNOW: SONA 2011

In his second State of the Nation Address (Sona), President Benigno Aquino III will give the Congress and the people an update on the national situation, continuing a presidential tradition enshrined in the Constitution.

Dating back 75 years, the President’s Sona was originally mandated by Article VII, Section 5 of the 1935 Philippine Constitution: “The President shall from time to time give to the Congress information on the state of the nation, and recommend to its consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.”

This provision was copied from the United States Constitution, the Philippines being under American rule at the time.

Carrying on the custom, the 1987 Philippine Constitution required the President to address the Congress at the opening of its regular session on the fourth Monday of July (Article VII, Section 23 and Article VI, Section 15).

In her first Sona in July 1987, President Corazon Aquino spoke before the elected members of the House and Senate after years of martial law and laid down her government priorities to make the transition to democracy: land reform, autonomy and more defense spending.

In 1992, President Fidel Ramos talked about reform, change and growth, and proclaimed amnesty for 4,500 communist and Muslim rebels, as well as ordered the review of the cases of political detainees.

In 1998, President Joseph Estrada said: “Bangkarote ang gobyerno” (The government is bankrupt). He then proposed cutbacks in government spending, forced savings in every agency and the abolition of pork barrel.

In 2001, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo presented three Payatas boys and revealed her four-point antipoverty program: free enterprise, a modernized agricultural sector, social bias toward the disadvantaged, and higher moral standard for government and society.

Last year, in his first State of the Nation Address (Sona) delivered in a straight-to-the-point manner, Mr. Aquino denounced the “revolting” manner that the public coffers were squandered under the Arroyo administration and said that “change can come from our determination to stamp out this extravagance and profligacy.”

Declaring “we can dream again,” Mr. Aquino outlined a program to forge public-private partnerships to raise revenues for a nation strapped for cash because of inefficiency and corruption under the Arroyo administration.

Compiled by Inquirer Research
Source: Inquirer Archives