Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
Following criticisms from various sectors that President Benigno Aquino III snubbed important issues in his last and longest State of the Nation Address (Sona), a Palace official on Wednesday said the president could not please everyone.
Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said Aquino’s sixth Sona tackled his journey from 2010 to 2015, including the problems confronted by his administration, and how they tried to solve them.
“Everybody who’s watching the Sona brings their own—his or her own advocacy while watching it. Some people are happy that they felt their advocacy was mentioned, some people didn’t. That has always been a reality that everyone, including the President, knows,” Lacierda said in a press briefing.
Lacierda said just because a specific issue was not mentioned in Aquino’s two-hour speech does not mean that it was not being prioritized by the government.
“It does not mean that we do not recognize that those problems exist. The daang matuwid is not a smooth road. Marami tayong dinaanang mga tinatawag ni Pangulong Aquino na ‘landmines,’” Lacierda said. “It’s an ever-moving work in progress on making better the lives of Filipinos concerned. There are problems there that we are continuing to address even if they were not mentioned.”
In his final Sona, Aquino criticized anew the supposed blunders of the government under former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, enumerated the feats of his administration, pushed for the passage of the anti-dynasty bill and spewed fire against his critics, alluding to the camp of Vice President Jejomar Binay.
READ: 2-hour Sona on Aquino gains strewn with swipes at Binay
Among the issues not discussed in his speech include the Freedom of Information Bill and the botched Mamasapano operation that killed 44 commandos of the Philippine National Police-Special Action Force.
READ: Palace: Aquino does not forget FOI despite Sona snub
“This is the President’s Sona; this is the President’s journey from where he started, providing a benchmark from before and when he ran for office and what he inherited when he assumed office,” Lacierda said.
Referring to the 2016 presidential polls, Lacierda added that the Sona left Filipinos the decision if they would want to continue the reforms implemented by the present administration under its “daang matuwid” slogan.
“Moving forward, we ask ourselves, the President asked the Filipino people: ‘Do you want daang matuwid to continue? And if you do want it to continue, 2016 is your choice; 2016 is a referendum on daang matuwid. In fact, 2016 is the reelection of daang matuwid. Do you want daang matuwid to continue? … Then elect the candidate that I am going to endorse, because the person that I am going to endorse will certainly continue the reforms of daang matuwid,’” he said.