SONA: Unsonorous But Sound

PHILIPPINES - Report 23 Jul 2013 by Romeo Bernardo and Christine Tang

The annual reporting must have become a chore by now and it showed in a bland speech lasting almost two hours. Hailed by supporters but slammed by critics, President Benigno Aquino’s midterm State of the Nation Address (SONA) yesterday before a joint session of the 16th Congress was in substance and style largely similar to the prior three. Certainly, there was a tad less blaming of the old administration and more years of gains to count, but all the usual elements were there: the trumpeting of achievements in governance, particularly in terms of freeing up fiscal space for other priority s...

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