Noy to take a swipe at GMA in SONA

MANILA, Philippines - The second State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Aquino will — just like his first in July 2010 — inevitably take a swipe at his predecessor Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, albeit for “comparison” purposes only, a Palace official said yesterday.

“You cannot merely throw out figures without having a point of comparison,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte told anchor Pinky Webb — host of the “Dateline Philippines” program — over ABS-CBN News Channel.

She said mentioning the name of now Pampanga congresswoman Arroyo is unavoidable, especially because there have been numerous anomalous transactions that transpired in the past administration that have been rectified by the new government.

“At this point, you have to remember that the President will be talking about what he has done in the country the past year,” the undersecretary pointed out, apparently referring to the so-called landmines they have discovered.

“For example, if we speak about rice importations and how we have managed to put that number down. If you throw out 800,000 metric tons, people won’t really understand immediately what that means,” Valte said.

But if you make a comparison, or highlight this figure “in contrast to the 1.3 million metric tons that we have been importing,” then the Filipino people will understand that around 2.3 million metric tons are put to waste because of unnecessary over-importation.

“So, again it’s just a matter of comparison,” Valte maintained, noting that this is just one of the many questionable transactions that the Aquino government found out, where the others included the cancellation of the Laguna Lake dredging project, among others.

The Presidential Communications Group, in close coordination with the President himself, is now drafting the SONA speech he will deliver before the Congress on July 25 at the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City.

“We are still in the process of putting together the President’s SONA. That’s our team, along with, of course President Aquino at the helm. We are working very hard to make sure that the President is prepared for Monday’s SONA,” she said.

The President earlier told officials and members of the Philippine Council for Evangelical Churches in Clark, Pampanga that the “final chapter” of his crusade against corruption will soon be bearing fruit with indictments against corrupt officials of the previous administration.

Aquino issued the warning, without naming names but who may most likely include Arroyo.

Malacañang said as soon as the successor of former ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez is appointed, the Aquino administration will be filing charges against Arroyo and her allies.

“Again, we don’t want to file a case that is half-cooked, and we prefer that there is already a permanent ombudsman in place (before we file cases),” said Secretary Edwin Lacierda, spokesman for Aquino.