Lacson urges Arroyo to fire SONA speech writer

MANILA, Philippines - Opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson advised President Arroyo to fire the speech writer of her State of the Nation Address (SONA)who “tricked" her on the 50¢ cut on text messaging rates. Lacson said Mrs. Arroyo was misled into believing the 50¢ slash was due to her efforts to lower short messaging service (SMS) rates, when it was a promotion of telecommunications firms. "Dapat ang gawin ni Mrs. Arroyo, i-fire niya ang sino ang nag-include or nag-insert ng portion na yan sa kanyang SONA. Agad-agad. (What Mrs. Arroyo should do is fire that speech writer who inserted that part about the text rate slash in her SONA. And she should do it soonest)," he said. Arroyo's claim on the rate cut drew cheers at the SONA, but it drew flak after subscribers learned it was only a promotion offer, and that they needed to register to avail of it. Earlier, Presidential Management Staff (PMS) head Cerge Remonde said the Palace has already sought an explanation from the Department of Transportation and Communication and the National Telecommunications Commission about the confusion. "Nagpapasalamat tayo merong three months na promo ang telcos, but sana na-inform. Nakakaawa si Pangulong Arroyo dahil she was misled into believing ito kasama sa kanyang effort para mapagaan ang tinatawag niyang way of life ng ating mga kababayan. Yun pala nariyan na yan (We are thankful that the telcos have the three-month promo but they should have made things clearer in the first place. But I pity Mrs. Arroyo because she was misled into believing her efforts led to the rate cut, but it turned out it was just a promo)," Lacson said. - GMANews.TV