Palace assures Arroyo: No plan to embarrass you at SONA

President Benigno Aquino III has no plans of embarrassing his predecessor Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in his first State of the Nation Address on Monday — at least not deliberately. But presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda hinted that Mrs. Arroyo, now a member of the 15th Congress, may expect Aquino to enumerate problems he inherited from her administration. “Kung siya ay matatamaan, yan ay dahil sa pag-enumerate (If she will be alluded to, that is due to the enumeration of facts). There is no intention to spite or offend Congresswoman Arroyo. It is only an objective narration of facts," Lacierda said on government-run dzRB radio Saturday. During the campaign leading to the May 10 elections, Aquino had run on a platform of anti-corruption, repeatedly scoring the alleged irregularities of the Arroyo administration. Mrs. Arroyo is now a member of the Lower House, representing the second district of Pampanga, her home province. Lacierda said Aquino had been spending the weekend meeting members of his Cabinet to triple-check the facts he will enumerate in his SONA on Monday. A separate report on dzRB said Cabinet members at the Saturday meeting included secretaries Florencio Abad (budget) and Cesar Purisima (finance). But Lacierda said Aquino will not have Mrs. Arroyo in mind while crafting the SONA. “Ang ginagawa sa SONA di namin iniisip o inaalala si Congresswoman Arroyo (In doing the SONA, we won’t be thinking or worrying about Congresswoman Arroyo)," he said. Listen to SONA, Palace asks public Lacierda appealed to the public to listen to Aquino’s first SONA on Monday, saying it will feature “different" solutions in the sense that they are doable. “Bagama’t may pasok, we encourage everyone na pakinggan ang talumpati (Although there will be classes, we encourage everyone to listen to the speech). It will be doable, it will not be something that is pleasing to the ears, it is something we must all hear," he said. He said the SONA will emphasize Aquino’s campaign promise of “Kung walang corrupt walang mahirap (If there is no corruption there will be no poverty)." The SONA will seek to “eradicate corruption and alleviate poverty," he added. “Overall, it’s what the president intends to do (and his) policy direction ... Ang kakaiba siguro ang solution na ibibigay (What’s probably different from other SONA’s will be the solutions offered), what is different is (that the solutions must be) doable," he said. On the other hand, he declined to elaborate on Aquino’s legislative agenda, and only said the public can “expect measures on the eradication of poverty and corruption."—JV, GMANews.TV