I.

SUMMARY:
A. Gloria Arroyo
GMA’s first SONA is about her tactics to offer education, create jobs, housing
and food security. She set targets and asked Congress for several legislative
measures. She called for national unity, at the same time stating her
administration's policy to support the fair and speedy trial of all accused in the
cases vs. former President Joseph Estrada. GMA promised to end the Abu Sayyaf.
GMA approved the significance of information and communication technology in
economic development.
Included in her agenda is the showcase of economic philosophy of free
enterprise appropriate to the 21st century. She emphasized modernized
agricultural sector founded on social equity. Also, the social bias toward the
disadvantaged to balance our economic development plan. Included also the plan
to raise the moral standards of government and society, plan to improve moral
standards and the rule of law.
Her programs include anti-terrorism bill, election computerization, farmland as
loan collateral, creation of a Department of Housing, wage increase, tax reform
law, legislation encouraging renewable, indigenous energy, swift passage of anti-
terrorism law, amend the BSP charter and the Banking Act to improve supervision
and promote financial prudence
She was driven to improve the quality of education as required by the new
economy, promote small and medium enterprises or Smes especially in the
countryside. She was also driven to enact laws on capital market reform such as
the Personal Equity Retirement Act, the Investment Company Act, the
Securitization Act, and amendments to the Securities Regulation Code. Also to
enact a law reducing the amount of drugs in a suspect’s possession for him to be
charged with drug trafficking; to remove the tax deduction. She also mentioned in
her SONA that her administration would design foreign policy and foreign trade
policy in the context of Asean. There would be enactment of law giving overseas
Filipinos giving them the right to vote; enact laws addressing internet privacy and
security such as; allowing for multimedia convergence creating a Department of
Telecommunications and Information Technology. She also said that she’ll
improve the quality of education as required by the new economy, enhance the
Philippines relations in terms of ecomic and military power between foreign
countries like United states and bilateral economic and political relations like Japan.
There would also be an enactment of law reducing the amount of drugs in a
suspect's possession for him to be charged with drug trafficking.

GMA had organised her interpretation of the state of the nation along an anti-
poverty ideology. Under this philosophy, the way to fight poverty is to create jobs,
not destroy them. To create jobs, they would attract investments. To attract
investments, the administration said to attend to macro measures and concerns.
In addressing macro concerns, and focus on long-term structural issues.

To reduce corruption among elective officials, the administration would help

honest people elected by financing the full computerisation of elections. GMA
invited the people to create jobs, accelerate progress and thereby address the root
causes of the crime and unrest that so much alarm us.

B. Benigno Aquino III

The first State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Benigno Aquino III
after his election was delivered at the joint session of the Congress of the
Philippines on July 26, 2010. It was short on meaningful promises on the economy.

The SONA can be summarized into two basic ideas. The first part spells out
the sins, incompetence and anomalies of the Arroyo administration and the second
part includes the programs he’s planning to do with his administration in order to
wipe out corruption and alleviate poverty including solutions to extrajudicial killings
in the country. At the end, he said that our situation is so much differ to what it was
before, that now, we can hope for the best, and he call on everyone and
encouraged to never stop dreaming and become one in achieving success for our
country.

Pnoy’s first SONA is started off blaming the past administration for many of the
country's ills and mentioning anomalies made like: number of tax evaders and
smugglers, a budget deficit of P196.7 billion in the first half of the year, depleted
calamity fund with a large chunk spent for the home province of the former
president, alleged abuses and corruption of some officials in an office, funds
misused by another office, and mismanagement of a corporation, among others.
Similarly, he enumerates his government’s new legislative measures to benefit
Filipinos, e.g. better implementation of Anti-Trafficking law, more employment for
the Filipinos, good health programs for the poor, synchronization of ARMM for
national elections, solutions to flooding problems, and DOST and UP team up to
develop a prototype monorail system. He declares that he will lead the country to
the straight path and offers other solutions to the identified problems. These
include prudent spending of the national budget, spending only for the identified
source of funding, giving the small and medium scale enterprises the opportunity
to participate in the growth of Philippine economy, being more responsive to the
needs of national security, and improving the witness protection program to
eradicate the culture of fear and silence.
 One of his promises was that there would be no more grandiose and wasteful
spending or fat commissions from government projects under his watch. Instead
of spending too much, President Aquino said and promised that his administration
would ensure prudent spending, starting with the budget it would submit
to Congress for 2011. In this topic, he specified the Metropolitan Waterworks and
Sewerage System, saying that agency officials and some employees were earning
huge amounts of salaries and allowances. Even the MWSS Board of Trustees, he
said, was also receiving huge amounts in salaries and multiple benefits. He also
mentioned the creation of a Truth Commission, supposed to be headed by former
Supreme Court Chief Justice Hilario Davide. It was envisioned to investigate the
alleged corruption under the Arroyo administration. Aquino said he was about to
sign the week of his SONA an Executive Order creating the Truth Commission.

The President also said he will convene the Legislative Executive

Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) to discuss the important bills that need to
be addressed. Some of which are the following:

 Fiscal Responsibility Bill, which will limit spending bills only for appropriations
that have identified a source of funding.

 Procurement Law to avoid the repeat of the canceled national broadband

network contract between the government and Chinese firm ZTE Corp.

 Anti-Trust Law that will give life to afford Small- and Medium-Scale Enterprises
the opportunity to participate in the growth of our economy.

 National Land Use Bill.

 National Defense Act that is more responsive to the current needs of national
security.

 Whistle blower’s Bill to eradicate the prevalent culture of fear and silence that
has hounded our system.

 Witness Protection Program. We must remember that from 2009 to 2010

alone,cases which involved the participation of witnesses under the program
resulted in a ninety-five percent conviction.

President Aquino did not spare the media as he called on them to be

responsible and to police their own ranks, being members of a deregulated
industry.
 He called on the people to remain vigilant, stressing that it was every Filipino’s
duty to closely watch the leaders that they elected.

Mr. Aquino also emphasized that his administration would run vigorously after
tax evaders and smugglers to improve revenues.

C. Rodrigo Duterte

II. SWOT ANALYSIS

STRENGTHS
A. Gloria Arroyo
In the case of Mrs. Arroyo, the State of the Nation address had served as
dialogues of self-promotion to win the people’s assurance and support. The SONA
obviously served as a tool to strengthen the image of GMA. One noticeable
strategy used to build up the presidential image was by making the President utter
lines that would crawl herself with the people.
Arroyo mentioned a few specific deadlines in her speech -- e.g. "deliver
tangible results vs. graft within 12 months"; "a school building in every barangay
by 2004".

The SONA also contained specific targets.

B. Noynoy
Noynoy’s SONA embodies his personality: simple, straightforward and not
ambitious. The SONA was vividly delivered in full Tagalog version ever in history.
He spoke in layman's terms so that the masses could understand him. And that’s
why it was fully appreciated by the listeners. His proposed solutions to the
country’s problems are down-to-earth and practical. It made it detailed and was
able to describe the administration’s achievements in a year of service. Moreover,
it was full of hope and potentials.

WEAKNESSES
A. Gloria Arroyo
GMA’s State of the Nation addresses sounded more of a lip service than a
sincere accounting of the performance of the government, and why they appeared
to be selective and confined to what the speaker’s supporters wanted to hear.

B. Benigno Aquino III

What Noynoy said in the last part of the SONA, contradicts himself. Also the
overall SONA seems to lack substance and permanent goal. It is also incomplete.
His SONA did not include the plight of the millions of fisherfolks, micro-
entrepreneurs, OFWs, and public utility transport drivers. He also failed to mention
the contributions of the cooperative sector in job generation and capital infusion in
the countryside. The SONA reflected the lack of a meaningful vision for developing
the country and its populist but narrow anti-corruption/anti-Arroyo platform.

OPPORTUNITIES
A. Gloria Arroyo
GMA said they must strengthen justice and the enforcement of law and order.
This pertains to two levels. At the level of principle, this administration affirms its
commitment to the principle that no one is above the law.

GMA had organised her interpretation of the state of the nation along an anti-
poverty ideology. Under this philosophy, the way to fight poverty is to create jobs,
not destroy them. To create jobs, they would attract investments. To attract
investments, the administration said to attend to macro measures and concerns.
In addressing macro concerns, and focus on long-term structural issues.

She taught the Filipinos to set aside bickering and politicking for at least one
year. Thus, the policy is to support the fair and speedy trial of all the accused
involved in the cases against Former President Joseph Estrada. If there were times
that she showed concern for the personal circumstances of the former president,
it is not a sign of diminished determination to see justice done. Rather, it is out of
sensitivity to the feelings of the segments of our masa who have continued to
identify with his personal circumstances.

B. Benigno Aquino III

Noynoy’s SONA renews the hope of every Filipino in attaining a clean
government, quality life, and a healthy and peaceful environment. His SONA also
provided hope to those who are unemployed to find jobs and livelihood and be
motivated to stay in our country. More importantly, it assured us that the horrors
that the GMA administration had inflicted upon us are things of the past.
Noynoy’s SONA gave us opportunity to change our nation and do away with
rampant cheating. There are hopes that embedded systems protected by issued
laws promoting corruption and red tape be eliminated to ease the burdens of the
people and be delivered better services by competent Cabinet leaders and elected
officials. It’s also an urgent call for positive change and a challenge to our
government officials to be honest and responsible in handling people’s money.

THREATS
A. Gloria Arroyo
GMA's first SONA was fresh from the events of EDSA II and EDSA III. The
2001 senatorial elections had just been conducted in May that year. Months before
the SONA, the Abu Sayyaf kidnapped foreign and local tourists from the Dos
Palmas Beach Resort in Palawan. They also escaped military offensives in the
Lamitan siege, taking a few more hostages as they went.

B. Benigno Aquino III

Aquino in his first SONA, focused on exposing wrongdoings allegedly
committed by the previous administration. He sued that some government
agencies were abundant with funds. However, the whole nation suffered from a
limited budget. Aquino was careless. He attacked the previous administration on
overspending and wastage of public funds without examining thoroughly. He
seemed to forget his ethics on diplomacy.

III. FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION

FINDINGS:

A. Gloria Arroyo

GMA's longest SONA was her first SONA. She spent 1 hour and 6 minutes
discussing her plans to provide jobs, education, housing and food on every table
in her 2001 SONA. She boasted of the country's economic growth in her SONA.
She often asked Congress to pass revenue measures. She also called for national
unity and a stop to political backbiting.

B. Benigno Aquino III

Noynoy’s SONA is formal straight Tagalog which is mixed with English social
and political jargons whenever better understood in English. His straight Tagalog,
which is colored by a few code-switching and his use of lip popular tabloid register
seem to help him reach the commoners, the poor, and the less educated. Pres.
Aquino’s first SONA was straight to the point. He didn’t use supports to dramatize
his message, probably because its contents were fiery enough. He emphasized
that there will be transparency in the use of government funds from now on no
more tong-pats or quota. He was not being nasty when he said that the past
administration had used over 90 per cent of the 2010 budget, mostly on projects
in former Pres. Arroyo’s district. Critics said he didn’t investigate into other
important matters. But one can’t expect the President to present everything.
SONAs are just outlines of the state of the nation and an overview of the
President’s plan of action.

Noynoy sounds loving, too, of the Filipinos as reflected by his intelligent choice
of person and social deixes; however, he is not able to sustain his professed love
and footing with the commoners because of his shifting of verbal choices to refer
to them.

C. Rodrigo Duterte

Duterte clearly sent his message to the public, especially to the Lumad and
the rebel groups, who were specially mentioned in his SONA. Also, it was obvious
from his demeanor when he talks about drug problem, criminality, he's very very
serious. You could see in his body language. Duterte's speech revealed how "pure"
his heart is. It's the same thing in his inauguration – love of country, taking care of
people, the welfare of the people.

Overall, Duterte wanted to have a clean government. And this change surely
has already started. It is noticed that unlike previous SONAs, a more controlled
and peaceful protests by militant groups happened outside the Batasang
Pambansa. The budget for food was also cut. There was no longer a "fashion
show" at the Batasan Complex.
CONCLUSION:

A. Gloria Arroyo

Arroyo gave importance to important things. She asked the Congress to enact
laws to address internet privacy and security, allow for multi-media convergence,
and create a department of telecommunications and information technology. And
to prepare our youth to be the next generation of knowledge workers, math and
science teaching in basic education was said to be upgraded.

B. Benigno Aquino III

The SONA of Noynoy was more on criticism on the past administration. It’s
good that he opened the eyes of the Filipino people regarding the anomalies that
are pending because not yet proven. However, if he enumerated more on his plans
for our beloved country and did not focus only to pure criticism, then its better.
SONA is inadequate from other elements to make a plan for our future. Other
economic indicators such as the GDP growth, the balance of payment surplus
where the past administration will score high were intentionally omitted. I believe
therefore that this SONA is a plain list of dreams and hopes.

C.
The new administration of President Rodrigo Duterte has recognized the
relevance of population interventions in his platform of national development. As
such, he pronounced strong political will to fully implement the Responsible
Parenthood and Reproductive Health (RPRH) Law as a component of the national
socio-economic agenda during his first State of the Nation Address
(SONA). Duterte’s SONA was a sure sign that the President is "serious" in leading
the nation. His SONA was very authentic, and he sent his message clearly to those
listening, especially the Lumad, the NPA (New People's Army), the NDF (National
Democratic Front), the Moro brothers, etc. He set the parameters of his
government, he set the goals, and his marching orders are very clear.
While Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said Duterte's
SONA will only last 30 minutes, it actually lasted for 1 hour and 33 minutes,
because he had a lot of ad libs. Nevertheless, his speech was straightforward,
precise, and delivered a strong message to the Filipino people.