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Emotional SONA 2014 draws mixed reviews
PRESIDENT Benigno S. Aquino III greeted protesters, supporters, criticisms and praises as he delivered his fifth State of the Nation Address (SONA) at the House of Representatives on July 28, 2014.
PRESIDENT Benigno S. Aquino III greeted protesters, supporters, criticisms and praises as he delivered his fifth State of the Nation Address (SONA) at the House of Representatives on July 28, 2014.
The President, joined by his sisters, was overcome by emotion during the last few statements of his speech, recalling the lessons he had learned from his late parents, President Corazon Aquino and, opposition leader during the Marcos era, Benigno S. Aquino Jr.
“To my Bosses: You gave me an opportunity to lead our efforts to transform society. If I had said ‘no’ when you asked me to take on this challenge, then I could just as well have said that I would help prolong your suffering. I cannot do that in good conscience. If I had turned my back on the opportunity, then I might as well have turned my back on my father and mother, and all the sacrifices they made for all of us; that will not happen. On our journey along the straight path, you have always chosen what is right and just; you have been true to your promise, and I have been true to all of you. “
The President continued, “As long as your faith remains strong, as long as we continue serving as each other’s strength, we will continue proving that ‘the Filipino is worth dying for,’ ‘the Filipino is worth living for,’ and if I might add: ‘The Filipino is worth fighting for.’”
This year’s SONA also gathered the attention of at least 18,000 protesters across the country, according to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, following numerous issues, one of which is the unresolved Disbursement Acceleration Program.
Disbursement Acceleration Program
Amidst controversies surrounding the DAP, President Aquino was early to defend his stance, as he spoke of the improvements and achievements of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) scholars.
DAP allotted 1.6 billion pesos to the program, enabling 223,615 students to graduate; 146,731 of the group have already found jobs, according to the data presented by the President.
The program was unanimously declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court due to a number of its acts, mainly the “withdrawal of unobligated allotments from the implementing agencies, and the declaration of the withdrawn unobligated allotments and unreleased appropriations as savings prior to the end of the fiscal year and without complying with the statutory definition of savings contained in the General Appropriations Act.”
In-and-out protests
Among the group of protesters were ones who lied inside the House of Representatives’ Plenary Hall. Lawmakers wearing peach-colored barongs and gowns, the same group that led the complaints for the ousting of the President, walked out of the building just before the SONA had begun.
They joined other groups of protesters outside who burned pictures, posters, effigies of the President, and shouted for an impeachment following, again, the issues of the DAP.
President Aquino also addressed his critics during his almost two-hour speech, saying “for those who have no other goal than to overthrow government, they can only recruit members when a great number of people are suffering and losing faith in the system.”
“This is why, with a reformed system that has ended the people’s suffering, the number of potential recruits has dwindled, which explains why their group is getting smaller and smaller. It is only natural that they oppose us. The noisiest and loudest of those who oppose us are not in favor of the transformation of our country, precisely because they manipulated and benefited from the old and broken systems.”
The speech also included many accomplishments of the government regarding the business and economic growth and the completion of many infrastructures.
Photo by Patrick Jason O. Palencia
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News
Thomasian innovation bested others in the Metro
A mere escape from summer boredom hailed two Engineering Thomasians victorious in the recent Manila Bay Cleanup competition, launched by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) in April.
A mere escape from summer boredom hailed two Engineering Thomasians victorious in the recent Manila Bay Cleanup competition, launched by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) in April.
Fourth year Electronics Communication Engineering (ECE) students John Beljoe Abao and Ariel Manalaysay had outclassed seven other competing schools with their giant dustpan-like entry, which, according to them is based on simple logic and imagination, and practically out of the boredom during the vacation.
“Nung summer walang magawa, and opportunity din naman ‘yon,” Abao said, referring to the contest.
With the theme “Innovative Engineering Solutions to the Manila Bay Garbage Problem,” the contest encouraged student participants to devise creative contraptions that may eventually be improved and produced by the MMDA.
“It (the prototype) is V-shaped and it has a hole in the middle where a concrete storage is placed,” Abao said.
With big waves in the bay, floating debris and trash will be swept into the chute and into the tank, “just merely collecting the trash into the bin.”
Competition
The Thomasian duo took three days of brainstorming, a day to formulate the concept paper, and only a span of two hours to construct the model. But despite the short amount of time, they were “confident” about their prototype.
“One down, one down,” Abao said when asked what did they feel when they saw other participants’ prototype. According to the duo, the edge of their prototype compared to others’ was the “feasibility to implement because of its simplicity.”
The prototype brought to the defense is made up of only cardboard, masking tape, and illustration board while other participants’ proposals were more technical and even made use of mathematical computations.
The real inspiration behind the innovation, according to Abao, is the fulfillment of seeing his idea being implemented to help improve the Manila Bay.
“Kuha lang ng kuha. When the opportunity comes, grab without hesitation,” Abao and Manalaysay said, advising the Thomasian community to be ready when opportunity knocks.
According to an article in Inquirer, Department of Public Works and Highway (DPWH) Assistant Secretary Maria Catalina Cabral said that in choosing the winning design they looked for “innovation and engineering.”
“The concept is doable. We saw there was potential for this to be built and developed. MMDA and DOST will make more studies to develop and make more improvements on this proposal,” Cabral added in the said article.
The duo received P25,000 cash prize along with Certificate of Recognition.
Other participating schools included Ateneo de Manila University, University of the Philippines-Diliman, Manuel L. Quezon University and Mapua Institute of Technology.
By Mia Mallari and Romhelyn Benipayo
Photo courtesy of John Beljoe Abao
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