Kapampangans want Aquino to address sector issues in Sona

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO — Kapampangans from different parts of the province and abroad said they would like to hear President Benigno Aquino III’s programs for various sector issues here in his third State of the Nation Address (Sona) today, Monday.

In random interviews made by Sun.Star, Kapampangans said they would like to hear about Aquino’s accomplishments and future programs for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), lesbian and gay rights, solutions to the diplomatic relationship with China over Panatag Shoal, economic accomplishments for 2013, the seemingly slow government projects and the economic agenda for 2013.

An influential Roman Catholic official here said he is interested to hear Aquino’s stand on the Reproductive Health bill. Meanwhile, business leaders here would like to hear Aquino’s assessment on the initial quarter of this fiscal year.

Pampanga Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. (PamCham) vice chairman Rene Romero described recently the performance of the local economy during the first semester or past six months of 2012 as still “sluggish.”

At the onset of the year, Romero opined that the local economy would be “shaky” but not “really worrying,” because of external effects of other world economies like that of the US, China and what he branded as the Asean tigers.

Earlier last week, youth groups in Central Luzon launched a week-long protest activity in preparation of Aquino’s Sona that will be greeted with a bigger protest rally from participants coming from the provinces that will troop to Batasang Pambansa today, Monday.

The activities were led by Anakbayan, League of Filipino Students, Karatula, College Editors Guild of the Philippines, and National Union of Students of the Philippines.

There will also be an interactive timeline of Aquino's speech that can be accessed at specials.sunstar.com.ph/noynoyaquino, plus multimedia reports, Sona fast facts, glossary of Filipino-English terms used by the President in his report, and even a transcript of his address.

Updates will also be posted on social media, through Sun.Star - Philippine News on Facebook, @sunstaronline on Twitter, and Sun.Star Philippines on Google+.

The website will also provide online polls to give its readers a chance to rate President Aquino's performance. The polls will be made available both on Facebook and on the PNoy special section at specials.sunstar.com.ph/noynoyaquino. (Ian Ocampo Flora)