The indigenous groups' version of the Sona is one of the many activities slated by civic groups, non-government organizations (NGOs), the academe and the progressive organizations.
It will be conducted at Camp Alano and it will focus on the implementation of the Indigenous People's Rights Act (Ipra), which will mark its 10th year of implementation on October this year. The gathering is organized by Legal Rights Center-Kasama sa Kalikasan.
At least 100 leaders of the various indigenous groups in Mindanao will attend the event, along with a hundred more advocate of the plight of the indigenous groups.
The farmers group will also conduct its own version of the Sona on Monday, which will be headed by the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) at 10:30 a.m. at the Freedom Park along Roxas Avenue.
This will be followed by the bigger People's Sona ng Bayan at noon in the same venue.
The protest actions are expected to continue until the end of President Arroyo's around late afternoon Monday.
No ban on rallies
Chief Superintendent Andres Caro II, police regional director, said that protest actions would not be banned on Monday as long as the protesters have secured the proper permits from the authorities.
The military also declared they are on full alert starting Friday for the President's Sona, as they have monitored the movement of some rebel groups and terror organizations that plan to disrupt the various protest actions.
Psywar spin
In a related development, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) branded the military's claim that "sparrow units" or assassins have been deployed in Metro Manila in time for the Sona as nothing but "psywar spins".
The CPP said the propaganda being spun by the military about infiltrations in protest rallies and the assassination plans by the CPP are merely intended to discourage the public from joining the protest rallies.
"Arroyo and her security forces are apprehensive at any possibility that the widespread anger at her regime may result in the continued swelling of protest rallies and threaten to bring down her regime," the statement said.
Just a report
Press Secretary Jesus G. Dureza meantime said President Arroyo's Sona would just be a recap of the administration's programs.
"Ang tutok ng ating bansa sa mahihirap at nangangailangan. Ia-announce niya tuloy-tuloy at walang pagbabago ang program (Her focus will be on the poor and the needy. She will announce that the social welfare programs will continue, without any change)," Dureza said in an interview on dzXL radio.
Dureza said, this time, Arroyo's Sona will just announce that the government will continue its social welfare programs despite their unpopularity.
Unbelieving Manilans
A survey conducted by the Ibon Foundation on Metro Manilas this month, however, showed that the Manilas are not about to accept whatever it is that Arroyo has prepared to be the gospel truth.
The survey conducted on July 12 to 13 among 371 respondents across the National Capital Region (NCR), with a margin of error of plus or minus three percent, showed that a huge majority believe Arroyo will not deliver on her promises in Monday's Sona.
According to the July 2008 results of the Ibon survey, 83.3 percent of residents in the NCR believe that the government will not deliver on the commitments that President Arroyo will make in her address, while only 5.9 percent said yes.
