Saturday, July 26, 2008 Estrada won’t attend Arroyo’s Sona
FORMER President Joseph Estrada said he will not attend the State of the Nation Address (Sona) of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at the House of Representatives on Monday.
According to Margaux Salcedo, the former leader will not attend the Sona despite receiving a formal invitation from Congress because he does not want to waste his time listening to the “fairy tale” story of the economy.
The former President was ousted from his post by a popular uprising in 2001 which catapulted then Vice President Arroyo to the presidency.
Estrada was arrested and detained for a plunder charge. He was convicted in September last year but was pardoned by Mrs. Arroyo a month later.
Salcedo stressed that rather than to listen to Arroyo, Estrada will just listen to the truths from the Filipino masses.
“The truth of severe hunger, the truth of worsening poverty, the truth of rising inflation, the truth of a worse economy, and the truth that no less than the World Bank has assessed the Philippines to be the most corrupt country in East Asia,” she said.
She added that Estrada believes that proclamations of “progress and sound economic fundamentals” would be like rubbing salt on the wounds of the poor who are the ones hurting from the real state of the nation today.
Even the President’s economic adviser, Albay Governor Joey Salceda, admitted that the Arroyo government is still wanting in fulfilling Mrs. Arroyo’s 2007 Sona.
But Salceda said the Arroyo administration has also done much to uplift the lives of ordinary Filipinos over the past seven years.
Several senators, including Panfilo Lacson, Jose "Jinggoy" Estrada, Aquilino Pimentel Jr. and Joker Arroyo, said they were not interested in showing up for Mrs. Arroyo’s eighth Sona.
Five congressmen - partly-list Representatives Saturnino Ocampo and Teodoro Casiño of Bayan Muna; Liza Masa and Luzviminda Ilagan of Gabriela; and Rafael Mariano of Anakpawis - also said they would not attend the same event.
Earlier, a survey conducted from July 1 to 14 by pollster firm Pulse Asia said there is "much skepticism as regards the truthfulness" of President Arroyo's Sonas.
Among those aware (60 percent) of the Sona, "a big plurality (46 percent) nationwide believe these Sonas had not been truthful, with another almost equally large number (41 percent) being undecided as regards their truthfulness."
Mindanao had the highest percentage of people who did not believe in Arroyo's Sonas with a slight majority of 53 percent saying her Sonas were not truthful.
Urban Visayas registered the highest percentage of people who believed that Arroyo's Sonas were truthful with 21 percent. (AH/Sunnex)
