CEBUANOS expectation on PNoy's last SONA

Here are some of the expectations of Cebuanos interviewed on the sixth and last State of the Nation Address (SONA) to be delivered by President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III. 

Atty. Mae Elaine Bathan - Governor, Integrated Bar of the Philippines, Eastern Visays - Unify, no more blaming

"I expect SONA to be an honest and truthful presentation of the accomplishments of the administration in the last five years and for the president to humbly point projects yet to be realized. I hope there will be no more blaming or pointing of fingers. I expect the president to own up to the failure of the admin to achieve some targeted goals and the lapses of the past. I hope his final SONA will unify the country and bring us to a clearer direction for 2016."

Mayor Luciano Rama Jr. - Municipality of Poro - Yolanda Accomplishments, climate change

1. accomplishment after Yolanda
2. Improvements of airports, expansion of NAIA 3 3. Poverty Alleviation programs 4. employment- BDO, Manufacturing and other industries 5. Caboatge Law and Competitiveness Law 6.Peace in Mindanao- Bangsa Moro 7. Climate Change

Ahmed Cuizon - MCIAA Assistant Manager -Empower LGU's , strict CESO implementation
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"He will recap his term with a string of accomplishments, the greatest of which, I think, is his having been able to cut down corruption (ex. prosecuting officials and removing undesirables), uphold national sovereignty (standing up to territorial threats and rallying neighboring countries to do the same), strengthen merit and fitness system in the civil service (ex., strict observance of CESO eligibility and merit/fitness system), bolster good government practices and empower LGUs (ex., seal of good governance), maximize revenue generation (ex., strengthening of BIR collections and optimization of GOCC income stream), rationalize the national budget (ex., increased spending for education and other basic social services), bolster infrastructure (ex., the massive scale of public road and building projects including airport development) and bring back national pride (ex., by winning back respect for the country and our people before the family of nations).

Dr. Eddie Llamedo, information officer, Department of Environment and Natural Resources - Identified as urgent bill increasing salary of all government workers.

"The President will articulate the completion of the cadastral survey throughtout the country, the cadastral survey is important to advance economic growth by intensifying the issuance of titles and prevent possible conflict between neighboring towns; Indicate the completed geohazards mapping and assessment in more than 1,600 cities and towns; Articulate the contribution of the national greening program by improving our forest cover from 6 million to 7 million hectares; Certify as urgent on the proposed bill increasing the salary of all govt workers;"

Police Inspector Arieza Otida- chief Family, Gender and Development Services, Cebu City Police Office - Children in Conflict with Law , Psycho-social help

"I.hope he would gve priorities sa mga shelters for abused women children and cicl..a haven nga 1 stop shop..naa psycho social svcs nga klaro and livelihood programs"


Engracia Birondo- Argao Information Officer - Accomplishments


"For sure he will tell us of he had achieved but i don't know if he will accept where he failed."

Romel de los Santos-Alcoy Information Officer - BBL
"As usual, he will expect a lot of applause from his captive audience and i expect them to applaud him even more. Thanks to BBL He is a good person perhaps but in a way not that good in leadership."

Greg Jumao-as - Cordova, Information Officer, Anti-corruption updates

I expect heart warming, inspiring address if he will enumerate the positives including how many generals now are n prisons, arroyo, corona, napoles, corrupt senators, ecomic gains and many more. Let d critics do d opposite. I rate him wd high passing grade,

My #PeaceNaPlease experience (A PIA intern from Palompon's learning from BBL youth workshop)

“Everybody deserves peace, but it’s all up to us if we let peace happen or just let other people steal peace away from us.”

Lucky me, I am among those who was able to join the first ever #PeacenaPlease forum in the country which kicked off in Cebu 

Lots of learning I must say. The "#PeaceNaPlease" held on June 11, 2015 at the Handuraw, Gorordo Avenue, Cebu City was a blessing for me. 

Me as PIA intern, participating in the workshop =)

The activity was participated by student writers from different Universities in Cebu, Organization Leaders and the Media.

The program talked about the BangsamoroBasic Law(BBL) and the outcomes of it if it will be pass, the positive side of it and the help it may give to our Moro brothers and sisters in Mindanao and all over the country.

It gave me an opportunity to interact and talk about the topic with the different people who  came from different environment and culture. I am not used to talking in front of people whom I don’t know, but I am happy to say that despite of having different stands from the topic, We all have the same goal- To achieve peace!

I am not a pro or anti- BBL, but as a citizen of this country, I know I can help in my own simple way to create harmonious relationship with one another by just letting people know how BBL is important to our brothers and sisters in Mindanao. It is true that not all Moro’s are terrorists and not all terrorists are Moro’s. From the activity that I had joined earlier, I learned that they really need help; they need to be respected as a human because they also have feelings. Some people say that Moro’s will still be Moro’s and that they are known to be aggressive people.

The Mamasapano incident will always remind us how aggressive they  are, how they are willing to kill people in spite of the fact that the Government already had a peace agreement with them, the question is- did we consider the civilians and other Moro’s who are not involved in the incident? Why not focus on our minds of creating peace with them? If we will not support it then what do we think is the best way to achieve peace? Is it making war with them again? Remember, not all Moro’s are terrorists, not all Moro’s want war, not all Moro’s want to shed blood! Let’shave pity on those Moro’s who are not involved in the bloody encounter in the Mamasapano.

National Youth Commission Asec Perci Cendana talks about BBL and the youth

I learned from the workshop that Moro’s are thirsty for the support of our Philippine Government in order for them to achieve better ways of living. It’s just not that, we know that Mindanao have lots of natural resources that can help the country in its economy. We all have different stands regarding this issue, but the fact that we are all fighting for peace is what makes it interesting. Let’s just help one another in achieving peace.

-Mariel D. Torres, Palompon Institute of Technology (PIT),  AB. COM INTERN

June 11, 2015