The First SONA of President Aquino

While this post is being written, it is still early Monday in the Philippines. The activities in and around Congress have not begun and the rallies that are supposed to greet the State of the Nation Address of President Aquino and the tight security that the Philippine National Police plans to put around the area have not taken place. However, the excitement and expectations of a meaty SONA are already felt in Philippine society, including the media. It is said the speech of President Aquino to the legislators in both houses and to the nation in general will mostly be in Pilipino, interspersed perhaps by a few paragraphs and sentences here and there in English. In short, the intention is there to make the speech completely communicated clearly to everyone, most especially to the majority of Filipinos who voted him into power due to his powerful campaign slogan of "Kung Walang Corrupt, Walang Mahirap".
Much of the next six years in the Aquino administration is believed encapsulized in the first SONA. While he will talk about a depleted treasury caused by profligate spending by the Arroyo administration, President Aquino promises to replace the shock that the audience will feel about details of a depleting budget, including a measly sum left to tackle calamity and disasters from incoming typhoons the rest of the year, with his vision and goals of his Presidency. This is supposed to guide the legislators on the kind of laws and support that he expects from the halls of Congress.
President Aquino is expected to reveal for the first time the core of his program of reforms to improve the conditions of the country and eventually propel it to the zenith of prosperity and progress. Because he always pledges his sincerity to everything that he says and does to the Filipino people, it should be the climax of the day to hear him say the visions of his leadership to the Filipino people as well as the expected invitation that he will lay down to the entire citizenry of the Philippines to support him and help him produce a better Philippines. In a way, the President is most likely ready to appeal once more to the majority if not all of the Filipino population to reveal their better nature to help each other and volunteer in whatever they can to attain the success of the visions that he will speak of for the entire nation.
It is much like, and this is just a guess, a rephrasing of the call of US President John F. Kennedy to the American people in his inaugural speech: "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."
What ever transpires in the halls of Congress and around it this Monday, it is hoped it will be for a much improved country and a more patriotic citizenry.