President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III seemed to have pleased the audience of his second State of the Nation Address, as he received more applause than he did last year.
During his one-hour speech , guests at the Session Hall of the House of Representatives at the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City applauded the President 48 times compared to the 29 during his first SONA.
The crowd mostly lauded Aquino’s accomplishment report in his one year of presidency.
The President was first applauded when he reported that the self-rated hunger dropped from 20.5 percent in March 2010 to 15.1percent in July this year.
He received the longest round of applause when he said, “Malinaw ang pahiwatig natin ngayon sa buong mundo: Ang sa Pilipinas ay sa Pilipinas.”
He added that the Philippines is ready to defend what really belongs to the country and that the government is considering to bring the case of the West Philippine Sea to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.
The newly appointed Ombudsman former Supreme Court Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales was also lauded by the audience.
“Inaasahan ko nga po na sa taon na ito, masasampahan na ng kaso ang lahat ng nagkuntsabahan sa katiwalian, at naging sanhi ng situwasyong ating inabutan,” Aquino said.
Aquino received loud reactions from the crowd when he disclosed that PAGCOR spent one billion pesos on coffee which amounted to 10 million cups of coffee in a year.
“Baka po kahit ngayong iba na ang pamunuan ng PAGCOR ay dilat na dilat pa rin ang mata ng mga uminom ng kapeng ito. Hanapin nga po natin sila, at matanong: nakakatulog pa po ba kayo,” the president said, inserting sense of humor in his speech.
