5th PNoy SONA

President Benigno "PNoy" Aquino III delivered his fifth State of the Nation Address in front of senators and congressmen in Batasan Complex, Quezon City on Monday, July 22, 2014. The President's penultimate SONA, which marked the opening of the 16th Congress, started at exactly 4:00PM and ended after an hour and 31 minutes. It earned 58 rounds of applause from an audience composed lawmakers, government officials, local and international media, dignitaries and other important personalites.

PNoy started the SONA recounting how the Philippines, once called as the “sick of man of Asia” and transformed into one of the most promising economy in Asia. He stressed that the country has rebounded to become a tiger economy, much sought after by international investors, an achievement attributed to prudent fiscal management and good governance by the Aquino administration. This must mean that his administration has made many improvements for the nation’s economy, well, if and only if all the data he bragged are true.

First economy-related item he emphasized was the around P1.6 billion fund was given to Training-for-Work Scholarship Program of TESDA. A total of 223,615 beneficiaries have graduated with an equivalent of 146,731 graduates currently working. As the saying goes, the human resource is the most important asset of on the organization, so this somehow contributes to the growth of a business and the economy. Moreover, many of these graduates are employed in the BPO sector which is one of the fastest growing industries, stimulating again the economy.

The President also pointed out the improvement in investment grade rating that the country was able to obtain from major credit rating agencies since 2013. As he stated, the credit rating upgrade meant “that the Philippines will be able to borrow funds for projects and programs at lower interest rates, more businesses will be attracted to invest in the country, and Filipinos would be able to feel the benefits of economic resurgence more quickly.” Again, this contributes to a better economy for the country.

He also underscored infrastructure development, which is also essential to sustaining the momentum of the economy. The budget for infrastructure, he said, more than doubled from 200.3 billion pesos in 2011 to 404.3 billion pesos in 2014, making companies go into fierce competition to outdo each other for the privilege to build the infrastructure project, unlike before wherein the government needed to implement incentive scheme just to attract bidders.

The lifting by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) of safety concerns it had previously issued for the Philippines, and the European Union removing the ban on Philippine Airlines flights, may also help to boost the tourism and international business relations.

On the agriculture sector, he emphasized that the government also provided farmers with modern equipment to ensure the efficiency of planting and harvest.

These are some of the economy-related items in the 5th SONA. This is his address to the nation so it is expected that he emphasized only accomplishments and not the shortages. If these good news are true then we as Filipino citizens should at least be thankful, after all these are better than none, and even seems better than the many of his predecessors.