Growing Up

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The State of the Nation Address (Filipino: Talumpati sa Kalagayan ng Bayan, abbreviated SONA) is an annual event in the Republic of the Philippines, in which the President of the Philippines reports on the status of the nation, normally to the resumption of a joint session of the Congress (the House of Representatives and the Senate). This is a duty of the President as stated in Article VII, Section 23 of the 1987Constitution:

“The President shall address the Congress at the opening of its regular session. He may also appear before it at any other time.”

2006 marked the 70th anniversary of the State of the Nation Address.^[2] 
The first one was delivered by President Manuel L. Quezonon June 16, 1936. All such addresses are published in The Official Gazette, an annual publication by the government, which is a collection of all promulgations, Supreme Courtdecisions, executive issuances, and laws, which have been passed for the year. It is always delivered on the fourth Monday of July. From Wikipedia
NOYNOY AQUINO’s Mission:We will start to make these changes first in ourselves—by doing the right things, by giving value to excellence and integrity and rejecting mediocrity and dishonesty, and by giving priority to others over ourselves.
We will make these changes across many aspects of our national life.A Commitment to Transformational Leadership:
1. From a President who tolerates corruption to a President who is the nation’s first and most determined fighter of corruption.2. From a government that merely conjures economic growth statistics that our people know to be unreal to a government that prioritizes jobs that empower the people and provide them with opportunities to rise above poverty.3. From relegating education to just one of many concerns to making education the central strategy for investing in our people, reducing poverty and building national competitiveness.4. From treating health as just another area for political patronage to recognizing the advancement and protection of public health, which includes responsible parenthood, as key measures of good governance.5. From justice that money and connections can buy to a truly impartial system of institutions that deliver equal justice to rich or poor.Economy6. From government policies influenced by well-connected private interests to a leadership that executes all the laws of the land with impartiality and decisiveness.7. From treating the rural economy as just a source of problems, to recognizing farms and rural enterprises as vital to achieving food security and more equitable economic growth,worthy of re-investment for sustained productivity.8. From government anti-poverty programs that instill a dole-out mentality to well-considered programs that build capacity and create opportunity among the poor and the marginalized in the country.9. From a government that dampens private initiative and enterprise to a government that creates conditions conducive to the growth and competitiveness of private businesses, big, medium and small.10. From a government that treats its people as an export commodity and a means to earn foreign exchange, disregarding the social cost to Filipino families to a government that creates jobs at home, so that working abroad will be a choice rather than a necessity; and when its citizens do choose to become OFWs, their welfare and protection will still be the government’s priority.
Government Service11. From Presidential appointees chosen mainly out of political accommodation to discerning selection based on integrity, competence and performance in serving the public good.12. From demoralized but dedicated civil servants, military and police personnel destined for failure and frustration due to inadequate operational support to professional, motivated and energized bureaucracies with adequate means to perform their public service missions.Gender Equality
13. From a lack of concern for gender disparities and shortfalls, to the promotion of equal gender opportunity in all spheres of public policies and programs.Peace & Order 
14. From a disjointed, short-sighted Mindanao policy that merely reacts to events and incidents to one that seeks a broadly-supported just peace and will redress decades of neglect of the Moro and other peoples of Mindanao.15. From allowing environmental blight to spoil our cities, where both the rich and the poor bear with congestion and urban decay to planning alternative, inclusive urban developments where people of varying income levels are integrated in productive, healthy and safe communities.16. From a government obsessed with exploiting the country for immediate gains to the detriment of its environment to a government that will encourage sustainable use of resources
to benefit the present and future generations.