President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said his second State of the Nation Address on July 24 will outline his administration’s accomplishments in his first year in office as well as the challenges ahead and next steps to be taken.
Mr. Marcos said he is still in the process of completing his speech.
“We’re still preparing everything, all the materials… Like any SONA, it will be a report to the nation as to what the situation has happened in the last year, in the last SONA — where we are now, what we have managed to do, and where we still have work to do. That is essentially the template that we are going to use,” he said.
“So, the things that I mentioned in the first SONA, we will have a look and see what was really discussed there during our first SONA. I think there is something we can show and that’s what the content of the SONA will probably be,” he added.
The President is expected to report on the priority legislative measures of the administration that have been passed into law, including the Maharlika Investment Fund bill which has yet to be signed, as well as on the gains of his various foreign trips in the past year. (See full story online at manilastandard.net)
Earlier, Philippine National Police chief Gen. Benjamin Acorda Jr. said the PNP would exercise maximum tolerance for rallyists who would troop to Batasan on July 24.
“Our police are trained for this kind of operation. We oftentimes hear the words maximum tolerance, observation of human rights,” Acorda said.
The National Capital Region Police Office will enforce a gun ban and deploy over 20,000 police officers for next month’s SONA.
NCRPO chief Maj. Gen. Edgar Okubo said 31 border control points within Metro Manila will be set up.
The NCRPO will also suspend permits to carry firearms outside residences in Metro Manila from 12:01 a.m. of July 24 until midnight of July 25.
NCRPO said it will likewise mobilize a “strike force” ready to provide additional forces if needed during the SONA.
