At the beginning of his self-congratulatory address he cited the case of Niño Aguirre:
“Paano ba naman pong hindi lalakas ang aking loob, kung pati ang mga tulad ni Ginoong Niño Aguirre ay nakikihubog sa ating kinabukasan? Isipin po ninyo, hindi na nga makalakad dahil sa kapansanan, pilit pa rin niyang inakyat ang presintong nasa ikaapat na palapag ng gusali, para lang makaboto at makiambag sa tunay na pagbabago ng lipunan. Salamat, Ginoong Aguirre. “
The fourth State-of- the- Nation Address by President Aquino is notable for the number of issues that he didn’t touch.
He did not mention anything about the Freedom of Information Bill which he promised to support when he was campaigning for the presidency.
He did not say anything about China and Taiwan.
The once vibrant relations with Taiwan took a dip with the killing of a Taiwanese fisherman by a Philippine Coast Guard at the disputed waters in Balintang Channel last May 9. Taiwan has suspended the hiring of Filipino workers pending the President’s decision on the report of the investigation of the incident which had been with him since June 11.
By Rem Zamora of ABS-CBN.com
This is from Rem’s touching account of the circumstances behind that photo of PO1 Joselito Sevilla, the cop who cried in the midst of a rally dispersal yesterday:
It was a long and tiring dispersal. People were injured. But amidst all of this, I saw a scenario which I thought I will never see during a dispersal….
Suddenly the officer cried. The foreigner kept on shouting at this officer. He was still crying. He was trying to hold his tears but he can’t.
A second round of dispersal erupted and while every other anti-riot policemen are pushing and shoving trying to remove the protesters from the ground, the crying cop simply stood ground. He was still holding his shield firmly. Still weeping. Sobbing.