GMA's 9th SONA in brief

In President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's ninth State of the Nation Address, she painted a picture of a country that would have been “lying flat on its back” if “we had given in to our critics.”

In her 74-minute speech, punctuated by 126 rounds of applause from the audience, the president referred to the achievements of her administration over the last nine years, especially in the areas of economics, education and infrastructure.

The president also made specific references to certain individuals in the audience who stood as testaments to progress happening in the nation, such as the first Muslim woman in the country to top the bar exams, a medical transcript trainee in Davao with an P18,000 salary, an ex-NPA rebel, and boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao.

She also took the chance to take a swipe at her critics. Referring to allegations that she had been using her power to amass personal wealth and that she would have declared martial law or lengthened her term, she said “I have never done any of the things that have scared my worst critics so much. They are frightened by their own shadows.”

She added that although her speech ended when she stepped down from the podium, her time as president would not end until next year and that “there is much to do.. to the very last day.”

After the speech, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Speaker Prospero Nograles ended the joint session to signal the end of the day's proceedings.

Over Twitter, observations and comments about the speech put discussion of #SONA, #PGMA and #GMA up on the Trending Topics list.

Some commented on how the proceedings took place, with one user asking “do they really have to clap almost every sentence?”

Others were more critical. One user tweeted, “I h[a]ve to give GMA credit for giving out a pretty good speech, but you have to be completely dense to believe it.”

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