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With a week to go before President Benigno Aquino III’s final State of the Nation Address (SONA), the House of Representatives is preparing to lay out the red carpet and pulling out all the stops to make sure it will be a success.
House Speaker Feliciano “Sonny” Belmonte, however, admitted that there may not be enough space in the House for all those who want to witness the speech in person.
“Our problem is we have a lot more people wanting to be invited than we have available space in the House,” said Belmonte.
Workers were seen sprucing up and cleaning up the Plenary Hall building, as well as cleaning up the furniture inside the Session Hall on Monday.
The red carpet will soon be rolled out in the north and south lobbies, while production tents for the media, as well as other units were already set up in the garden.
For Belmonte, there is nothing new with the preparations at the House of Representatives.
“The preparations of the SONA are almost like something we do every year and this is the fifth time we are doing it with no particular concerns that have not happened in the past. There will be the usual demonstrations outside. Insofar as House itself, we are prepared for it,” Belmonte said.
Belmonte said there was no special spending for this SONA.
“I don’t know [the] exact amount. It’s no different from what we have done in the past. Nothing special in this last SONA. The only point I emphasized is the angle of being sure of security of the premises inside the House building. We don’t anticipate any problems,” Belmonte added.
The House of Representatives announced that 10-year-old Gwyneth Dorado, one of the Filipino finalists in the recently concluded Asia’s Got Talent search show, will do the honor of singing the Philippine National Anthem for the SONA.
The choice of the Dorado was revealed by House of Representatives Deputy Secretary General for Legislative Operations, Atty. Artemio Adasa, Jr., chairman of the Committee on Programs, Scenario and Plenary Support.
Adasa’s committee is under the overall supervision of Secretary General Atty. Marilyn B. Barua-Yap, chairman of Task Force SONA.
“This is in recognition of the mercurial achievement of a young girl, whose singing ability is adored not only in Asia but worldwide. She truly represents the vast and incredible wealth of talents Filipino youth can offer,” Adasa said.
Adasa gave due credit to Cecilia David, House’s deputy secretary general for internal audit, for being instrumental in inviting the young singing sensation to be an important part of the SONA program.
Dorado headed straight to the grand finals of Asia’s Got Talent after getting the most number of public votes among the competitors of the first batch’s semi-finalists.
Ultimately, the contest was won by another Filipino talent, the now much sought-after shadow-play group, El Gamma Penumbra.
In a briefing on July 6, Ma. Bernadette dela Cuesta, executive director of the House’s public relations and information bureau, said that the House’s engineering department has been busy with refurbishing, repainting and cleaning of the carpets, as well as the reupholstering of the chairs.
Access to the compound will be restricted to those with accreditation only.
Belmonte also revealed that Senate and House leaders will meet Thursday to thresh out a common legislative agenda in the remaining months of the 16th Congress.
“To see what we can push very quickly those on the verge of approval I‘m very happy and these are very likely to be economic bills. I requested the senate president and we will have a meeting Thursday morning,” Belmonte said.
According to Belmonte, the 2016 budget and proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law are the priorities when sessions reopen.
Text: RG Cruz, ABS-CBN News
Photo: Gov.ph
This article has been re-published with permission from ABS-CBNnews.com.
