
House preps for SONA 2025 ‘90% to 95% done' even amid weather
The preparation for the conduct of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, Jr.'s fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 28 is almost complete, House of Representatives spokesperson Princess Abante said Monday.
'We are at 90% to 95% done with the preparations for the SONA, and it is still ongoing even amid the inclement weather. The SONA will push through, as we have prepared for, on July 28,' Abante said in a press conference.
Asked if a possible weather-related postponement is on the table, she replied, 'We are yet to talk about any postponement of the physical gathering for the SONA.'
Likewise, Abante said that the House is expecting to welcome around 1,500 guests this year, or similar to last year's number of attendees.
'Last year was one of the most attended SONAs, if not the most attended, with around 1,500 guests. We expect this year to have more or less the same as last year's figures,' Abante said.
Further, Abante said that while the police and the security forces are already all systems go for the SONA next Monday, there is no specific threat that would warrant a heightened alert.
In a separate announcement, House Secretary General Reginald Velasco said the House has prepared three viewing rooms in Batasang Pambansa complex for more guests, apart from the plenary hall where the President will deliver his SONA: the Daniel Romualdez Hall for 290 guests; the Ramon Mitra Room for 70; and the Jose de Venecia Hall for 80. — BM, GMA Integrated News
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


GMA Network
3 hours ago
- GMA Network
Inflation, economy, price of rice: Where PH stands since SONA 2024
A resident of San Andres in Malate, Manila, purchases P20 per kilo rice at a Kadiwa center in the Bureau of Animal Industry on May 15, 2025. DANNY PATA Around this time last year, President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. opened his third State of the Nation Address (SONA) not with his administration's feats, but with the daunting reality check that the fruits of economic progress were not felt by ordinary Filipinos faced with the rising prices of commodities—particularly rice. 'The hard lesson of this last year has made it very clear that whatever current data proudly bannering our country as among the best-performing in Asia, means nothing to a Filipino, who is confronted by the price of rice at 45 to 65 pesos per kilo," Marcos said in his report to the nation on Monday, July 22, 2024. "Bagamat maganda ang mga istatistikang ito, wala itong kabuluhan sa ating kababayan na hinaharap ang realidad na mataas ang presyo ng mga bilihin, lalo na ang pagkain—lalo't higit, ng bigas," the President said. (Although the statistics are good, these mean nothing to our countrymen who face the reality of high prices of goods, especially food, and most especially, rice.) With this, Marcos declared 'hindi tayo titigil sa paglalaban sa kahirapan, at sa paghahanap ng lunas upang maibalik sa normal ang presyo ng bilihin—lalo na ang bigas [we will not stop in battling poverty and finding solutions to normalize the prices of goods—especially rice.]' IBON Foundation executive director Sonny Africa told GMA News Online that the President opened his 2024 SONA 'well, with the acknowledgement that the majority of Filipinos aren't feeling any benefits from hyped economic growth.' 'If sincere, this could've signaled a reorientation of economic policy to favor poor and middle-class Filipinos instead of the narrowest slice of rich families and large corporations at the very top,' Africa said. The President will once again face the nation to deliver his report on July 28, 2025—halfway through his term. GMA News Online looked at what the Marcos administration has so far accomplished in terms of fulfilling the chief executive's promise to lower inflation and rice prices. Inflation Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that inflation—which measures the rate of growth in consumer goods and services costs—slowed down to 3.2%, well within the government's ceiling of 2% to 4%, from 6% in 2023. The PSA attributed the full-year 2024 inflation decline to the downtrend in food and non-alcoholic beverages at 4.4% from 7.9% in 2023 as well as the lower print seen in electricity, gas and other fuels at 1.7% from 4.9% year-on-year. As of end-June 2025, inflation rate cooled down further to 1.8%. Also in June this year, food inflation—which tracks the price movements of food items in a "basket" commonly purchased by households—eased to 0.1% from 0.7% in May and from 6.5% in June of last year. This was on the back of a steeper deflation in rice at -14.3% from -12.8% in May. Rice prices Rice inflation has been contracting for six months in a row and is seen to end the year at a 'negative inflation' print, consistent with the PSA's expectation that it would begin easing towards the second half of 2024 due to base effects, particularly when it began its uptrend in August 2023, as well as the impact of lower rice import tariff which took effect early July last year. In the third year of his presidency, Marcos was able to fulfill his campaign promise of lowering the price of rice to P20 per kilo in a bid to ease the burden of consumers on the increasing price of one of Filipinos' basic food commodities. Initially launched in the Visayas region last April, at least 162 locations across the country have been offering the cheaper subsidized rice, according to the Department of Agriculture. Members of the vulnerable sectors are on the priority list of who can avail the P20 per kilo of rice. The P20-per-kilo rice initiative operates primarily through KADIWA ng Pangulo outlets. The rice is being sourced from stocks of the National Food Authority, which are procured directly from local farmers. The subsidized rice program not only ensures affordable food staple for consumers but also helps decongest NFA warehouses. Moreover, this will make space to purchase more palay at prices higher than those offered by private traders. Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said the target is to serve 15 million households or about 60 million people by the end of 2026. The DA also vowed to intensify the implementation of industry recovery and expansion programs, such as the Swine Industry Recovery Project (SIRP) and Livestock Economic Enterprise Development, to strengthen food supply chains. IBON Foundation's Africa, however, said programs of the administration 'will all be tokenistic and exaggerated public relations efforts if the government does not commit budgets, resources and energy commensurate to the magnitude of the problems at hand.' 'The President spoke about supporting agriculture but, if anything, the smaller share of the sector in the 2025 budget to 3.9% of the total from 4.1% in 2024 indicates a deprioritization of interventions that were already inadequate to begin with,' he said. GDP target missed As far as economic targets are concerned, the Marcos administration still has a far way to go, missing its GDP growth target for the second straight year. In 2024, the economy only grew by 5.7%, revised from earlier reported 5.6% growth, below the 6.0% to 7.0% target for the year. Growth surpassed the target ceiling in 2022 at 7.6%. As of the first quarter of 2025, the country's GDP grew by 5.4%, faster than the upwardly revised growth rate of 5.3% in the last quarter of 2024. With missed targets, the Development Budget Coordination Committee has slashed again the growth goals for 2025 to 5.5% to 6.5% range from the previous target of 6.0% to 8.0%. The economic team cited heightened global uncertainties, such as the unforeseen escalation of tensions in the Middle East and the imposition of US tariffs as considerations for adjusting the growth targets. Nonetheless, the administration's aspiration to elevate the Philippines to upper-middle-income country (UMIC) seems to be getting closer, as it missed the minimum for entering the UMIC bracket under the World Bank's classification by $26. The country remained a lower-middle-income economy as its GNI per capita in 2024 stood at $4,470, while the required GNI per capita to enter the UMIC roster was at $4,496 to $13,935. — BM/NB, GMA Integrated News


GMA Network
5 hours ago
- GMA Network
House to appeal SC ruling voiding Sara Duterte Articles of Impeachment
The House of Representatives is preparing to file a motion for reconsideration of the Supreme Court's decision to void the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte, arguing that the ruling was based on what it described as incorrect findings that contradict official records. In a video message released on Sunday, House of Representatives spokesperson Atty. Priscilla Marie 'Princess' Abante said the House has studied the SC decision, and found that the bases for it were alarming. 'Ang Kamara, matapos ang masusing pag-aaral, ay maghahain ng motion for reconsideration dahil ang desisyon na nagsasabing ang Articles of Impeachment na ipinadala sa Senado ay barred or unconstitutional ay nakaangkla sa mga factual premises o findings na mali at salungat sa opisyal na record ng Kamara,' she said. (The House, after thorough study, will file a motion for reconsideration because the decision declaring that the Articles of Impeachment transmitted to the Senate are barred or unconstitutional is based on factual premises or findings that are incorrect and contrary to the official records of the House.) This comes as the SC ruled unanimously to declare that the Articles of Impeachment against Duterte as unconstitutional and imposing a one-year ban, as it said these violate the right to due process. SC spokesperson Atty. Camille Ting noted, however, that the SC is not absolving Duterte from any of the charges against her, but any subsequent impeachment complaint may only be filed starting February 6, 2026. According to Abante, the decision claimed that articles were transmitted to the Senate without a plenary vote, which she said was 'categorically false' and wrong, as she said the plenary voted on February 5, 2025, with at least a third of the House members, as detailed in House Journal 36. Abante also said the High Court wrongly claimed that the House did not act on the first three impeachment complaints, as she said these were acted on and were archived on the same day, prior to the chamber adjourning session. 'Ang pinakabatayang saligan ng desisyon kung saan umikot ang mga legal pronouncement ng Korte ay mali. Hindi isinama ang plenary vote, mali ang pagbasa sa timeline ng mga kilos ng Kamara, at mas pinaniwalaan ang isang news article kaysa sa House Journal at opisyal na record na isinumite mismo sa Korte,' she said. (The fundamental basis of the decision, on which the Court's legal pronouncements were anchored, is flawed. The plenary vote was excluded, the timeline of the House's actions was misread, and a news article was given more weight than the House Journal and official records that were submitted to the Court itself.) Abante likewise said the SC gave new rules that are not in the Constitution nor in the governing rules of the House of Representatives citing due process, even if the chamber followed previous rulings of the High Court. 'It should also be said, kung due process at opportunity to be heard ang usapan, ilang beses nang naimbitahan si Vice President Sara Duterte sa mga pagdinig ng Committee upang siya ay mabigyan ng pagkakataong ipaliwanag ang kaniyang panig, ngunit nananatili siyang tikom ang kaniyang bibig,' Abante said. (It should also be said that when it comes to due process and the opportunity to be heard, Vice President Sara Duterte was invited multiple times to the Committee hearings to give her a chance to explain her side, but she has consistently remained silent.) 'It is for these reasons the House will be filing a motion for reconsideration. We remain hopeful that once facts are corrected, the Court will arrive at a different and more just conclusion,' she added. Three impeachment complaints were filed against Duterte in December 2024, all of which were connected with the alleged misuse of confidential funds. The fourth impeachment complaint, endorsed by over one-third of lawmakers from the House of Representatives, was later on transmitted to the Senate. Duterte, for her part, entered a 'not guilty' plea in the verified impeachment complaint filed against her, which she called merely a 'scrap of paper.' — RF, GMA Integrated News


GMA Network
6 hours ago
- GMA Network
No due process if no chance to answer petitions to junk Articles of Impeachment vs. VP Sara — Carpio
The prosecution panel of the House of Representatives was not given the chance to answer or comment on the two petitions before the Supreme Court asking it to dismiss the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte, according to retired Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio. In an interview in Super Radyo dzBB on Sunday, Carpio said there is no due process if the House was not given the opportunity to answer the said petitions. On Friday, the Supreme Court voted unanimously to declare the Articles of Impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte as 'unconstitutional'. Voting 13-0, the SC ruled unanimously, deeming that the Articles of Impeachment are barred by the one-year rule under Article XI Section 3 paragraph 5 of the Constitution. Moreover, magistrates ruled that the articles violate the right to due process. 'In this case there are two petitions (before the) Supreme Court kay VP Sara at kay Atty. (Israelito) Torreon. The House was never made to comment. Walang opportunity to comment. Hindi inorder (It was not ordered),' Carpio said. 'Normally pag nag habla ka, you file your complaint, yung kabila will be allowed to answer para due process. If you were not heard through a comment, through an answer, walang due process yun e,' he pointed out. Aside from this, Carpio said there was also no oral argument. Despite describing the situation as an 'uphill battle', the former justice described the House position as still strong, citing that it was actually able to adopt the fourth Article of Impeachment before it adjourned based on its records. 'Matibay ang position ng House dahil ang sabi ni Supreme Court sa pag adjourn ninyo, doon nagsimula ang one-year bar rule you cannot file another impeachment case… Like in this case, on the 10th session day you are still allowed to file the impeachment complaint... Kapag finile mo on the 10th session day paano ka magkakaroon ng hearing, last day na 'yun, Carpio said. "Final arbiter naman yung Supreme Court pero habang may opportunity pa to file a motion for consideration we can still ask for a motion for reconsideration,' Carpio said. — RF, GMA Integrated News