Today, July 22, 2013, is SONA ~ President Aquino's fourth State of the Nation Address.

Today,
 June 22, 2013,
 the Joint Session of the 16th Congress convenes at the Batasang Pambansa for President Aquino's fourth SONA (State of the Nation Address).

Having just concluded peaceful and successful elections in May,
 we will be seeing the old familiar faces together with new faces of legislators who will be serving our country.

Personally,
 every electoral process we go through always gives me new hope
 and a feeling that this is a fresh start for our legislators to buckle down to work
 crafting more substantial bills that will benefit not only our country but the poorest of the poor of our countrymen.

So...if you were to give our legislators some advice, what would it be??

My advice to legislators is for them to:
~ fast-track and pass urgent laws (one example of which would be the cyber-crime bill)
~always pray for wisdom,
conduct themselves with dignity,
act with integrity
and truly serve the public
~have the political will to stand by what is for the greater good
and not be swayed by partisan politics.

I would also advice them:
~not to 'burn their bridges', so to speak, and remember that today's adversary may be tomorrow's ally
and therefore, to learn how to disagree without being disagreeable.

I have one dream image for our legislators,
 that they are humble, simple, honest and hungry to serve our people from the beginning to the end of their term.
They must always remember that being a public servant, above all, means that
 to whom much (power) is given, much is expected,
 and where  "the last shall be first and the first shall be last"  must be what they should always, always live by.