10 things you probably didn't know about SONA

MANILA, Philippines – A State of the Nation Address (SONA) is a yearly tradition through which  the chief executive reports on the status of the country, unveils the government’s agenda for the coming year, and  bares the list of legislative measures that he wants Congress to approve.

The SONA is a constitutional obligation, as written in Article VII, Section 23 of the 1987 Constitution: “the President shall address the Congress at the opening of its regular session.” Moreover, Article VI, Section 15 prescribes that the Congress “shall convene once every year on the fourth Monday of July for its regular session.”

As the 2014 SONA approaches, here are some facts and numbers that might just catch your interest:

1 number of the least SONA delivered; courtesy of President Sergio Osmeña
2 number of presidents who did not deliver their SONAs because the constitutions during their time made no provision nor requirement for a report to Congress: Aguinaldo and Laurel
9 number of times former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo delivered a SONA
20 number of the most SONAs delivered; courtesy of President Ferdinand E. Marcos
29 number of rounds of applause President Benigno S. Aquino III  received in his first SONA
74 total number of SONAs delivered as of 2013
1935 year when President Manuel L. Quezon delivered the first SONA
1950 year when President Elpidio Quirino delivered the only SONA via a radio broadcast, which was aired live in Congress while in session. At the time, he was confined at Johns Hopkins Hospital in the United States
2010 year when President Benigno S. Aquino III delivered his first SONA,  also the first SONA in history delivered entirely in Filipino
2011 year when President Benigno S. Aquino III has introduced another innovation in the SONA tradition: the delivery of the address purely in Filipino with real-time translation.