List of State of the Nation Addresses (Philippines)

President Benigno Aquino III delivers his second State of the Nation Address at the Plenary Hall of the Batasang Pambansa Complex on July 25, 2011.

Seventy-seven State of the Nation Addresses (SONA) has been delivered so far by thirteen presidents.

Similar speeches were held before the SONA by Philippine presidents. The precursor of the SONA, was the State of the Katipunan Address held in March 22, 1897 by Andres Bonifacio, who is considered by some to be the first president of the Philippines. Emilio Aguinaldo, officially recognized as the first president of the Philippines, held a State of the Revolutionary Nation Address in September 15, 1898 after opening the Malolos Congress entitled Mensaje Leido por el Presidente del Govierno Revolucionario para el Congreso. On June 16, 1936, Manuel L. Quezon held a State of the Commonwealth Government Affairs at the inaugural session of the National Assembly.^[1]

The first SONA was made by Manuel L. Quezon in 1935 before the National Assembly. Among those who made a SONA, Ferdinand Marcos made twenty SONAs the most number made by a single president. Sergio Osmeña in contrast made just one. Among the officially recognized presidents two presidents did not make a single SONA - Emilio Aguinaldo and José P. Laurel. Marcos was the only one who did not deliver a SONA before the Congress (1973,1974, 1975, 1976, and 1977). Elpidio Quirino's 1950 speech was delivered through radio broadcast when he was confined at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States.^[2]

The SONA is traditionally held annually. The presidential speech has been delivered in English until 2009 when it was last delivered in the said language. Benigno Aquino III was the first president to deliver the presidential speech in Filipino. He used Filipino in all of his six speeches from 2010 to 2015.

The longest speech was made by Ferdinand Marcos in 1969, with a total of 29,335 words. In contrast, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's speech made in 2005 was the shortest, with only 1,551 words.^[2]

Lists

No.	President	Date	Title	Venue	Legislature	Session	Language	Duration hours and minutes	Notes
1	Manuel L. Quezon	November 25, 1935	Message to the First Assembly on National Defense	Legislative Building, Manila	1st National Assembly	1st	English
2		June 16, 1936	On the Country’s Conditions and Problems
3		October 18, 1937	Improvement of Philippine Conditions, Philippine Independence, and Relations with American High Commissioner			2nd
4		January 24, 1938	Revision of the System of Taxation			3rd
5		January 24, 1939	The State of the Nation and Important Economic Problems		2nd National Assembly	1st
6		January 22, 1940	The State of the Nation			2nd
7		January 31, 1941	The State of the Nation			3rd
8	Sergio Osmeña	June 9, 1945	Message to the First Congress of the Commonwealth of Philippines	Lepanto Street, Manila	1st Congress of the Commonwealth	N/A	English
9	Manuel Roxas	June 3, 1946	The State of the Nation		2nd Congress of the Commonwealth		English
10		January 27, 1947	Message on the State of the Nation		1st Congress	1st
11		January 26, 1948	The Nation on the Road to Prosperity			2nd
12	Elpidio Quirino	January 24, 1949	The Most Urgent Aim of the Administration	Legislative Building, Manila		3rd	English
13		January 23, 1950	Address on the State of the Nation	Baltimore, Maryland United States	2nd Congress	1st			delivered via radio broadcast
14		January 23, 1951	The State of the Nation	Legislative Building, Manila		2nd
15		January 28, 1952	The State of the Nation			3rd
16		January 26, 1953	The State of the Nation			4th
17	Ramon Magsaysay	January 25, 1954	Address on the State of the Nation	Legislative Building, Manila	3rd Congress	1st	English
18		January 24, 1955	Address on the State of the Nation			2nd
19		January 23, 1956	Address on the State of the Nation			3rd
20		January 28, 1957	Address on the State of the Nation			4th
21	Carlos P. Garcia	January 27, 1958	Address on the State of the Nation	Legislative Building, Manila	4th Congress	1st	English
22		January 26, 1959	Address on the State of the Nation			2nd
23		January 25, 1960	Address on the State of the Nation			3rd
24		January 23, 1961	Address on the State of the Nation			4th
25	Diosdado Macapagal	January 22, 1962	Five-Year Integrated Socio-Economic Program for the Philippines	Legislative Building, Manila	5th Congress	1st	English
26		January 28, 1963	The State of the Nation 1963			2nd
27		January 27, 1964	The State of the Nation			3rd
28		January 25, 1965	The Philippines after Three Years (1962–1965)			4th
29	Ferdinand Marcos	January 24, 1966	Address on the State of the Nation	Legislative Building, Manila	6th Congress	1st	English
30		January 23, 1967	The Epic of Nation-Building			2nd
31		January 22, 1968	A Nation of Achievers			3nd
32		January 27, 1969	New Filipinism: The Turning Point			4th
33		January 26, 1970	National Discipline: The Key to Our Future		7th Congress	1st
34		January 25, 1971	The Democratic Revolution			2nd
35		January 24, 1972	Strength through Crisis, Growth in Freedom			3rd
36		September 21, 1973	Report to the Nation after One Year of Martial Law	Malacañan Palace, Manila	N/A
37		September 21, 1974	The Barangay and the Imperative of National Unity	Maharlika Hall Malacañan Palace, Manila
38		September 19, 1975	The President’s Report to the Nation	Quirino Grandstand, Manila
39		September 21, 1976	We Stand Proud as a Nation Today	Philippine International Convention Center, Pasay	Batasang Bayan	N/A
40		September 21, 1977	The Years of Crisis Government: Review and Preview	Luneta Park, Manila	N/A
41		June 12, 1978	A Bold Experiment	Batasang Pambansa, Quezon City	Interim Batasang Pambansa	N/A
42		July 23, 1979	The State of the Nation
43		July 28, 1980	A Time of Challenge to the Nation
44		July 27, 1981	State-of-the-Nation Address
45		July 26, 1982	State-of-the-Nation Address
46		January 17, 1983	State-of-the-Nation Address
47		July 23, 1984	State-of-the-Nation Address		Regular Pambansang Pambansa
48		July 22, 1985	A Turning Point for the Nation
49	Corazon Aquino	July 27, 1987	State of the Nation	Batasang Pambansa, Quezon City	8th Congress	1st	English
50		July 25, 1988	State of the Nation			2nd
51		July 24, 1989	The State of the Nation			3rd
52		July 23, 1990	The State of the Nation			4th
53		July 22, 1991	The State of the Nation			5th
54	Fidel V. Ramos	July 27, 1992	Reform, Change, and Growth	Batasang Pambansa, Quezon City	9th Congress	1st	English
55		July 26, 1993	Let’s Seize the Moment!			2nd
56		July 25, 1994	From Growth to Modernization			3rd
57		July 24, 1995	The Best Is Soon to Come		10th Congress	1st
58		July 22, 1996	Uniting for Peace and Development			2nd
59		July 28, 1997	The Challenges Still Ahead			3rd
60	Joseph Estrada	July 27, 1998	The State of the Nation	Batasang Pambansa, Quezon City	11th Congress	1st	English
61		July 26, 1999	A Poverty-Free Philippines			2nd
62		July 24, 2000	Toward New Beginnings			3rd
63	Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo	July 23, 2001	First State of the Nation Address	Batasang Pambansa, Quezon City	12th Congress	1st	English	1:06[1]
64		July 22, 2002	State of the Nation Address			2nd
65		July 28, 2003	State of the Nation Address			3rd
66		July 26, 2004	Fourth State of the Nation Address		13th Congress	1st
67		July 25, 2005	Fifth State of the Nation Address			2nd		0:23[3]
68		July 24, 2006	Sixth State of the Nation Address			3rd
69		July 23, 2007	Seventh State of the Nation Addresss		14th Congress	1st
70		July 28, 2008	Eighth State of the Nation Addresss			2nd
71		July 27, 2009	Ninth State of the Nation Address			3rd
72	Benigno Aquino III	July 26, 2010	State of the Nation Address	Batasang Pambansa, Quezon City	15th Congress	1st	Filipino	0:36[4]	Aquino was the first president to use Filipino and a language other than English at the SONA.[5]
73		July 25, 2011	State of the Nation Address			2nd		0:53[4]
74		July 23, 2012	Third State of the Nation Address			3rd		1:27[4]
75		July 22, 2013	Fourth State of the Nation Address		16th Congress	1st		1:44[6]
76		July 28, 2014	Fifth State of the Nation Address			2nd		1:31[7]
77		July 27, 2015	Sixth State of the Nation Address			3rd		2:13

References

1. "Fast facts about the Sona". Philippine Daily Inquirer. 25 July 2010. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
2. Ansis, JC (25 July 2015). "What you need to know about SONAs". CNN Philippines. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
3. Calica, Aurea; Mendez, Christina; Diaz, Jess (26 July 2005). "Applause, standing ovation for shortest SONA". The Philippine Star. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
4. Santos, Reynaldo Jr. (29 July 2014). "Aquino's SONA speeches through the years". Rappler. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
5. "Which president was the first to deliver his State of the Nation Address (SONA) entirely in Filipino?". Money Politics (Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism). Retrieved 27 July 2015.
6. Cerda, Jovan (22 July 2013). "65 important things mentioned in Aquino's fourth SONA". The Philippine Star. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
7. "91 minutes, 85 rounds of applause". Philippine Daily Inquirer. 29 July 2014. Retrieved 27 July 2015.

External Links

• State of the Nation Addresses - Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines