Photo by Mark Louie Balladares

In response to incumbent President Benigno Aquino III’s last State of the Nation Address (SONA) last July 27, political science students of the University through the Samahan ng mga Mag-aaral ng Agham Pampulitika ng Ateneo (SAMAPULA) take part in the annual Post-SONA Analysis and Discussion held last August 3, 2015, at room F712 of the Ateneo de Davao University.

The symposium was divided into 5 different topics of the SONA, namely the economy, education, PNoy’s use of colloquial words such as “eh ‘di wow”, the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), and the things that weren’t mentioned in his speech.

Speakers from their respective divisions were then given the chance to voice out their opinions regarding each of the topics and how it relates to their particular field of study.

Lenie Galvez from the economics division, Nikki Manaloto from psychology, Edzrafel Samama from host political science, and Rameses Casten from the University of Mindanao Political Science Department were the speakers for the event.

In the latter part of the event, an open forum was conducted for the students to voice out their own opinions and address their questions to whoever speaker they wanted to answer.

Other discussions during the event included the GDP growth throughout Aquino’s term, and the Administration’s love-hate relationship with Vice-President Jejomar Binay, among others.

“Honestly, I came to this event expecting a dull and boring lecture. But, I actually found the topics that were discussed to be very interesting,” said a first year student who attended her first post-SONA Analysis during a quick break in-between the discussions.

Every year, SAMAPULA, the official club of Ateneo de Davao’s political science students, organizes the Post-SONA Analysis with the intent of providing students a much wider scope of the president’s State of the Nation Address.