MANILA, July 27, 2010— They watched and they reacted as President Benigno Aquino III vowed to clean the government of irregularities.

On Monday afternoon, Filipinos from all walks of life in the provinces sat glued on their television sets as Aquino delivered his first State of the Nation Address (Sona).

Following his speech, some Catholic bishops gave a mixture of reactions at his pronouncements especially on how he would bring the country out from corruption and poverty.

One describe it as “encouraging, others said it was “realistic”, while some said Aquino’s SONA was something that is “not new”.

Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz said he found what some of Aquino said as prudent and founded on a tripod of truth, justice and peace.

According to the 75-year old archbishop, the speech was down to earth and had no visionary elements.

“When it was over, I came to conclude the whole speech was based on a tripod and I don’t know whether it was on purpose or it just came to place,” said Cruz.

The church leader said Aquino caught his attention when he revealed the country’s socio-economic situation which the prelate went to describe as “pathetic.”

For his part, Prelature of Isabela de Basilan Bishop Martin Jumoad said three concerns mentioned by President Aquino made him feel good.

“First was about Philhealth coverage, second was the peace process in Mindanao and third was his commitment to bring the corrupt officials to Justice,” the 54-year old prelate said.

Jumoad said that he trusts Aquino as he hopes the time has come to work together “so that the country will move forward.”

For Cotabato Auxiliary Bishop Jose Collin Bagaforo, it would have been also better had the chief executive stated his position on the controversial reproductive health (RH) bill.

The Church is strongly against the measure which to promote the use of contraceptives to control the country’s growing population and prevent the spread of sexually-transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS.

In his first SONA, Aquino noted how the Arroyo administration misled the people about the true state of the economy while its officials used up government funds at the expense of ordinary Filipinos.

He also related how his Cabinet officials have discovered a number of anomalies in just the first three weeks of his administration.

To recall, several allies of then President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo in the Lakas-Kampi-CMD Party had transferred to Aquino’s Liberal Party in the weeks leading to the May 10 polls.

Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo said he is hoping that the revelations made by Aquino are just the beginning of giving the public the true picture of the country’s state.

“I hope this would continue. The public really needs to know this kind of information,” Pabillo said.

Asked to rate the SONA of Aquino on the overall scale, Pabillo, who also chairs the National Secretariat for Social Action of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, gave it a passing grade.

“I’ll give it about 80 (percent),” he said.

He explained that the grade was based on Aquino discussing a wide-range of topic albeit incomplete and without concrete programs on how to handle them.

Among the topics lacking in the SONA, according to Pabillo, are the Freedom of Information Bill, land reform, jobs generation, environment and the reproductive health bill. (Melo M. Acuna/R. Lagarde/CBCPNews)