Church authorities Sunday advised President Arroyo to ditch the issue of Charter Change (Cha-cha) in her State-of-the-Nation Address (SONA) Monday, saying that the public has rejected constitutional amendment repeatedly in the past.

Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Iniguez, head of the public affairs committee of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), said Mrs. Arroyo should instead focus on providing solutions to the problems plaguing the country.

"Puwede naman talaga i-discuss yung Cha-Cha since legislators ang kausap niya (She can talk about Cha-cha because she is talking to lregislators, but she must also be aware that she is also addressing the nation. Dapat yung inaakala niyang makakatutugon sa mga problema natin ang pagtuunan niya lalo ng pansin (She should talk about solutions to the country’s problems," Iniguez said.

“So many questions are circulating right now (on her political plans) kaya dapat lang na siya ay maging maingat na maingat sa mga sasabihin niya (she should be careful about what she is going to say).”

The published executive summary of Arroyo's ninth SoNA includes the President's renewed call for the amendment of the Constitution, saying that constitutional reform has to be continued because it can “hasten the advancement of the nation.”

Because Arroyo is set to bow out of power, the Caloocan prelate said, her SoNA should be objective and truthful as it would be her last.

“The more sincere and the more honest it is, the better for her credibility and what’s left of it."

Similarly, Digos, Davao del Sur Bishop Guillermo Afable said he expects more focus on the services that the government is able to deliver to the nation and not on the SoNA itself.

“Speech lang naman yan eh… pwede naman ilagay na lang niya sa newspaper para hindi na magambala ang mga tao… ang mahalaga naman kung ano ang nangyayari talaga sa mga tao,” Afable said in an interview over Church-run Radio Veritas.

Malacanang, meanwhile, said no other administration has built more and better infrastructure as the Arroyo government has done since it assumed power in 2001, and this will be highlighted in Mrs. Arroyo’s ninth and final SoNA at the resumption of the session of Congress.

In a pre-SoNA report obtained by the Manila Bulletin, the government cited that from 2001 to 2009, numerous projects in the transport, energy, agricultural and social sectors were completed while more are expected to be delivered in the coming years.

“The implementation of these infrastructure projects have resulted in greatly improved mobility, more job opportunities, more investments, reduced cost of living, improved peace and order, and improved quality of life for all,” the report said.

Under transportation infrastructure, the government said it has built 47,409.70 kilometers of major roads and 246,588.14 kilometers of bridge projects from 2001 to 2009 amounting to P226.19 billion. The new road projects include the world-class 93.77-km Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway, which was completed in 2008.

Also, at least 1,665 provincial and city road projects under the Special Local Road Fund were completed from 2004 to 2007, the report said.

The government also built three new airports of international standard, improved three more international airports and upgraded 71 domestic airports. Five more airports of international standard are under construction.

At least 164 ports amounting to P21.1 billion were built and/or rehabilitated through the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) from 2001 to June 2009; The Department of Transportation and Communications has also constructed and/or improved 254 municipal and feeder ports costing P2.78 billion.

It said the government completed 47 fishery infrastructure projects, improved eight regional fish ports, and built 39 municipal ports through the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA) with a total cost of P519.60 million

On the energy front, the government has brought electricity to 41,079 barangays, or 98 percent of all villages nationwide. Thirty-one power projects were completed from 2001 to 2005 while five more priority power projects for the Super Regions were made from 2006 to June 2009.

From 2001 to June 2009, the government has built 15,675 kilometers of farm-to-market roads amounting to P23.05 billion, rehabilitated 1,336,594 hectares of national and communal irrigation farmland, and generated 136,477 hectares of newly irrigated farmlands with a cost of P67.01 billion.

Seventeen new major irrigation projects worth P31.40 billion were also completed.

On social infrastructure, the government has constructed and/or rehabilitated
35 state hospitals amounting to P1.14 billion from 2001 to 2006 and upgraded 34 priority hospitals nationwide amounting to P428.26 million from 2007 to 2009.

Since 2001, the administration Catholic Bishop Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) Public Affairs Committee Chairman Bishop Deogracias Iniguez said in a phone interview.

Likewise provided shelter aid amounting to P183.58 billion, provided low-cost housing to 73,936 families affected by the major road projects.

Meanwhile, Department of Education National Capital Region (DepEd NCR) Director Teresita Domalanta announced Saturday the suspension of all classes in Metro Manila for the SoNA.

“In view of the expected heavy traffic on Monday resulting from the coinciding major events of the SoNA and the grand celebration of the INC (Iglesia Ni Cristo) anniversary, all public and private pre-school, elementary and high school in NCR will be suspended on Monday, July 27,” Domalanata said.

Earlier, DepEd NCR only suspended classes in selected schools in Quezon City within the area of Commonwealth Avenue and IBP Road in the vicinity of the House of Representatives. Various militant groups are expected to converge in the area to stage protest rallies.

Classes in the tertiary level are not suspended but the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) announced Saturday through an advisory that classes in all branches of the university all over the country are also suspended Monday.

“PUP president Dante G. Guevarra wants the politically-oriented and socially aware PUP students to have the once in a lifetime opportunity to listen to the great speech of the President of the Philippines,” PUP said in the advisory.

In Cebu, transport groups except one said they are not joining the planned nationwide transport strike Monday to protest Mrs. Arroyo’s SoNA.

Ryan Benjamin Yu, chairman of the Cebu Confederation of Transport Operators and Drivers Inc. (CCTODI), said only the Nagkahiusang Drayber sa Sugbo (Nadsu) will join Monday’s transport strike.

“We sympathize with their cause but we believe it is not the proper venue and time,” said Yu.

CCTODI is the umbrella organization of all the transport groups in Cebu, except Nadsu.

The CCTODI is requesting the police to send operatives to all “choke points” where Nadsu leaders and members might stop other drivers from plying their routes.

Yu said that in the last Nadsu transport strike, the drivers from Citrasco, Vudtrasco and Andar were “harassed” so that they were forced to keep their units in their garage.

Up north, the Police Regional Office (PRO) in the Cordillera has dispatched a 300-man police delegation to Metro Manila as its contribution to the augmentation force of the Philippine National Police to ensure law and order during the SoNA.

Chief Supt. Orlando L. Pestano, PRO-COR regional director, said the region’s elite Civil Disturbance Unit will help provide security within the Batasan complex and other strategic places in Metro Manila against possible destabilization attempts.

The official also directed police operating units, especially in Baguio City, to be on guard since some cause-oriented groups are expected to conduct rallies in the city’s central business district.