It ended well because it started well. This was the security assessment of the Philippine National Police (PNP) as it declared that the first State-of-the-Nation Address (SONA) of President Aquino on Monday was generally peaceful.

But Senior Supt. Agrimero Cruz Jr. had a philosophical and religious explanation as to why the protest actions held in Quezon City and other parts of Metro Manila and around the country were peaceful.

Cruz noted that in past SONAs, protesters seemed to have been already anticipating and inviting a clash with the anti-riot policemen even before they went to the rally sites. This resulted in violent confrontations between rallyists and policemen, he said.

This time, Cruz said, activists launched their protest actions with hopes that the issues that they have been fighting for would be heard and addressed.

“We can observe that there’s no hate in their hearts and minds,” said Cruz in an interview.

“This is good for us (police) because they still have no reason to instigate violent confrontation with our personnel,” he added.

The public assembly peaked at 3 p.m. with some 6,000 participants massing along the northbound lane of Commonwealth Avenue, said Cruz, quoting the assessment from the field commanders.

The number, he said, quickly thinned to 3,500 30 minutes later.

Cruz also attributed the success of the SoNA security operations to the “readiness of PNP units and personnel in performing their duty and the cooperation of all concerned sectors including participants in the mass actions.”

Some 8,000 policemen were deployed in various areas in Metro Manila, 4,500 of them were assigned to maintain peace and order at the premises of the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City. Two battalions of soldiers were also tapped to augment the PNP forces.

National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Director Roberto Rosales noted that the crowds were fewer this year compared to the last SoNA by former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo wherein the crowds numbered more than 10,000.

As this developed, Former president and Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's spokeswoman said Monday the previous administration only spent P788.8 billion of the P1.54-trillion national budget for 2010, contrary to the allegations of President Aquino in his SONA.

Elena Bautista-Horn, Arroyo's former chief of staff, said Aquino's allegation that the national budget is depleted is “deceiving” because it did not differentiate between the money that were released to the different government agencies but have yet to be spent, and money that were already spent.

Horn said she checked with the Bureau of Treasury which said that only P788.8 billion of the 2010 national budget had actually been spent.

Horn also denied that P105 million had been released from the calamity fund to the 2nd District of Pampanga which Arroyo now represents in Congress.

She said that records from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has not released “a single peso” of the P105 million in calamity funds to the 2nd District of Pampanga, contrary to Aquino's allegations.

The alleged excesses of some government agencies during the time of former president and now Pampanga Rep. Arroyo exposed by President Aquino did not surprise former President Fidel V. Ramos who said he already knew about them for a long time already.

“We all know about it. I've been writing it for the last five years in the Manila Bulletin,” Ramos said in an interview when asked about Aquino's exposes. He was referring to his Sunday column in the nation's leading newspaper. (with a report by JC Bello Ruiz)