A veteran lawmaker on Friday demanded an explanation on the alleged motive of President Aquino’s State-of-the-Nation Address (SONA) in the wake of admissions by two of the chief executive’s key advisers that the supposedly anomalies of the past government were actually based on raw and incorrect data.

Negros Occidental Rep. Ignacio Arroyo stated that the people have a right to know if it was the President who was deliberately misled or was it Mr. Aquino who tried to deliberately mislead the people.

Arroyo cited published reports quoting Budget Sec. Florencio Abad that it was incorrect to say that there is only P100 billion left in the national budget as declared by Aquino in the SONA.

“Secretary Abad categorically said only about 60 percent of the P1.54 trillion have been released,” Arroyo said.

Arroyo noted that National Food Authority head Lito Banayo failed to give specific volumes and values to reporters on the agency’s  alleged over-importation of rice during the previous administration as claimed by Aquino in his SONA.

“Reports also said Mr. Banayo could not even pinpoint the location of the warehouses where the supposedly over-imported rice are kept.

“So the question now is why did President Aquino still cite these supposedly anomalous issues in his SONA? What was his reason or motive?” Arroyo pointed out.

Considering the sensitivity of the SONA, Arroyo said Aquino should have double-checked all of its contents before delivering it.