CEBU, Philippines — Governor Gwendolyn Garcia has refused to comment on the recent State-Of-the-Nation-Address (SONA) delivered by President Benigno Aquino III on Monday but lauded President Aquino’s optimism and call for unity among the people.

Garcia, who flew to Manila to witness the President’s delivery of his SONA at the Batasang Pambansa last Monday said it would “be discourteous” for her to comment on the address made by the President himself as she had also delivered her own State-Of-The-Province-Address (SOPA) earlier this month.

“I have read various commentaries, both favorable and unfavorable, but as I have always believed, in the end it's not really about the words, it's about the action,” said Garcia.

During her SOPA, Garcia presented facts and figures that showed her administration's achievements. President Aquino did the same during his SONA and Garcia said chief executives are measured not by SONA or SOPA but by their performance.

“If there is one thing perhaps that I appreciated, it was his call for us to stop the negativism, the crab mentality and start looking at the positive side of things. I really appreciated that. I think that is the only way that we can truly work together hand in hand to pull this country out of the bad shape that we are in,” said Garcia.

During her SOPA, Garcia said Cebu continues to hold on to its reputation as the richest province in the Philippines as it continues to amass assets over the years. Garcia said the province has assets that grew from P20 billion in 2009 to P28.6 billion as of December last year.

Meanwhile, Filomeno Lim, president of the Cebu Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCCI), said Thursday there still are a lot of things to be done to make the lives of Filipinos better and “this is what the President should concentrate on.”

Lim particularly cited the President’s thrust to pursue public-private partnership projects which he said is less burdensome on the part of government but are expected to have a big impact to the economy.