PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is expected to include in her 6th State-of-the-Nation Address (SONA) before the joint of Congress Monday, July 24, the country’s economic gains in the past five years.

In a press briefing in Malacañang, Presidential Chief of Staff Michael Defensor said the president is expected to tell members of Congress and the people that the country’s economy is “generally positive in spite of the challenges posed by the opposition.”

“President Arroyo is the only president in post-war history to achieve continuous economic growth…every quarter under her administration, the economy grows…now we average at 5.5 percent for the past five years and we are now onwards to 6 percent growth,” Defensor said.

“It is expected that this would be disputed by the President’s critics but statistics do not lie,” he added.

He said the unemployment rate has dropped to 8.2 percent, the number of poorest provinces has been trimmed down from 10 to only three as seven had graduated from the list.

“If they say that there is no manifestation of the growing economy on the masses, I could proudly say that the poverty index has been trimmed down to 24 percent from 34 percent considering the increase in the country’s population from 76 million to the present 86 million,” Defensor said.

This means, he explained, that more than 18 million Filipinos have been taken out of poverty.

Defensor said that the Arroyo administration has fulfilled” six out of nine” of its 10-point agenda.

He explained that it is now only nine as the “Healing the Wounds of Edsa,” which is one of the 10-point pro-poor agenda, has been set aside temporarily due to recent developments such as the recurring coup attempts against the President supposedly being blamed on the civilian and military opposition.