MANILA, Philippines – There were 3 times more “Angry” votes to President Aquino’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) this year compared to “Angry” votes in 2013 on Rappler’s SONA Mood Meter.  

“Happy” was still the dominant mood, but the Mood Meter data showed that people were noticeably less “Happy” with what the President said this year than they were in 2013.

“Happy” got only 52.8 % of SONA Mood Meter votes this year compared to 65% in 2013.

Based on votes that registered on Rappler’s 2014 SONA Mood Meter, the second most dominant mood of people who reacted to the President’s speech was “Angry.” 

Thrice angrier

The “Angry” mood got 25.5% of all 2014 SONA Mood Meter votes compared to only 7% in 2013. In actual numbers, “Angry” votes were thrice as much this year compared to that of 2013.

Moreover, “Angry” dominated moods for a number of individual statements the President made. In the 2013 SONA Mood Meter data, “Happy” dominated votes for all of the President’s statements. 

Those who voted were predominantly “Angry” over the President’s statements concerning Typhoon Yolanda, the Disbursement Acceleration Program, and the power shortage. 

In particular, 53% of those who voted were “Angry” over his statements on the Cabinet’s performance during Typhoon Yolanda. 

Less Inspired

In 2013, the second most dominant mood after “Happy” was “Inspired,” with 9% of the votes. In 2014, “Inspired” only received 5.5% of total votes. 

Statements the President made that got the most “Inspired” votes were”change has come,” which got 39%, and his reference to his father, the late Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr, which got 18%. 

The President’s statements that received the most “Happy” votes were his reference to Ninoy, the credit rating upgrades, improvements in aviation safety standards, praise for Albay and the role of local governments in disaster management, military modernization, Department of Education programs, and his appeal to his followers. 

The President started speaking at 4:03 pm and ended his speech at 5:34 pm. Within the duration of the speech, roughly the same number of votes registered on the system as in 2013.

Votes on Rappler’s SONA Mood Meter peaked at around 4:40 pm, around the time when he was talking about the Cabinet’s response to Typhoon Yolanda.  

It is also around this time when got the most number of “Angry” votes. 

Conversations on Twitter

Apart from the SONA Mood Meter, Rappler also tracked conversations on Twitter from 2 pm of Monday, July 28, up to 12 midnight.

By 8 pm, almost 66,000 tweets had been tracked via the hashtag #SONA2014 by Rappler’s research team. 

Top influencers in the Twitter conversations included @MadamCharo, @ANCALERTS, @ABSCBNNews, @govph, @gmanews, @noynoyaquino, @jeffcanoy, @rapplerdotcom, @BobOngWords, and @inquirerdotnet.

Most of the top influencers were either accounts owned by big media groups or by the national goverment. Two, however, were parody accounts. 

One key topic that dominated the social media conversation, as reported by Rappler’s Social Media Team, was the fact that Aquino once again did not mention the proposed Freedom of Information Act in his SONA. – with reports from Dominic Gabriel Go and Russell Shepherd/Rappler.com

Rappler’s coverage of the 5th State of the Nation Address of President Benigno Aquino III is featured in our #SONA2014 microsite.

You can still tell the President how you feel about his 5th SONA by voting on Rappler’s SONA 2014 Mood Meter.

This is the guide to how the SONA Mood Meter works.