Both allies and critics agree:  it was President Benigno Simeon Aquino III’s best ever State of the Nation Address (SONA).

In his third annual report of accomplishments before the joint session of the 15^th Congress at the BatasangPambansa in Quezon City on Monday, July 23, the nation’s Chief Executive was applauded 121 times by the audience which included members of the cabinet, business groups, the religious sector, civil society leaders, and members of the diplomatic corps.

But did you know that an alumnus of MMSU had a big hand in drafting the speech?

Charles B. Tuvilla, a 2003 development communication graduate, led the team that prepared the SONA as chief of the message crafting division of the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office in Malacañang. As a speechwriter, his team meets directly with the President. Under him are other young and brilliant writers, mostly graduates of the Ateneo de Manila University.

Under Tuvilla’s belt are writing awards from the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature and the Maningning Miclat Poetry Awards. Trained under National Artist for Literature Virgilio Almario, Tuvilla writes in both English and Filipino. While honing his writing skills, he worked as travel specialist in a call center. Recruited in August 2010, he was the first speechwriter hired by President Aquino.

Last June 22, the Bangui native keynoted the 2012 Sosimo Ma. Pablico Journalism Workshop held at the MMSU University Function Hall. He is a former literary editor of the university’s official student publication, Sirmata. In that event, he thanked MMSU and his former professors for their contributions to his person. Each time the grateful alumnus comes home to Ilocos, he never fails to visit CAFSD, then CAF, where he came from. In his last visit, this writer joined Tuvilla, who brought with him some of his Malacañang colleagues, in a tour of the Batac campus. At that time, they just submitted to the President the SONA’s first draft. The weekend before the Batasan event, his team was still working on the ninth and final draft of the speech.

As a student, Tuvilla had to work part-time as a ‘setter’ in a billiard hall near the campus. Orphaned at an early age, he grew up under the care of an aunt. He recalled one incident when he was about to quit school because of financial difficulty, but his professors at CAF came to the rescue and helped him with his tuition.

When Prof. Emile Kathleen Aguilar watched the SONA on television, she knew right away it was Charles’ work. “Lengguaheng-lengguahe ni Charles ‘yung speech,” she noted. The professor then immediately texted his prized student who humbly replied, “Ma’am! Tenkyu! Alam naman po ninyong ‘Kayo ang gumawa nito’,” quoting from the concluding statements in the SONA.