Negros Occidental officials are hoping President Benigno Aquino III will focus on food security, infrastructure and the economic direction of the country in his State of the Nation Address this afternoon.

Negros Occidental Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. said he hopes the president puts emphasis on food security, saying it is important for the Philippines to be prepared with prices of grains going up in the world market.

The governor also hopes the president puts stress on infrastructure programs and economic development.

Rep. Alfredo Marañon III (Neg. Occ., 2nd District) said “investor confidence is at an all time high, Standard and Poor’s upgraded our credit ratings, I hope the president will build on the gains that we have.”

Negrense Joshua Augustine Pineda bagged the prestigious Junior Grand Champion Performer of the World and the Junior Grand Vocalist of the World titles at the 2011 World Championships of the Performing Arts in Hollywood, California, Saturday, Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. said yesterday.

Pineda, 11, and in third grade, plays the role of Chito, Michael V‘s son, in GMA-7′s situational comedy Pepito Manaloto.

He is the son of sales engineer Augusto Pineda and Jesusa Pineda, a former English teacher of the University of St. La Salle high school in Bacolod City, who are from Barangay Paraiso, Sagay City, Negros Occidental.

“How are you going to pay for that loan when I’m gone?”

Bacolod retired public school teacher Magdalena Librodo, 70, remembers her husband, Romeo, asking her that question from his sick bed.

She had taken a loan on their house and lot as her desperate last move; her husband’s hospital bills were staggering after two strokes left him bedridden, and she had already pawned her pension.