By Vir B. Lumicao
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| Duterte's last SONA lasted three hours, and was punctuated by many adlibs |
President Rodrigo Duterte delivered his sixth and last State
of the Nation Address, admitting that
drugs and corruption, which he vowed to wipe out when he assumed the presidency
in July 2016, are still festering.
But in his three-hour-speech, which the President said is
“less in vision but more in remembrances,” he praised his government’s
accomplishments in the five years that he had been in office.
“Our economy was poised to leapfrog … to be among one of the
fastest-growing economies until Covid-19 pandemic stalled everything,” Duterte
said in his rambling speech punctuated by frequent ad libs.
This year’s “hybrid SONA” combined the proceedings at the
Batasan that was attended by about 350 guests and lawmakers, with online
attendance by government figures including Vice President Leni Robredo and past
presidents.
Duterte thanked the frontliners in the fight against the
pandemic for their sacrifices, risking their own safety, as well as the private
sector for coming to the aid of the government in tackling the Covid-19
pandemic before talking a long list of topics.
He said providing free education, universal health care, free
irrigation to farmers, were among his many visions when he took over the
presidency, but realized he had no funds for such projects. Nevertheless, he
said, they have been implemented.
Duterte said while his government turned its attention to
projects and programs to improve the lives of the people, the perennial
problems of drugs and corruption again reared their ugly heads.
Looking back at his drug war, he said he promoted his
trusted Davao City
chief of police, Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, to
head the Philippine National Police, with orders to hunt down the drug
manufacturers and their peddlers, until he realized “I was fighting my own
government.”
He said corrupt Customs officials made things easy for drug
importers and police generals protected the drug lords.
Duterte said with Dela Rosa destroying the apparatuses of
the drug manufacturers, they have shifted to importing drugs and processing
them in laboratories on board tugboats of a country he did not name.
He warned these drug importers and their peddlers will face
his wrath. “Those who destroy my country, I will kill you, and those who
destroy the young people in my country, I will kill you,” he said in his usual
tough talk.
Duterte claimed that the latest statistics provided him
showed about 1,000 youths are arrested each day for selling drugs. He added
that many of those arrested from the middle class have been released from
prison despite drug trafficking being a nonbailable offense.
He linked the drug problem to parents leaving their very
young children to relatives or friends as they go abroad to work. He said the
boys turn to drugs while the girls become prostitutes.
The President said it hurts him to think every night about
Filipinas going to work in the Middle East who
become prey to abuses by certain tribes that consider paid workers as slaves
and their property. As a result, he said, these women are subjected to sexual
abuse.
The worse part of it is when they decide to return home in
4-5 years, when they find that everything they had worked hard for is gone and
their family dispersed.
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| Duterte is flanked by Senate President Tito Sotto and House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco |
On the anti-insurgency front, Duterte said his troops have
destroyed more than 15 apparatuses of the Communist Party of the
Philippines.
“Maraming sundalo ang
namatay sa mga armas na ipinasok ng mga rebelde sa Pilipinas.
That is my order to you, if you see them walking around,
kindly shoot them dead, and I will be happy,” he said.
“Anyway, you’re only charged in the ICC together with me, so
what is the problem of adding another one, another idiot Filipino who has
caused great damage to our country?”
To the applause of retired generals who were behind the
creation of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, or NTF-ELCAC,
Duterte praised their so-called barangay improvement projects to address
the root cause of the insurgency.
Duterte called on Congress to pass laws creating
scholarship programs for children of displaced overseas Filipino workers, as
well as agribusiness and entrepreneurship programs for them; restoring the
death penalty through lethal injection; reverting all TV frequencies to the
government for use in educational and e-learning programs; requiring telecoms
to improve internet connectivity and passing Bayanihan 2 Act and Covid-19 Adjustment
Program to deal with the continuing challenges of the pandemic; and providing
further incentives to the military such as free legal assistance and a pension
fund.
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Protesters braved the rains and pandemic restrictions
to speak out against human rights abuses during Duterte's term |
Meanwhile, two separate contra speeches to Duterte’s SONA
were delivered in the House of Representatives.
Both House Minority Leader Bienvenido Abante Jr and Albay First
District Representative Edcel Lagman slammed Duterte over his failure to
provide a clear plan for fighting the coronavirus pandemic.
Earlier, thousands of people braved the rains to march from
the University of the Philippines
campus to Commonwealth Avenue
ahead of Duterte’s final SONA.
Protesters from various groups led by Bayan and its
affiliates gathered in UP Diliman at 9 am, and began marching about 3 hours
later, while chanting anti-Duterte slogans. They were joined by Makabayan bloc
lawmakers wearing their protest outfits.
The groups said their protest was a condemnation of
Duterte’s tyranny and rights abuses during his five years in office.
