A SONA that sounded like a sermon
The second State of the Nation Address of President Rodrigo Duterte last Monday sounded to me (I was in the gallery, having just arrived from a conference in Singapore) like a sermon, a warning, and a direct attack against drug syndicates, irresponsible miners, tax evaders, courts, COA, government-owned and -controlled corporations for excessive allowances for officials. He also attacked, the corrupt, lazy, and incompetents in government, human rights advocates who derail the fight against drugs and crime, also ISIS and other the global terrorists, the CPP/NDF/NPA led by Jose Ma. Sison, ABS-CBN, and senators who delay or derail the tax reform package of the government.
The first sermon was against drug syndicates. He said his fight shall continue to be unrelenting and uncompromising. He warned he will never allow the lives of the youth to be ruined by drugs, and families and marriages to be shattered, or the peace of communities to be destroyed. He warned that these rascals in society should stop or he will hang them from the gates of hell. They have only two choices: jail or hell. The second sermon was against irresponsible miners who ravage the environment, destroy the livelihood of the poor, and worsen climate change. He said if they do not restore nature he will tax them to death. He called them beasts and vultures who amass wealth and profits at the expense of nature and the livelihood of poor farmers and fisher folks.
The third sermon was against ISIS and global terrorists whom he charged with attempting to subvert our government and place the nation under the domination of an alien power and foreign ideology. The fourth was against Sison and his CPP/NDF/NPA whom he accused of pretending to talk peace while at the same time never stopping in its guerrilla operations, ambushing our troops and policemen. Duterte said that Sison is sick with colon cancer. He and his rebel group is about to be abandoned by the Norwegian politicians who are funding the NDF in the Scandinavian countries for decades now. The president said that such politicians are losing popular support because of the burden being shouldered by the Norwegian government.
The fifth sermon was against the human rights advocates including the foreign press and organizations like UN and the International Court of Justice. He said our country is committed to an independent foreign policy and would not tolerate interference from foreign elements. Sixth, he put the US ambassador on the spot by narrating the Balangiga massacre, where the Americans got the church bells, and he demanded their return. Seventh, the president also put Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno on the spot when he deplored the courts' propensity to issue TROs, thus delaying and derailing vital government projects. The eighth sermon was to COA for undue interference in government operations. He explained why the rule on lowest bids is bad for government. When all was said and done, what is good is that Duterte has proven that indeed, he is the president of the people. We do have a father who does not care if we hate him, as long as we grow up better children, better Filipinos. That, to me, is what really what matters most.
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