Opening salvo on Rody’s year 3

Disclosure: We have been invited to appear in today’s “Agenda” daily talk show of my fellow Star columnist Cito Beltran in OneNews Cignal cable TV. It will be to discuss the hits-and-misses of the two-year old administration of President Rodrigo Duterte on the occasion of his state of the nation address (SONA) later today. The show starts live at 8 o’ clock in the morning at Cignal Channel 8/250.

President Duterte’s latest SONA formally ushers in a glimpse of what he intends to do and would like to happen on his third year in office at Malacañang Palace. 

Palace drumbeaters led by presidential spokesman Harry Roque disclosed this year’s SONA will be totally different from the past two years when President Duterte spoke more than an hour and mostly extemporaneous.

As earlier announced by Roque, the Chief Executive intends to hew closely to his prepared SONA speech and to keep it within half an hour at least only. That would be a tall order for the former Davao City Mayor who, more often than not, loves to digress a lot from his prepared speeches.

This is not to mention his tendency to set aside protocol and decorum of a statesman especially when his passion over his favorite topic on illegal drugs and corruption crop up. Would President Duterte be able to deliver a cuss-free SONA?

By October this year, the official campaign period in the country starts with the filing of certificates of candidacy for those running for the mid-term elections in May 2019. Re-electionist Senators and Representatives would be much pre-occupied with their campaign activities. 

This is not to mention Cabinet officials of President Duterte who are also touted to make a run in next year’s local and national elections. At least three or four of his Cabinet members are being mentioned no less by President Duterte as potential administration candidates.

For the past two years of his administration, President Duterte has lost half of his 22 Cabinet officials due to “forced” resignations following alleged corruption issues in their respective Departments. At least five were rejected by the Commission on Appointments (CA).

The President’s SONA today is his third since he assumed office. The occasion would also mark the third and last regular sessions of the 17th Congress. Today’s traditional joint opening ceremonies of the Senate and the House of Representatives would be the last time before the 17th Congress bows out.

As titular head of the PDP-Laban, President Duterte is thus expected to thank his administration allies in the 17th Congress for the help in shepherding his priority bills to become laws of the land.

President Duterte signed a total of 133 laws and joint resolutions in his first two years in office, most of them local measures, according to the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office (PLLO). The list did not include yet the Anti-Hazing law signed by the President last June 29. For the sam      e period, the PLLO noted that the number of laws and joint resolutions signed by President Duterte exceeded by 26 those signed by his immediate predecessor.

Of this total, President Duterte signed 23 national laws and joint resolutions, including the 2017 and 2018 national budgets, and two measures postponing the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan polls. 

Eight of the 28 priority bills of the administration have been passed including the free tuition law, tax reform law (TRAIN), the Philippine qualifications framework law, free irrigation law, Ease of Doing Business law, Balik-scientist program law, the national mental health law, and the national feeding program law. 

Majority of the enacted legislations signed by President Duterte, 94 of them, were laws of local applications. More than half or 51 of these were related to local schools while 17 created or divided barangays in various parts of the country.

As promised by the leaderships of both chambers of the 17th Congress, President Duterte is expected to sign into law today the revised Basic Bangsamoro Law (BBL). This was made possible after the bicameral conference committee that reconciled the differing versions of the BBL completed their task in time for the President’s third SONA. The principal authors and sponsors of the proposed BBL worked night and day in marathon sessions that ended last Thursday.

The printed enrolled bill of the BBL may have already been transmitted to Malacañang for final review by the office of the Executive Secretary. By this time, the BBL might already be at the table of President Duterte for his signature.

Since he took office at Malacanang, President Duterte rarely holds ceremonial signing of laws except for a very few landmark statutes.

 After all the BBL is a pet legislative measure that he has strongly supported even while he was still the former Mayor of Davao City. Describing his own family as half-Maranaos from his maternal side, President Duterte identifies himself with our Muslim brothers’ desire to live in peace with the rest of Filipinos.

Certainly, however, the BBL deserves the President’s time to conduct a ceremonial signing of this legislative measure for the final push of the elusive enduring peace in Mindanao.

If no signing rites are held, the Chief Executive can very well take the opportunity to announce his official enactment of the BBL when he delivers his SONA scheduled at 4 p.m. today at the Batasan Pambansa in Quezon City.

The possibility that the opposition may question the constitutionality and legality of the BBL before the Supreme Court is not far-fetched though. Barring any last minute hitches, it is all a go for the implementation of the BBL once signed into law.

And as he promised during the May 2016 presidential elections, the BBL will usher in the proposed shift to federal system of government that he envisions for the rest of the country. The question though, is the Philippines ready for that shift to federalism?

Once signed into law, the BBL is the opening salvo of President Duterte on year-3 of his administration.