PNP chief: 12,000 cops for SONA not overkill

MANILA, Philippines — There is nothing wrong with deploying as many as 12,000 Philippine National Police personnel to secure today’s State of the Nation Address (SONA), PNP chief Gen. Nicolas Torre III said.

His statement yesterday came after the progressive group Bayan described the deployment as “overkill.”

Torre said that it was always good to be “prepared for the worst.”

“We always respect the opinion of other people. We are just making sure. We always hope for the best but we are prepared for the worst,” he told reporters.

Torre said he was open to visiting the picket lines of both pro- and anti-government protesters that turn out during the SONA each year.

“All of our kababayans deserved to be heard. We will always lend open ears to them,” Torre said.

Complete failure

After failing to deliver “real gains” in his first three years, organized labor no longer expected anything in the remaining three years of the Marcos administration, not even in his SONA.

The Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa (SENTRO) said President Marcos has not taken any action against contractualization and has ignored the call to raise wages above the poverty threshold.

“Marcos Jr. does not care about the economic standing of workers and he is apathetic towards the immediate dangers they face when they dare criticize the failures of his administration,” SENTRO said.

“This isn’t a failure due to mere incompetence. This is a failure from his dereliction of duty. He simply has zero intentions to genuinely fulfill them,” SENTRO added. “To all workers, brace yourselves, we have three more years with him.”

Focus on improving quality of life

Meanwhile, labor group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) urged legislators to go beyond the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte and focus their efforts on uplifting the lives of Filipinos, including workers.

“At this moment, impeaching Sara Duterte is still the right thing to do, but the struggle for reforms must go beyond this. Raising the Filipinos’ quality of life and standard of living is a constitutional duty as equally important as ensuring accountability and good governance,” PM said.

“Our portrayal of SONA may sound too negative, but that is the hard truth we need to confront. SONA’s usual summation declaring the state of the nation as sound is an insult to millions who cannot afford basic necessities,” the group said.

The group called on Congress to act on their demand for legislated wage hike, end contractualization, and lower the prices of essential goods.

Bishops give Marcos ‘average’ rating

Halfway through his term, President Marcos reportedly received an average score from two Catholic bishops, with both saying he was still lacking in performance.

In separate interviews, Radyo Veritas asked church leaders on their assessment of Marcos’ performance ahead of his fourth SONA.

Novaliches Bishop Roberto Gaa gave him 5 out of 10 because while the President was able to “do something, it was still lacking… Everything, basically everything, was lacking.”

Meanwhile, Antipolo Bishop Ruperto Santos gave Marcos a slightly above average score of 6.

“I would rate it a 6 out of 10. There have been efforts, but they fall short of the transformative leadership our people deserve. There is still time to do more, to do better, and to act faster,” he said.

Gaa encouraged Marcos to be open to discussing important issues that require concrete solutions such as poverty, education and health.

Meanwhile, on top of Santos’ list of problems that government should address are corruption and gambling, saying these affect families and poor people. — Mayen Jaymalin, Evelyn Macairan, Ramon Efren Lazaro