Comments on the President’s SONA

I asked my staff in MyTV Channel 30 to connect to the Communications group at the Batasan Pambansa in order to cover live the 5th State of the Nation (SONA) Address of President Rodrigo Duterte last Monday. I was right when I said that while the SONA was to start at 2 p.m., it actually started at 4 p.m. and ended two hours later. Call it one of the longest SONAs that we’ve ever heard. I

can only guess that this was due to the reality that President Duterte would not only read his prepared speech, he would also add his own words after each important issue is being discussed.

So my readers want to know what I think of the President’s SONA. Truth to tell, I have heard all the SONAs from the late President Ferdinand Marcos, to President Cory Aquino, President Fidel Ramos, President Joseph Estrada, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, President Benigno “PNoy” Aquino III and President Duterte. I would like to say that all of them made great SONAs; however, the SONA that President Duterte gave last Monday was quite subdued, or rather disappointing. I can only second-guess that this is due to the current Covid-19 situation that has only wearied the Filipino people and our political leadership.

As compared to previous SONAs, which looked more like a huge glittering fashion show by our political elite and some kind of celebrity show, the last SONA had none of those entertainment values. The fact alone that there were less than a hundred politicians present in the plenary hall meant that the sound of clapping was very much subdued. Even the tenor of the President was a bit subdued, like he was not in a fighting mood.

So now let’s focus on what the President talked about in his SONA when he urged the 18th Congress to pass a number of laws over the remaining two years of his term. What I really expected but failed to hear it in the SONA was the President made no mention of amending the 1987 Constitution for a shift to a federal form of government, both which have long been among his campaign promises and are a recurring theme in many of his public addresses. With two years to go, I thought that President Duterte would really push for a federal system in this SONA. But that didn’t happen, which means that the President has probably decided that the next administration should tackle that issue.

Then the President sort of warned both telecommunications giants Globe and Smart to shape up by December or something will happen. We know for a fact that the Philippines only has a total of 17,000 cell sites that serve a 76-million clientele. This means that the ratio of users per cell site is 4,000. Globe Telecom has earmarked some 1,000 new cell sites per year, unfortunately, it could hardly achieve even half that number due to the fact that the LGUs require 36 permits per cell site tower.

So in fairness to the telecom industry, the lack of cell sites boils to the fact that the LGUs have only presented a difficult bureaucracy when it comes to building more cell site towers. If he truly wants to solve this problem, then he should order all LGUs to cut its bureaucratic red tape in half. So before the President comes up with a plan to kick the butts of the telecom industry, he should first kick the butts of his LGUs.

Meanwhile, President Duterte came out again supporting and asking Congress to the revival of the Death Penalty bill. In fairness, he has been consistent about wanting to bring back the death penalty. He had reiterated this plea in previous SONAs, often mentioning the subject alongside his campaign against illegal drugs. He also mentioned this in his previous SONA, where he said plunder should be among the crimes punishable by death.

During his most recent one, he said that drugs causes families to crumble. The President added, “I reiterate the swift passage of a law reviving death penalty by lethal injection for crimes specified under the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.” This he is pushing despite saying that his government “prioritized preserving life and human rights just earlier in his speech. “This will not only help us deter criminality but will help us save our children.” But as a conservative Catholic, I’m not supporting this bill.

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