State of the Nation

We all thought that it would start at 4 p.m. as practiced in the past decades. It was traditional for the president to walk down the aisle in that joint session and when the clock would strike four in the afternoon, the whole of the Philippines could hear the state of the nation. Not this year, no.

We all saw on national TV how a previous president, who was already jailed for the controversies hounding the national budget, took oath as the new House Speaker. Well played, Philippines. It was an act that happened for the first time in Philippine history. At least I'm alive to witness such a historic event. What a shame.

The president's SONA was rather blunt and direct to the point. Unlike his previous speeches which would take hours plus the pain in the stomach from all the laughing at his adlibs, this one was different. We saw a president Duterte that was soft and honest about what was really going on in the country. Of course, the drive against illegal drugs became his number one concern. It boosted the morale of the police force that he challenged to continue the war against drugs. But did it equate to killing more people? I don't know. He said he is more concerned with human lives than human rights. While we welcome the gesture, the quest for justice to those who were victims continues.

He also made mention of the effects of the TRAIN Law and many infrastructure projects that he has accomplished because of his “Build, build, build” program. A lot of people became to see what he truly means in changing the country the way he saw it. Of course we are happy with the outcome and how he has worked hard to change this developing nation. The challenge now is if we can keep on his direction of making the country a better one.

What really is the state of the nation? We live in a time where selfies are a priority and the next generation is close to losing hope in their homeland. We lose the sense of pride in the culture that we used to have. There is no more connection with the past and we are certainly too busy looking to the future.

Once done, what will there be left for us? We need a citizenry that knows how to look both ways at this situation. This is the time when we should stand up for what we believe in.

I hope we all have learned a thing or two from the president's SONA. It may have not been perfect as we thought it would be but the changes that we hoped for are in the works. We may doubt and lose trust but if we just hold on to the remaining years he has, and fight for what is right then I guess we have a long way to go.