“Our country continues to be confronted with internal security threats aggravated by the existence and activities of the terrorist group Abu Sayyaf”, said Duterte.”The full force of the AFP will be applied to crush these criminals who operate under the guise of religious fervor”. For starters, majority of the SONA was not spoken in traditional Tagalog; instead the President opted for English, which -unusually- would be easier to understand for Filipinos outside of Luzon.
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That was unusual, and perhaps the biggest break from the tradition of the State of the Nation Address.
He said the current policies that have spurred one of Asia’s fastest rates of economic growth would be continued and strengthened and he ordered the military to help tackle illegal logging and mining.
The President noted the presence of former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in the session hall as well as the absence of his immediate predecessor, Benigno Simeon Aquino III, who was understandably not too thrilled with sitting next to his former teacher whom he had detained for five years on corruption charges.
“By the end of my term I hope and pray to hand over an economy that is much stronger characterized by solid growth, low and stable inflation and dollar reserves, and a robust fiscal position”, Duterte said in a 90-minute speech. “The commitment of the government to increase infrastructure spending should only be additive to the current high growth that we have been experiencing”, said PSE president and CEO Hans B. Sicat.
A growing number of alleged drug pushers killed by police, as well as instances of apparent vigilantism following Duterte’s election have drawn concern from human rights groups and the Catholic Church. He also shows care for those who are applying for licences by proposing to extend the validity of driver’s license and passport.
“I like his promises to ease the traffic in Metro Manila by constructing more mass-transport systems”. The problem on drugs and criminality are rooted deeply in our society that the surrender of a number of criminals can not solve the entire problem.
The President has just been in office less than a month so it is premature to proclaim success but I admit that I am impressed so far. He broke down the fancy language for us so we can better see and understand what he intends to implement directly.
But the hiccup, in most cases, is the process of investigating, charging, trying and eventually, deciding on these personnel.
A raging wildfire that forced thousands from their homes on the edge of Los Angeles continued to burn out of control Monday as frustrated fire officials said residents reluctant to heed evacuation orders made conditions more risky and destructive for their neighbors. And a lot of laughter.
Duterte pledged to lower personal and corporate income taxes and relax rules protecting the secrecy of bank deposits.
He is addressing gut issues that are important in the daily lives of people.
The speech turned out to be one to crack up his power audience. Even more to the point: Don’t let human rights considerations get in the way of police (or vigilante) killings; you are destroying the country by letting drug syndicates peddle illegal drugs.
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On the same day as Duterte’s speech, thousands of protesters poured into Manila, some of them calling for labor reforms, including sharp restrictions on the use of nonpermanent job contracts.
