Duterte at his best
The euphoria over President Rodrigo Duterte’s second State of the Nation Address (Sona) has reverberated outside the plenary hall of congress and has not quieted down. The message, delivered in plain and simple terms, came from the emotion of the heart and mind of a man full of passion, dedication and wants to get things done tomorrow.
The statistics he read from the teleprompter were awe-inspiring but the part that I like best are the impromptu segments. Searing and penetrating every phrase is addressed to everybody inside the august chamber and those outside who wail themselves like broken records shouting slogans that reminiscent of radical student activism nearly half a century ago.
It was Duterte baring everything of what he is. Angry and frustrated, he cannot deliver on his promise to eradicate drugs in three months, but he was humble enough to admit that he did not realize the gravity of the problem. But he warned those who still cannot give up their drug trade. He will not allow them any quarters but their graveyard.
His campaign against corruption will be without let up and reminded those who still has the predilection for graft that he has not spared even those who are close to him. But the most daring part of all is when he declared the end of peace negotiation with the CPP/NPA/NDF and trashed his aging professor Joma Sison. The audience responded with thunderous applause.
Duterte was not sparing with his stab at his nemesis. “The Balangiga bells are ours. It is part of our national heritage.” But it is not about the bells if I were to read what lurks in his mind. There is a subliminal message that invoked the savagery committed by the American forces in Balangiga. It is about violence and human rights violations committed by Americans who incessantly denigrate the President and warned him on how he deals with drug lords and criminals.
But if Duterte was unsparing with his repartees on critics, he too is unsparing with his praises. To China, he heaped gratitude to President Xi Jinping for the billions of dollars committed to build infrastructures, trade and investments. While the US denied the Philippines arms to deal with local terrorist problems in the country, China gave these for free.
And there lies the rub. The last quarter of this year will trigger some of the mega projects. Aware of how important is the last five-year period in his presidency to carry out massive infrastructure projects never before seen in the annals of Philippine history, President Duterte implores Chief Justice Lourdes Sereno to join him in his goal to realize all these by seriously looking at the negative impact of the courts Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) on the implementation of projects.
Justice Sereno, whose court affirmed Duterte’s declaration of Martial Law in Mindanao, was listening and watching the President with a smile. And I can only hope it is a sign of conformity.
He challenged the big mining operators to now shift to processing the mineral to finish products. And then he roared, “pay your taxes correctly otherwise I will tax you to death.” From his seat among the Cabinet members, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez was smiling as if to say, Duterte’s admonition will make his job easy.--