UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS

ALFREDO M. VELAYO
COLLEGE OF ACCOUNTANCY

Controversies in History

DUTERTE’S SONA 2018

Leader:

Arita, Macky John Q.

Members:

Alquizar, Aquila C.

Baring, Louis Jhon Millen M.

Bautista, Jed Carlos E.

Booth, Alissa D.

Tomas, Brandon Ryan C.

BS Accountancy / 1st year - 1A10

November 9, 2018
HISTORICAL CONTEXT

The Duterte administration started in June 30, 2016 and known for its war on drugs campaign had come to
approach the 3rd year of its term. Within the last 2 years, President Rodrigo Duterte was diagnosed that he
has some health complications such as Buerger’s Disease, Barrett’s Esophagus & GERD, spinal issue and
daily migraines that he himself confirmed during his first year of presidency.

It was the day before he delivered the annual State of the Nation Address or SONA for his third time,
President Duterte visited Cardinal Santos Medical Center in San Juan City for check-up and declared that
he is still in good health as our 73 year old president. He was able to comeback in Malacanang at 9p.m. to
rehearse a little bit for the SONA.

The era of Dutertian SONAs surely qualify as a moment of their own in the history of SONAs. Our current
President has taken the Philippines' annual political ritual and filled it with invectives, informal asides, and
off-the-cuff remarks that are certainly atypical. But nevertheless, the purpose of the SONA holds.

The 14-page speech for the 3rd SONA that was directed by romantic-comedy film director Joyce Bernal
was delivered by President Duterte on Monday, July 23, 2018 at the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City.

CONTROVERSIES
Technical Aspect
1) Duration
 President Duterte promised, weeks prior, that his speech will last no longer than 35 minutes
while the Malacañang estimated that it would last for 35 to 45 minutes but it actually lasted for
45 minutes according to Rappler while 48 minutes according to CNN. Nevertheless, it was
finished in less than 50 minutes, the shortest SONA in the Philippine history.

2) Late Start
 Duterte started his third SONA at 5:20 p.m., more than an hour later than expected. The delay
was due to the sudden change in leadership at the House of Representatives. Pampanga Rep.
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ousted Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez in a coup that was completed after
the SONA at around 8:50 p.m. Alvarez's removal came after a spat with President Rodrigo
Duterte's daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, and erstwhile political patron,
Davao del Norte Rep. Antonio Floirendo Jr.

3) New Director
 Malacañang decided to tap romantic-comedy film director Joyce Bernal to direct the President's
SONA, replacing multi-awarded film director Brillante Mendoza. Bernal intended to use
"sequencing shots" and "warm lighting" to capture Duterte's patriotism on camera.

4) New House, Senate Leadership

 For the past two years, former Senate President Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III and House
Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez sat on the rostrum while Duterte delivered his SONA. Instead of
Pimentel, Senator Vicente "Tito" Sotto III took his seat at the rostrum for Duterte's third SONA.
Sotto took over the leadership of the Senate last May after Pimentel stepped down.
 On the other hand, Arroyo up the rostrum while Pantaleon Alvarez welcoming Duterte as
Speaker. Duterte then meets with the two separately, leaving people wondering who the real
Speaker is. During the SONA, Alvarez takes the Speaker’s seat.
Speech
1) Drug war
“The war against illegal drugs is far from over. The illegal drugs war will not be side-lined instead it will
be as relentless and chilling.”
 Duterte cited in his SONA on how illegal drugs annihilate human lives that pushed him to do
such thing on the lives of every Filipinos to distinguish this kind of matter. Our president also
mentioned that the war against drugs is far from over which is very distinct from the words that
came out on his mouth when he promised to end this problem within six months from the day
he took the responsibilities of being the president.

2) Human rights
“Your concern is human rights, mine is human lives.”
 President Rodrigo Duterte cited in his SONA about those human rights advocates and church
leaders against the use of illegal drugs is also the ones against his way of distinguishing this
kind of problem and he believes that those people cares about human rights while him cares
about human lives as what he stated in his SONA. When in fact, the human rights advocates
and church leaders does not wanted to diminish or to leave behind this problem, what they utter
to happen is to reprehend the bloody drug war which costs plenitude number of death. They
also aim to end this problem but only within the range of giving values on human lives or
humanity.

3) Filipino fishermen
“Our improved relationship with China doesn’t mean that we will waiver to our commitment to our
interest in the West Philippine Sea.”
 They believe that opening lines of communication and amicably managing differences will
lead to a positive development without knowing what does fishermen are experiencing from
those greedy outlanders. The GMA News report interviewed one of those fishermen who was
caught in the video and is forcedly seized by the Chinese. They said that the Chinese are
continuously taking their catch, destroy corals and giant clams and they added that the worst
part is they choose the best out of it.

4) Friendship and Corruption

“I value friendship. Make no mistake about it. But it has its limits. Help me in my cause so that our
friendship will endure.”
 Duterte, based from his SONAs for the past three years, said that he will never tolerate
corruption and will cleanse the government from it. He have already had fired dozens of
alleged corrupt officials under his regime, but recent reports say that a many among them
were appointed by the president himself back within the government. Some of them are Jose
Gabriel “Pompee” La Viña, Melissa Aradanas, Joan Lagunda, Manuel Serra Jr., Nicanor
Faeldon and Vincent Maronilla.

5) Charter Change
“I have no illusions of occupying this office one day longer than what the Constitution under which I was
elected permits; or under whatever Constitution there might be.”
 The endeavour of the said charter change chase to revise the 1987 constitution which is believed
that it will make the federalism possible, that was requested by President Rodrigo Duterte but
failed because there are existing group of people doubting the President’s reason for pursuing
this, another reason that was alluded by the retired supreme court justice Vicente Mendoza, is
because of the partisanship runs thick and now is not the perfect time to enforce the charter
change. There are also suspicions that the President was just using this to extend his rule in the
Philippines, but in fact the said constitution states that "incumbent President is prohibited from
 running as President in the 2022 elections under the Constitution.", which means that President
Rodrigo Duterte is prohibited to extend his rule from the year 2022 where his term will end,
onwards and it is expected that the suspicions will stop after some clarifications.

6) Contractualization
"On May 1 of this year, I signed Executive Order 51, which sought to protect the workers right to security
of tenure."
 President Duterte promised to put an end to contractualization during his campaign. As he have
mentioned in his SONA, one of his actions regarding the issue was the signing of the Executive
Order 51. Labor groups were dismayed saying that the context of the EO were already stated
in the existing Labor Code. It does not include their proposed provisions which include the
prohibition against all forms of contracting and a declaration that direct hiring should be the
norm, instead, he signed the DTi-drafted version of the EO. Some say that the President made
this move as a "face-saving measure" only to appease the workers.

STAND

The speech of President Rodrigo Duterte did not go the way everyone expected it would be. It was
brief, devoid of foul language and was delivered in a dignified manner. Some people praised him for getting
straight to the point, and went directly to the matters at hand.

The stand of the group agrees on the side of the President. Having to solely base it on his State of
the Nation (SONA), the group is satisfied with the points he chose to discuss. He was able to lay down
some of the accomplishments of his administration, and the plans he still need to implement, without ad-
libing and also using his usual language. A few of the accomplishments he indicated in his speech are the
following — the administration since the President was appointed remains dedicated to putting an end to
the decades-old problems on illegal drugs, criminality and corruption in the government. It also continues
to initiate efforts to address poverty and inequality across the nation. He also looked into environmental
protection, disaster and health and for the government units to be more proactive on the environmental
protection. He told the mining industry to stop open-pit mining for it destroys the environment. Moreover,
he told them to repair what they have damaged in the past. He also stated that he will invest more in
healthcare. He ensured that there will be a nationwide healthcare support system to provide quality
healthcare services to every Filipino. Like the Malasakit Center, which gets P50 million every month from
President Rodrigo Duterte, is a one-stop shop comprised of different agencies that help families of patients
who wish to settle medical expenses.

The President was passionate and consistent in continuing his reform programs relative to good
governance, economic, foreign relations as well as the fight against illegal drugs and criminalities. His vow
to go after corrupt officials as well as those who destroy the environment are equally important to the
development of our nation.
CITATIONS:

Favila, A. (2018, July 23). Full Text: Duterte's 2018 SONA Speech. Retrieved from
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2018/07/23/1836195/full-text-dutertes-2018-sona-speech

UNTV News and Rescue. (2018, July 24). Key points in Duterte’s SONA 2018: Rice, taxes and war on
drugs. Retrieved from https://www.untvweb.com/news/key-points-in-dutertes-sona-2018-rice-taxes-and-
war-on-drugs/

(2018, July). Sona 2018 Key Points Highlights. Retrieved from http://onemega.com/sona-2018-key-
points-highlights/

Elemia, C. (2018, July 24). SONA 2018: Duterte cleans up but House spoils it. Retrieved from
https://www.rappler.com/nation/208072-duterte-cleans-up-for-sona-2018-house-representatives-spoils

(2018, July). President Duterte Sona 2018 highlights. Retrieved from

http://cnnphilippines.com/news/2018/07/23/president-duterte-sona-2018-highlights.html

(2018, July 23). President Duterte spells out priority legislations in third SONA. Retrieved from
https://pcoo.gov.ph/news_releases/president-duterte-spells-out-priority-legislations-in-third-sona/

Villamor, F. (2018, July 23). ‘Your Concern Is Human Rights, Mine Is Human Lives,’ Duterte Says in
Fiery Speech. Retrieved from
https://www.google.com.ph/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2018/07/23/world/asia/philippines-duterte-speech-
muslims.amp.html
Lacuata, R.C. (2018, July 23). Duterte's 3rd SONA: How different is it from his first two. Retrieved from
https://news.abs-cbn.com/focus/07/23/18/dutertes-3rd-sona-how-different-is-it-from-his-first-two

Ranada, P. (2016, December 13). LIST: 'Migraine everyday' and Duterte's other ailments. Retrieved from
https://www.rappler.com/nation/155358-duterte-health-condition-ailments

Ranada P. (2018, July 22). Duterte drops by hospital day before SONA 2018. Retrieved from
https://www.rappler.com/nation/207945-duterte-hospital-visit-july-22-sona-2018-philippines

(2018, July 20). The SONA Throughout History. Retrieved from https://www.esquiremag.ph/politics/the-
historical-evolution-of-the-sona-a00203-20180720-lfrm