Yesterday was the day that the President of the Philippines delivered the report to the Filipino nation that the Constitution requires him to render at the start of every Congressional session. The Constitutional provision speaks of an address—a single report. I think that this is an inadequate approach to the function of annually informing the Filipino people of the performance of their elected leaders.
The State of the Nation (SONA) approach allows the Chief Executive to gloss over his administration’s performance in each of the three areas of principal concern to Juan de la Cruz, namely, the economy, the nation’s security and relations with other countries and political-social conditions. In effect, there should be a mini-SONA devoted to a full discussion of the Philippine economy, a mini-SONA dealing with the Philippines’ foreign relations and a mini-SONA that would discuss political and social developments within the nation during the year under review. If this was not done, the delivery of the annual SONA would continue to be an occasion for grandstanding, the making of partisan statements and—in the case of Rodrigo Duterte—the use of intemperate language.
If the President of the Philippines were to deliver three mini-SONAs instead of one comprehensive address, what would Mr. Duterte tell the Filipino people on the separate issues of the economy, external relations and the state of national politics?
First, the economy. After twelve months in office, the Duterte administration has yet to begin to make its mark on the economy. It is not in a position to point to any significant achievement with a bearing on the working of the Philippine economy. Truth to tell, the administration of the former mayor of Davao City has, during the past year, been coasting along on the good economic fundamentals bequeathed to it by the Aquino administration. Even with its vaunted Congressional supermajority, it has yet to get its tax reform package—TRAIN, or Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion—through the legislature. Elsewhere in the economy, name the particular sector, the Duterte administration has yet to score SONA-reportable points.
In the field of diplomacy and external relations Mr. Duterte and his team have been a disaster. Antagonizing traditional allies right and left, avidly courting controversial new friends like Russia and China, virtually surrendering this country’s hard-won and strategically important rights to traditionally Philippine areas of the South China Sea, refusing generosity from longtime friendly countries and wasting the leadership opportunity provided by the Philippines’ chairmanship of the Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations)—this is the one-year record of the Duterte administration in the field of diplomacy. In a regular SONA, it is bound to be glossed over.
Finally, there is the Duterte administration’s record of performance in the political-social arena. Declaration of martial law in Mindanao, a protracted campaign against the Maute group (apparently largely chargeable to failure of intelligence) in Marawi City, inability to reach a workable peace with the NPA/NDF/CCP, rising tension with the MILF and the MNLF, widespread disapproval here and abroad of Mr. Duterte’s war on illegal drugs and, most important in view of Mr. Duterte’s foremost campaign promise, a resurgence of corruption: this is the political-social situation that Mr. Duterte should be reporting to the nation today.
In Mr. Duterte’s second SONA, these developments are bound to be glossed over. In a mini-SONA they wouldn’t be.
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