REACTION PAPER:

President Dutertes First State of the Nation Address

I would first like to state that I did not vote for Duterte during the election so I
was a bit skeptical about the things he would address in his first State of the Nation
Address (SONA), other than the drug problems that plague our country of course. It
took longer for him to finish his speech, making it the longest SONA ever, because
of the many side stories and remarks he just had to make which made it a bit more
difficult to actually understand some of his points. I was definitely not impressed at
his complete lack of decorum when it comes to making speeches but overall, the
essence of it all is quite okay.
Having little to no trust in him, I listened to his speech with very little
expectations but to my surprise he gave many good points in his plans for our
beloved nation. There are 3 main highlights in his speech: his insistent war against
drugs, the promise of a peaceful, better, and unified country and his push for
federalism in the country. I may not agree to all of his plans for our country but Im
still hoping for the best that it would be carried out cleanly for the sake of this
country.
Duterte stated the following: Enduring peace can only be attained only if we
meet these fundamental needs of every man, woman and child.

With that

statement he added the unilateral ceasefire of CPP/NPA/NDF with the vision of

ending the cycles of death upon death brought upon the warfare with the Muslims.
He believes in not separating God with the state, which may seem to be a good
thing as he said it first implying that he will now employ morals and putting life and
peace at the top of his list but still contradicts with his actions that gave the police
the power to kill the drug users and pushers if they deemed it necessary. Gunfire
may not be happening in Mindanao, but its still a possibility that it may happen
closer to home. As a person that really didnt like Duterte as a president at first, I
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thought that he would be personally killing all these drug pushers and users. But I
believe that the blood thats being spilled these past few weeks have not been in
his hands, but in the hands of the people that abuse the power he gave to them. He
did reiterate that he would also not tolerate the abuse of that power that he gave to
the police but my opinion still remains intact that he shouldnt have even gave them
that power in the first place. Why promote peace in one part of the country and let
death still be lingering throughout the rest? The extrajudicial killings still bother me
even after his SONA and I just hoped that he had a better view on that other than
saying to stop the drama.
The daily lives of the people were also greatly considered in President
Dutertes plans for our country. He plans to make our economy better by focusing
on giving more opportunities to the greater part of our population, which are the
poor and the middle class. Kudos for him about not patronizing with the rich and
actually not giving them any priority as many of them may be corrupt and probably
the reasons why there is inequality of the incomes between the social classes. He
also had plans in the field of tourism, agriculture and even aquaculture. I also
believe that focus on these are needed in our country as well. His proposals
regarding the environment is what weve always needed, I just hope that the actual
steps used in this is actually helpful and good for our environment and not just for
show. He also took into consideration the infrastructures in Metro Manila. The use of
the existing roads is planned to be maximized along with the revival of the Pasig
River Ferry System and the local government units are also tasked to focus on
making secondary routes and better public transport as well. The addressing of the
worsening traffic conditions in the country is one of the plans that greatly interested
me considering it was what we were doing in our subject in Planning. He stated that
this government would be a clean one and I just hope it would be because his plans
for this country is what it needs. His vision to make the lives of Filipinos easier and
better is admirable because he even considered the simple things in our daily lives,
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such as the buying of tickets for the LRT and MRT which previous presidents do not
address as much in their SONAs. It is clear that his vision for equality and unity
whether youre poor or have different beliefs or just struggling in life this country is
sincere indeed.
His push for a federalist government is admirable with him being willing to
step down as long as this type of government will be implemented. I just learned
that this was his centerpiece in his presidential campaign, and at first I thought hes
just about focusing on drugs, drugs and drugs but with the state of the country in
mind, I think this is the noblest thing in he could do for our country. I agree that this
would be step forward for our country as this will distribute the power to the local
government units. Too much power is currently concentrated in Manila and by
distributing this power to all LGUs there would be more room for growth and
development in all aspects and in all locations in the country.
After his SONA, I came to realize why the bulk of Filipinos voted for him in the
elections, it was due to his drive and sincerity to improve this country even in the
simplest way possible. Although he may need some coaching when it comes to
public speaking, he was still able to tell us, his people, what he intends for our
country. At first I thought it would just focus on drugs and killings after killings but I
realize now that there is actual change happening now, 2 months and theres
change although minimal. I just hope that these extrajudicial killings would be put
to a stop and that all the men that abuse their powers given to them by the
president are brought to justice.

Change really is coming, I just hope all of us

Filipinos strive for that change. I see some light for our country now, with a leader
thats sincere and I just hope that all his constituents would be with him in his
journey to making the Philippines the great nation that it could be.