Is the Philippines better off than when President Duterte stepped into power in 2016? Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson said this is what he wants to find out when the Chief Executive delivers his final State of the Nation Address (SONA) this July.
“After five years, where are we now, or what is the situation in the many aspects of his administration such as peace and order, fight against illegal drugs, corruption, economy, and foreign policy, particularly the West Philippine Sea?” Lacson asked during a media forum on Sunday.
“We want to hear what happened in the last five years - and moving forward for the last year of his administration, what can still be done?” Lacson said.
“What we need to hear from the President is what has been done in the last five years. Are we better off than when he stepped in as President on June 30, 2016?” he stressed.
Aside from these questions, Lacson also said he hopes to hear from the President the status of the government’s vaccination program and its fight against corruption. He said it is critical that the President updates the public on the state of the government’s COVID-19 pandemic response.
“This is important because many Filiponos still do not trust the vaccine. In the meantime, the government must continue its campaign to gain the people’s trust in vaccines, based on science,” he said.
On the issue of criminality, Lacson said he agrees with Senate President Vicente Sotto III’s suggestion to put more emphasis on prevention and rehabilitation in its fight against illegal drugs.
On the economic aspect, the senator also said the government may need to consider digitalizing the economy and automating government processes to ease transactions and minimize corruption.
For instance, he said that while the Bureau of Customs (BOC) is computerized, there is still a lack of automation processes that results to big discrepancies to the government’s import records with the export records of the country’s trading partners such as China.
“Digitalization will vastly improve revenue collections and make more effective and efficient monitoring of public expenditures,” Lacson said.
“We should consider these. In this age of modern technology, we should be in the process of digitalization. It is not too late, but we should act soon,” he stressed.