Senators are not only expecting President Duterte to tout his accomplishments in the last five years, but also his plans to jumpstart the Philippines' recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic beyond his term.
Duterte will be delivering on Monday, July 26, his sixth and final State of the Nation Address (SONA).
Senate President Vicente "Tito" Sotto III said that he hopes to hear from Duterte a "roadmap" to guide the next administration in addressing the impacts of the coronavirus outbreak.
"I expect and hope that there would be a COVID-19 roadmap that the President will layout so that the next administration will also be able to follow through," he told CNN Philippines in an interview July 21.
"What the people truly want to hear from our nation’s Leader is what he will do to keep our economy afloat and how he will try to help our country survive this dreadful pandemic in his last twelve months of office," Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri also said in his statement.
"Of course, his plans and wishes for the country for the next year, the last year of his term, and beyond. Because a good leader always focuses not only on his term but also beyond the term of the President," he added.
Senator Joel Villanueva also asked for a "clear" direction from Duterte in controlling the spread of the virus and strengthening the country's health care system to make it "pandemic-proof".
The creation of a virology institute to research and develop vaccines is also key, he added, so the Philippines will not anymore depend on other countries for vaccine supplies.
"Until we produce our own vaccines, we will be at the mercy of vaccine manufacturers who are trying to supply to all nations," Villanueva pointed out.
"Our recovery will not happen overnight. The road to recovery should begin now, and whatever efforts we start today, the next administration should be able to build on and sustain," he further said.
Sen. Risa Hontiveros, for her part, said Duterte must lay out his plans to ramp up the country's vaccination program, especially with the emergence of the Delta coronavirus variant.
"Sana ay sabihin din ng Pangulo ang gagawin ng kanyang administrasyon para tulungan ang milyon-milyong Pilipino na nawalan ng trabaho at nagsarang negosyo, saklolohan ang dumaraming pamilya na nagugutom at walang pambili ng gamot at pagkain (I hope the President will tell us what his administration will do to help the millions of Filipinos who lost their jobs, business that were forced to close down, and the growing number of families who are hungry and without means to buy medicines)," she further said.
"Let’s hope that the President will focus on these important concerns, since the people are rightfully expecting him to act," the opposition senator said on Saturday, July 24.
"Wala muna sanang pagyayabang, pamumulitika at mga pangako na mapapako lang (There should be no boasting, politicking or making promises he won't be able to fulfill)," she hoped.
Gains, misses
Hontiveros said Duterte has made "a lot of sweet promises to the people", and the he "has yet to deliver on most of these promises".
"One of the worst of these broken promises, I believe, is the failure to uplift the lives of Filipinos from poverty," the staunch administration critic said.
She also cited the Security of Tenure bill, which Duterte had mentioned as a priority in his previous SONAs, but ended up vetoing in 2019.
The measure is supposed to end the abusive contractualization of workers in businesses.
Another "broken promise", Hontiveros said, is Duterte's campaign promise to take a stronger stand against China's incursions in the West Philiippine Sea (WPS).
In 2016, Duterte promised to ride a jet ski and challenge China's sweeping territorial claim. But last May, he said his statement was a mere campaign joke, and that those who fell for it are " really stupid".
Sotto likewise said that Duterte should finally make clear his position on the issue on the West Philippine Sea (WPS).
"I hope to hear from a clear stand on the issue on West Philippine Sea. Once and for all, let's hear it," the Senate leader in the television interview.
Still, Sotto believed that the Duterte administration had "many gains".
"I don’t expect naman the President to be able to do 100 percent of all the...no president has ever done that here and abroad...Syempre, kukulangin ka, or hindi matutupad kaagad lahat (Of course you won't be able to fulfill all your promises immediately), but there are many gains as far as the administration is concerned," he said.
On the country's problem on illegal drugs, which Duterte promised to end within the first three to six moths of his term, Sotto said: "That was a very difficult promise to make. And to make true. No president will be able to do that in a matter of what, six years."
"The problem of illegal drugs is confronted with the problem of drug abuse -- those are two different animals," Sotto said.
Senators asked Duterte to also discuss in his SONA his legislative agenda for the remaining year of his term.
"We expect to hear the legislative priorities other than what we have already in our table, particularly those measures that will improve the lives of our countrymen and of course the economy," Sotto said.
Zubiri promised that members of the Senate will "work double time" to pass Duterte's priority measures.
"We will heed the call of these times to act swiftly and judiciously during this pandemic crisis. Our people deserve nothing less," Zubiri said.