July 26, 2021 will be a historic day when President Duterte puts a spotlight on his legacy achievements so far as well as plans for his final year in office.
Catapulted into office with the “tapang at malasakit” mantra, the President is set to deliver his sixth and final State of the Nation Address (SONA) before the joint session of Congress on Monday as the country continues to battle the coronavirus pandemic wreaking havoc on lives and livelihood of Filipinos.
The President’s highly anticipated speech, which will set the tone of the last 12 months in Malacañang, has been finalized with Duterte already starting to rehearse its delivery.
Given the evolving coronavirus threat, the President will physically deliver his SONA at Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City but under stricter safety and health protocols. The preparations include limiting the number of guests who will be required to follow certain health protocols, including vaccination and coronavirus testing.
“This year’s SONA will be discussing all the administration’s accomplishments and legacies on multifaceted governance,” Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said.
“It will cover economics, social services, infrastructure, peace and security, and our independent foreign policy. It will further include where we are currently in these aspects to provide the Filipino people a clear picture of our current situation,” he said.
Prior to the President’s SONA, cabinet members have given lengthy accomplishment reports on efforts related to economy and infrastructure development, peace and security, poverty reduction and other social services, and disaster mitigation efforts. Given the limited time of President’s SONA, the cabinet reports were released to expound on the administration’s achievements in the past year.
Accomplishments
Before the pandemic upended the lives and livelihood of Filipinos, the county experienced a “period of growth” from 2016 to 2019 on the economic development and infrastructure, according to Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles.
Six million Filipinos were lifted out of poverty. The country’s poverty incidence rate went down to 16.7 percent in 2018 from 23.5 percent in 2015. Unemployment also dropped to 4.5 percent in 2018 from 6.3 percent in 2015.
On infrastructure, the government’s Build Build Build program raised spending to ₱1.049 billion in 2019 from ₱590.5 billion in 2016. Last year, it was brought down to ₱824.9 billion due to the fallout from the coronavirus outbreak.
“Our goal is to bring this back up to ₱1.169 trillion or 5.9 percent of GDP (gross domestic product) this year,” Nograles said during a recent pre-SONA forum.
When the pandemic hit, the government invested ₱2.76 trillion on pandemic response when it affected the lives and livelihood of Filipinos. Nograles said this showed the government’s priority is the health and lives of Filipinos.
“While the pandemic interrupted the momentum of anti-poverty gains, (Finance) Secretary (Carlos) Dominguez emphasized the government did what was necessary to protect Filipino lives and to strengthen our health system,” Nograles said during a recent pre-SONA forum.
To adequately respond to the pandemic, the government focused on building healthcare facilities.
On human development and poverty reduction, the government built around 150,000 classrooms and school facilities, hired and trained more than 200,000 teachers, and pursued improvements in the K-12 program that benefited 3.2 million students.
The government also provided financial aid for 2.2 million youth access education, pursued alternative learning system for out-of-school youth and adults, and 9.7 million technical and vocational education and training graduates.
On improving health services, the government implemented universal health care benefiting 110 million Filipinos, reproductive health information and education to 5.4 million youth, responsible parenthood and family planning to 6.5 million individuals, food aid to nutritionally at-risk pregnant women and children six to 23 months old, and other feeding programs.
Around 4.3 million poor families benefited from the cash subsidy program dubbed Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program while 3.6 million senior citizens were given social pension. Livelihood projects were also extended to 5.6 million persons affected by typhoons and other emergencies. Assistance has also been sustained to boost farmers’ income and productivity.
As part of the pandemic response, the government extended social amelioration program for displaced overseas Filipino workers, displaced workers, health workers and other frontliners, and other affected sectors. Hospitals and other health facilities were also upgraded.
“The world may have been turned upside down by the unprecedented pandemic but the government did not press pause button on its various anti-poverty and anti-hunger programs. Instead we adapted to the limitations and restrictions that we were compelled to implement due to COVID-19,” Nograles said.
On peace and security, the administration scored gains in the campaign against the illegal drug trade.
At least 21,891 barangays have been declared drug-free, ₱59.14 billion worth of illegal drugs were confiscated, and 784 drug dens raided. The President's drug war also resulted in the arrest of 289,622 persons and the voluntary surrender of 1,222,363 drug users.
To protect the citizenry, the government reported that 17,142 police officers were disciplined and sanctioned while 906 were dismissed from service. The conviction rate also rose to 49.46 percent in 2020 from 20.40 percent in 2016 following trainings for state prosecutors dealing with complex cases.
To secure just and lasting peace, the President signed the law creating the Bangsamoro autonomous region in July 2018. It was ratified in a plebiscite as part of the lengthy peace negotiations between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
The government’s peace and order efforts include 12,145 combatants were decommissioned; ₱18-billion worth of 4,000 Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan (PAMANA) projects implemented, 2,965 communist-terrorists neutralized, and 18,433 surrendered and given livelihood aid.
Andanar said the government projects are testimonies to how the government is a “government for the people,” and how “tapang (courage) is always matched with malasakit (compassion).”
Priority plans for the last year
The President's speech, Andanar said, will also include his priority projects, including proposed legislations, to further the government's goal on pandemic response and recovery. The final year in office will focus on stepping up infrastructure projects and socio-economic reforms to boost economic activity and generate jobs.
“The address will also be an opportunity for him to set out the directions and plans of the government for the remaining year as we continue to be a source of change while addressing the impacts of the COVID-10 pandemic,” Andanar said.
“With President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s last State of the Nation Address to be delivered this year, we will highlight the ‘tatak ng pagbabago’ (brand of change) that he will leave behind for all the Filipinos,” Andanar said. “Given that the promise of change has been inculcated within us, it is up to us to continue this initiative in the administrations that will follow,” he said.