5th State of the Nation Address of Rodrigo Roa Duterte, President of the Philippines, to the Congress of the Philippines

• Published date: 27 July 2020
• Publication title: Business Mirror

Kindly…

Senate President Vicente Sotto III and the honorable members of the Senate; House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano and the honorable members of the House of Representatives; Vice President Maria Leonor Robredo; former Presidents Joseph Ejercito Estrada and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo; Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta and the justices of the Supreme Court; His Excellency [?] and the esteemed members of the diplomatic corps; Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea and the members of the Cabinet; mga mahal kong kababayan.

We live in a troubled time. Our dream of prosperity for our country was suddenly snuffed by a pandemic virulent virus. No nation was spared. Neither rich nor poor were exempt from the onslaught of this deadly disease.

But let us not despair. The vaccine is around the corner. Sooner and not later, the virus that gobbled up thousands of lives will itself be laid to rest.

In the meantime, let us express the nation's gratitude to those who courageously and willingly put their lives on the line to serve the people and country. We share the griefs of their families and no amount of tears can compensate their great losses.

My countrymen, it is sad that while government focuses its attention and resources to battle the coronavirus, there are those who take advantage of a pre-occupied government.

One of them is Senator Frank Drilon. In an interview, he arrogantly mentioned among others that oligarchs need not be rich. Then he linked the anti-dynasty system with oligarchy and the topic was my daughter and son. This happened after the Committee on Franchise voted 70-11 to deny the grant of franchise to ABS-CBN. Obviously, he was defending the Lopezes that they are not oligarchs.

Great wealth enables economic elites and corporations to influence public policy to their advantage. Media is a powerful tool in the hands of oligarchs like the Lopezes who used their media outlets in their battles with political figures. I am a casualty of the Lopezes during the 2016 election.

The dealers and purveyors of illegal drugs, hiding in the shadow of COVID-19, have stepped up their activities. The amount of shabu valued at millions of pesos seized during police operations speak volumes of the enormity and weight of the problem that we bear.

The corrupt, the grafters and the influence peddlers also take advantage of the fear and confusion that the coronavirus generates. The financial and material assistance of the government to the unemployed, the sick and the destitute running into billions of pesos, are not spared from corruption and ineptitude. Even the donations from well-meaning private persons are skimmed before reaching their intended beneficiaries. It is like snatching food from the mouths of babes.

The profiteers, over-pricers and corrupt felons must be laughing while they stash their dirty monies. But not for long. They cannot outrun the long arm of the law.

In this regard, the words of former President Ramon Magsaysay ring fresh and relevant today as on the day they were said decades ago. He said:

'We need men of integrity and faith like Rizal and del Pilar, men of action like Bonifacio, men of inflexible patriotism like Mabini. We need their zeal, their self-reliance, their capacity for work, their devotion to service, their ability to lose themselves in the common cause of building a nation.'

If we allow greed, self-interest and ambition to rule us, then as stated by one prominent physician, we will 'be left with nothing better than the lesser evil instead of the greater good.'

In my inaugural address four years ago, I said that no leader can succeed at anything of national importance [or] significance unless he has the cooperation and support of the people he is tasked to lead and sworn to serve.

The efforts and resources which we poured out produced the momentum needed to bring our country closer to our goals. Suffice it to state, we made significant strides over time.

Over 4.3 million poor families benefitted from the Pantawid Pamilya; over 9.2 million beneficiaries received subsidies under the Unconditional Cash Transfer program; we also made available [free] tertiary education and universal health care. Public utility drivers were given assistance through the Pantawid Pasada Program. There are complaints that some drivers did not receive any assistance at all. I have directed the DSWD and DILG to look into this.

I welcome the passage of the law postponing the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections. The postponement saved much-needed government funds and ensured implementation of projects under the current barangay officials. In hindsight, it also saved us from holding the polls while we dealt and continue to deal with the pandemic.

The Malasakit Centers Act has proven to be of great help to our less fortunate citizens needing medical services through a one-stop platform in government hospitals. We commend the initiative and work of Senator Bong Go in this regard as well as other significant pieces of legislation. As of today, there are 75 Malasakit Centers serving Filipinos all over the country. These centers will be of great help in ensuring that our people remain healthy and resilient during these challenging times.

The Salary Standardization Law of 2019 increases the salary of civilian government workers. I hope that this law will inspire our government workers to perform better and encourage young, brilliant citizens to join public service.

I appreciate the law establishing the National Academy of Sports. We can now give our deserving student-athletes the training and support they need to excel in their chosen field of endeavors.

With the commitment of key members of Congress and the Executive Department, the PHISGOC, Philippine Sports Commission, and the Philippine Olympic Committee were bound together with one vision to host the 30th Southeast Asian Games. Our athletes prevailed. More than that, we fostered pride, patriotism, genuine sportsmanship, and camaraderie in our South East Asian brothers and sisters. Indeed, we won as one.

To our business community and the general public, we assure you that the landmark Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act has been gaining momentum. We are closer to eliminating overregulation in government services.

Frontline processes, including consular services, processing of building and business permits, and services for overseas Filipinos and seafarers were streamlined. Passports and drivers' license validity were lengthened to ease the burden of the public.

We received a BBB plus credit rating despite a sea of credit rating downgrades and negative outlook revisions worldwide. [applause] The Japan Credit Rating Agency upgraded us from BBB plus to A minus last month.

Meanwhile, Moody's has affirmed and maintained the country's ratings at B2 - Baa2 rather. [Understand. Because of the light I have … My eyesight is not as good as new.] Our fiscal position is strong, our economic and fiscal management prudent and our banking system robust. We are in a better position to weather the crisis caused by the COVID-19 global pandemic.

We have accomplished significant infrastructure projects under the Build Build Build Program. I will not dwell lengthily on the nitty-gritty of our infrastructure accomplishments now lest I bore you. Instead we will release a comprehensive written report on our collective milestones and the details of accomplishments to remind us that perseverance, patience and determination will help us move forward even in the most difficult of times.

We issued last year Executive Order No. 100 establishing the Diversity and Inclusion Program as a national program of the Government. We want to end the discrimination of persons on the basis of age, disability, ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender identity and expression, and other character traits.

My administration always believed that freedom from illegal drugs, terrorism, corruption and criminality, is itself a [human right].

Part of our efforts to uphold human rights is protection of the rights of children and the right against discrimination. Early last year, I signed Executive Order No. 92 creating the National Council Against Child Labor. Government efforts to protect the rights of children will be amplified to prevent, reduce and eliminate any form of child labor.

Our achievements along these lines have been extolled by an overwhelming number of our fellow member-States in the UN Human Rights Council, during its recently held 44th session last June.

Rest assured that we will not dodge our obligation to fight for human rights.

My countrymen, there are lessons to be learned from the coronavirus pandemic. It jolted us to realize that gains made after spending so much planning, effort, cost and time could diminish considerably and quickly for reasons beyond one's anticipation; that it is much easier to destroy than to build; that in a crisis of national proportions that affects every aspect of human life, governments need to have the support and cooperation of the people if it is to succeed in battling the cause of that crisis, that there are people who ask for compassion but show none themselves; that life, after all, is fickle like the weather.

The gains we achieved in the first three and a half years were put to a test when the pandemic suddenly struck the global community. While I am aware that the road towards a comfortable life for all would be far easy if pandemic had not occurred and along the rest of the world we suffered.

The global scale and socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been unprecedented. Yet in the throes of this global health emergency, we have been able to withstand the headwinds generated by this coronavirus.

In this regard I would like to express my gratitude to all those who made possible the steady supply of food, water, and basic utilities [to] our households [applause] and the provision of basic social services and financial assistance to our people. Our profound...