Opposition ‘counter-SONA’ takes jabs at Duterte’s first year
Opposition leaders and sectoral groups staged their own State of the Nation Address (SONA) yesterday, July 16, a week ahead of President Rodrigo Duterte’s second SONA on July 24.
In the multi-sectoral “So Ano Na” forum held at UP Diliman, Ifugao Representative Teddy Baguilat Jr., Magdalo Partylist Representative Gary Alejano, and Senators Antonio Trillanes IV, Benigno Aquino IV and Risa Hontiveros represented various sectors as they gave their respective assessments of Duterte’s first year in office.
Unfulfilled promises
Baguilat slammed Duterte for not delivering on his electoral promises such as ending contractualization, land distribution and the granting of titles to indigenous peoples for ancestral lands.
He also condemned Duterte’s ruthless drug war, claiming “ang karamihan ng namamatay ay mga mahihirap.”
Alejano, meanwhile, raised concerns regarding the administration’s fixation on the drug war and criticized Duterte’s stance on foreign relations and national security.
“Masyadong nag-focus ang Pangulong Duterte sa ‘war on drugs’ na nakalimutan na niyang pagtuunan ng pansin ang ibang isyu,” Alejano said.
He cited the Marawi insurgency crisis as an example, saying that the military already had acquired intelligence reports but failed to suppress the now Islamic State-backed group.
Alejano also believed that Duterte is merely using the Marawi siege, along with the drug war, to justify his declaration of martial law in Mindanao.
“Naghihintay lang ba ng pagkakataon ang President Dutere na maipatupad ang kanyang pinakaaasam-asam na martial law?” he asked.
‘Dangerous year to be a woman’
Trillanes read Senator Leila De Lima’s speech while hitting back on Duterte for detaining De Lima on her alleged involvement in the Bilibid drug trade.
He claimed that the charges against De Lima were unfounded, stating that “Duterte [only] did this to instill fear, not only to silence De Lima, in the opposition and ordinary people.”
In her speech, De Lima lamented the public’s indifference on the widespread human rights violations and extrajudicial killings.
Furthermore, Hontiveros, a women’s rights advocate, was also concerned with Duterte’s “male chauvinism and misogyny” with his regular use of rape jokes and sexist remarks during speeches and press conferences.
“It was a dangerous year to be a woman,” she said. “It’s a year of resurgent misogyny, and endless killings. It is a dangerous year for ordinary Filipinos. It’s a year of living dangerously.”
Hontiveros also urged the youth to join and support the upcoming ‘alternative’ youth SONA tomorrow, July 18, in protest of the various victims slain for the administration’s relentless anti-drug campaign. — P. Jamilla
