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| President Duterte delivering his 5th SONA |
President Rodrigo Duterte has promised to “retool” overseas
Filipino workers displaced by the coronavirus so they can find jobs at home, in
his fifth State of the Nation address before select guests at the Batasang
Pambansa today, Jul 27.
In his speech that lasted an hour and half, the President
said that he has asked relevant government agencies like the Technical
Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) to come up with projects
that will help displaced OFWs.
He also urged Congress to pass a law establishing a
Department of Overseas Filipinos.
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Minutes into his speech, Duterte attacked Senate Minority
Leader Franklin Drilon for reportedly dragging his daughter and son into the issue
of oligarchy while defending the Lopez family after Congress voted to cancel
the broadcasting franchise of ABS-CBN.
Duterte said Drilon’s statement that oligarchs need not be
rich was an insinuation that the Lopezes, who own the giant TV network, are not
oligarchs.
He renewed his attack at the end of his speech, saying the control of water and electricity businesses was Spanish-era oligarchy that Drilon
achieved for the Lopezes when he acted as their lawyer in its water and power
franchise deals with the government.
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Reacting to the tirade, Drilon said he was not defending the
Lopezes but was against the rejection of the network’s franchise bid, seeing it
as a violation of press freedom in the country.
Another opposition senator, Risa Hontiveros, also slammed
Duterte, saying he dismantled the lives of ordinary workers in
ABS-CBN, not the oligarchs.
The cancellation of the network franchise was among the
issues raised by about 1,000 anti-government protesters who gathered inside the
University of the Philippines
The Anti-Terrorism Law which Duterte signed earlier
this month, was also a rallying cry for the protesters.
Police made no attempt to stop the protest, but arrested
five members of the jeepney drivers’ group, Piston, as they made their way to
the UP campus.
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| Press freedom was one of the rallying cries at the pre-SONA protest at UP |
Police Maj. Gen. Debold Sinas said the arrest was made as the
protesters were aboard a jeepney, which is still not allowed on Metro Manila's streets.
In his penultimate SONA, Duterte said that while the nation
is grappling with Covid-19, several groups have been using the crisis to gain
ground, including drug lords, profiteers and corrupt felons. He warned they
cannot outrun the long arm of the law.
He also threatened telecoms Smart and Globe, expressed
apprehension in asserting the country’s victory against China over the West
Philippine Sea, and claimed that martial law in Mindanao ended without abuses
by the police and military.
But he disappointed business groups by not detailing what he
intends to do help the economy recover after the world’s longest lockdown due
to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Instead, he called on Congress to approve a list of
measures, including the second part of the Bayanihan (to Recover as One Act),
which supplements funds and extends the sweeping powers given him to respond to
the pandemic.
In his SONA speech, Duterte also said:
- That
he will not allow traditional face-to-face classes to resume unless all
risks of exposure Covid-19 is eliminated with the introduction of a
vaccine. He said he appealed to Chinese President Xi Jinping four days ago
to make the
- He is
not in a hurry to reopen businesses in the country because he does not
want to see the third wave of Covid-19 contamination that the US and
- The death penalty by lethal injection must be revived for drug-related offences
- That
he opposes either American or Chinese bases in on the South China Sea, because
in a conflict between the two superpowers,
