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SONA 2020

Viewpoint by Juan Freedom

Disclaimer: Any views or opinion in the article is freedom of expression and does not come directly or indirectly from the management of Pinoy Media Canada Ltd.

When you hear STATE OF THE NATION address to be delivered by the President of the country, you would expect nothing less than to hear all the good things a leader has achieved in the past, the measures he will take for the present and the plans he has for the last 2 years of his term all for the benefit of his people and not just for himself and for his chosen ones.

July 27, 2020 when I accidentally tuned in to the coverage of the SONA. I really did not want to watch the nonsense but I just my curiosity decided to watch it anyway. With all the chaos going on in the country, everyone was wondering what he has to say. So, let us do a recap of what he said for 2 hours in front of the attendees in Batasang Pambansa and on national TV.

First on the agenda to my dismay was about the nonrenewal of the ABS-CBN franchise. He commended the 70 congressmen who voted to kill the franchise of the network. He then mentioned that the network hurt him personally for not airing his political ad in 2016 and that the network sided with his political opponent. Although he had accepted the network’s apology, it still sounded like a personal vendetta to include it in his SONA. I did not expect that he will include this in his SONA the more fact the 11,000 workers will be out of job despite of the fact that the country is facing this Covid19 pandemic. In the meantime, what is said has been said so let us just see who gets the frequency that was taken away from the network.

Then he turned his speech into scolding one of the senators with his comments on the so-called “oligarchs”. The said senator was accused to be in defense of the Lopezes because they came from the same province of Iloilo. It is very inappropriate for a leader to do this during the SONA as this is not what the people are expecting to hear. There are more pertinent issues that concern the nation that needs to be addressed. But instead the President even mentioned that he does not have to declare martial law to take down the oligarchs in the country. The SONA is not a proper gathering to single out an individual more so a lawmaker and put him into shame in front of his colleagues in the senate and in national tv. This only shows how rude he can be as a leader and as a person.

Third, nothing was said about measures to fight the pandemic but instead he has high regard for China who brought forth this covid19 into humanity and now he relies on China for the vaccine. Isn’t that ironic? When other countries condemned China and here is our President who considers China his best ally. He also mentioned that he cannot afford, or the country cannot go to war against China. No wonder POGO is very rampant in the country and there are lots of illegal Chinese who are in the country.

Fourth, he wants death penalty by lethal infection for heinous crimes to be passed by Congress. He claims that drugs are the number one cause why there is a breakdown of families in the society. I agree with that 100% but the ones that should be put to death are the drug lords. I remember during the Marcos era that a Chinese drug lord was put to death by a firing squad.

He also called on the different telecommunications company like Smart and Globe to better improve their service and gave them till December 2020 and made a joke that he wants to call Jesus in Bethlehem. If they cannot do this, then he might resort to something else and this is something that we need to watch for.

It was indeed a quite different State of the Nation Address where more personal agenda of the President was more visible rather than for the welfare of the people. He should also refrain from comparing how he performed as a Mayor of Davao to his position now as the President because it looks like there is more damaged done to the country than for its betterment. I cannot remember in my entire life of a leader who have said foul language and bad words during the SONA. And it is incredibly sad to note that people were very hopeful that he will bring change to the country and there are still lots to be done.

SONA 2020

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