STATE OF THE NATION
President Rodrigo Duterte, on the 24th July, once again fervently rallied the nation behind his back in his latest much anticipated State of the Nation Speech where he outlined key problems with the country and how he’d enact solutions. He showed no wavering in his stance when it came to drugs and reminded the nation of the impact and severity these can cause.
“Genuine change is what this country needs, ” the president said. He stated a list of plans to bring about real change to the country with the war on drugs being of paramount importance as ever.
DRUGS
“The fight against illegal drug will continue” for according to him it remained to be the root of evil. And the fight will not stop until those people involved will cease.
“And to those who tend to ruin the life of the youth, to which the future lies, he will hound them to hell.” he exaggerated.
MINDANAO
Another key topic which he further highlighted was the Mindanao crisis where he stressed the severity of future action needed to be taken and his mournful prayers to the soldiers, and citizens displaced by the fighting. He then continues to warn the people of the extremist ideals and malicious intentions of setting up a new caliphate within the Philippines.
MARTIAL LAW
Consequently Duterte then turned to defending his position on implementing Martial law as it was ‘the only way to solve’ this crisis as quickly and efficiently as possible. As commander and chief of the country he turned his anger whilst talking about drugs into gratitude thanking the military for their unwavering loyalty and reminding the people that the government are doing everything they can in putting down these insurgents swiftly.
He further recognised the heroic acts of Filipino soldiers during the combat that still occurs in Marawi personally visiting the entrenchments around the city last week.
DUTER-NOMICS
Among other things the President also congratulated the country on the growth garnered by investors despite these tragedies occurring – swiftly he proceeded on to talk about the future use and utility of the Filipino farms which haven’t been capitalised on and further does not want to import food (e.g rice from thailand) when Filipinos can make it better on their own farm, consequently reinforcing his strong belief in ‘Duterte-nomics’ and the Republican ideology of protectionism and a self sufficient country.
MINING
The environment also came into his rally as he reminds the Filipino people to remain vigilant to this easy to ignore topic and that the Filipino government are doing everything they can to protect these preserved valuable resources further emphasising also the dangers of mining and special free treatment offered if required including other profitable industries harmed by this.
A key shocking message he included during his speech was his comment saying “Bakit kayo bilib sa puti?” Throughout the State of the Nation he continues to highlight his ideal of Protectionism as the Philippines as shown by his speeches he is willing to protect the people of this country and if what he did just to secure the people would mean that he will get imprisoned, then he is willing to do so for life.
“I don’t have to make them happy. If I go to prison, don’t worry about me.”
Ultimately this fiery State of the Nation address is as shocking but blunt as ever – do you think Duterte will meet his goals laid out here?
