{"id":172758,"date":"2018-07-23T23:28:37","date_gmt":"2018-07-24T03:28:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=172758"},"modified":"2025-01-07T16:58:04","modified_gmt":"2025-01-07T21:58:04","slug":"prrd-delivers-shortest-sona-cites-notable-laws-passed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/07\/23\/prrd-delivers-shortest-sona-cites-notable-laws-passed\/","title":{"rendered":"PRRD delivers shortest SONA; cites notable laws passed"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Duterte began his SONA by saying that his controversial war on drugs \u201cis far from over,\u201d stressing that he would be more \u201crelentless and chilling\u201d as the day it began. VALERIE ESCALERA\/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0— True to his promise, President Rodrigo R. Duterte on Monday delivered his third State of the Nation Address (SONA) in less than an hour, making it his shortest SONA yet.<\/p>\n

Duterte\u2019s third SONA lasted for about 48 minutes and was free from the usual expletives present in his first two SONAs.<\/p>\n

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He started speaking at 5:21 p.m. and finished at 6:09 p.m.<\/p>\n

The President\u2019s first SONA lasted for 90 minutes while his second SONA lasted for 120 minutes.<\/p>\n

His SONA was delayed for over an hour due to a change in the leadership of the House of Representatives, where former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo replaced Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez.<\/p>\n

However, Alvarez joined Senate President Vicente Sotto III at the rostrum with Duterte as he started his SONA. Duterte earlier spoke with both Arroyo and Alvarez, separately.<\/p>\n

Arroyo sat in the audience along with former Presidents Fidel Ramos and Joseph Ejercito Estrada.<\/p>\n

War vs. drugs, crime<\/strong><\/p>\n

Duterte began his SONA by saying that his controversial war on drugs \u201cis far from over,\u201d stressing that he would be more \u201crelentless and chilling\u201d as the day it began.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can only shudder at the harm that those drugs could have caused had they reached the streets of every province, city, municipality, barangay and community throughout the country,\u201d Duterte said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is why the illegal drugs war will not be sidelined. Instead, it will be as relentless and chilling, if you will, as on the day it began,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

He also hit human rights advocates and church leaders for criticizing his war on drugs, noting that their protests would never dissuade him from continuing the campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you think that I can be dissuaded from continuing this fight because of [your] demonstrations, your protests, which I find, by the way, misdirected, then you got it all wrong. Your concern is human rights, mine is human lives,\u201d Duterte said.<\/p>\n

He also mentioned his campaign against corruption, and warned other government officials from being involved in corrupt practices.<\/p>\n

TRAIN law, rice shortage<\/strong><\/p>\n

The President also thanked Congress for the passage of important legislations, including the Ease of Doing Business Act and the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN), and urged them to pass other measures including the Coconut Farmers\u2019 Trust Fund, National Land Use Act and the Universal Health Care, among others.<\/p>\n

Duterte defended the passage of the TRAIN law amid inflation and the rise in prices of basic commodities, noting that it was necessary to make funds available \u201cto build bridges and strengthen safety and security.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot and should not (stop the implementation of TRAIN). We need this for sustainable growth that leaves no Filipino left behind,\u201d Duterte said.<\/p>\n

He said that TRAIN is already helping poor families and senior citizens cope up with rising prices by distributing unconditional cash transfers (UCTs) to 4 million people and 6 million more this year.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Duterte also urged businesses to cooperate with the government in charging basic commodities and services with fair prices, particularly rice.<\/p>\n

He spelled out what the government is doing to lower the price of rice and address its shortage by switching the current quota system in importing rice to a tariff system, where rice can be imported more freely.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

He asked rice hoarders, cartels and their protectors to \u201cstop messing with the people\u201d and vowed to use his power against them.<\/p>\n

\u201cConsider yourselves warned; mend your ways now or the full force of the State shall be brought to bear upon you. I am directing all intelligence agencies to unmask the perpetrators of this economic sabotage and our law enforcement agencies to bring them to justice,\u201d Duterte said.<\/p>\n

Bangsamoro Organic Law<\/strong><\/p>\n

After the House of Representatives failed to ratify the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) following an attempt to unseat Alvarez, Duterte failed to sign it into a law. The Senate, meanwhile, unanimously ratified the BOL.<\/p>\n

Duterte, however, expressed hope that he would be able to sign the BOL within 48 hours once the House has ratified it and the final version has been submitted to his office.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the approved version is transmitted and received by my office\u2026 The law has been passed actually and I intend to\u2026 Give me 48 hours to sign it and ratify the law,\u201d Duterte said.<\/p>\n

Duterte expressed hope that he will \u201csee the promise of Mindanao fulfilled or at the very least, approaching fulfillment\u201d by the end of his term including a peaceful, productive life free from terrorism.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

He also thanked soldiers and police officers for protecting the residents of Marawi City from the Maute-ISIS group.<\/p>\n

Foreign policy, China<\/strong><\/p>\n

Duterte, meanwhile, reiterated his vow for the government to pursue an independent foreign policy but at the same time reach out to all nations, especially the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN).<\/p>\n

Despite the improved relationship between the Philippines and China, Duterte said this did not mean that the government will abandon its commitment to defend the country\u2019s interests in the West Philippine Sea.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur improved relationship with China, however, does not mean that we will waver in our commitment to defend our interests in the West Philippine Sea. This is why we engage China through bilateral and multilateral platforms such as the ASEAN-China and the Philippines-China Bilateral Consultation Mechanism,\u201d Duterte said.<\/p>\n

He also renewed his commitment to protect the welfare of all overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).<\/p>\n

Endo, environment<\/strong><\/p>\n

Duterte acknowledged that the signing of Executive Order No. 51 meant to end contractualization, \u201cdoes not satisfy all sectors\u201d but pointed out that it was for Congress to do.<\/p>\n

The President also emphasized the importance of protecting the environment such as efforts to rehabilitate the country\u2019s top tourist destination, Boracay Island.<\/p>\n

In closing, he stressed anew that he had no plans of staying in power beyond his term and thanked the Consultative Committee (ConCom) tasked to draft a federal constitution for barring him from reelection and leading the Federal Transition Commission (FTC) should a shift to a federal form of government takes place.<\/p>\n

He also expressed gratitude to the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) for setting up government satellite networks (GSN) in remote barangays to allow them to watch his SONA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0— True to his promise, President Rodrigo R. Duterte on Monday delivered his third State of the Nation Address (SONA) …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":172759,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-172758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172758"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172758\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":280348,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172758\/revisions\/280348"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}