His Excellency, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte has delivered his first State of the Nation

Address (SONA) last Monday, July 25, 2016. As planned, the speech of the President should be
lasting about 38 minutes only but in reality, it was extended to about an hour and a half due to
his adlibs.

The President has confidently delivered numerous promises and plans for a good government.
The development of a human rights-based form of administration was the focus of his long yet
significantly penned speech. He echoed, point by point, his aspirations for law and order,
economic development and improved government services.

Although many of the political analysts and some other common citizens have aired out that
what transpired in the first SONA was actually insubstantial, due mainly to his loss of focus, I
personally acclaim his delivery as direct, sincere and far more adoptable to the common tao.
The content of his speech, for me, has reached the long been dream of the nation for a clean
and at the same time outcomes-based form of government. I find it very significant in the
Philippine government and development in general.

As a public administration student, definitely, the Presidents address is important because of his
fresh efforts to rule the nation. He even assured everyone of a clean government over his years
of ruling. Although we have yet to see the results of such within the 6-year period of his term, he
actually provided a more constructive jumpstart to a better Philippines.

First, his opening salvo shows what kind of a leader he will be. He stated that, We cannot move
forward if we allow the past to pull us back. Unlike the previous government, he did not dwell
on past mistakes and instead summoned everyone to let go and just do something with
whatever is there to fix. This goes to show how much he values his work other than the personal
ill-feelings over the incompetence of previous administration.

Second, he aspired for the nations peace process through unilateral ceasefires and peace
talks. Although we are confronted with numerous threats and security concerns, he looked into
the need for a more peaceful relation rather than bloody confrontations. He strives to have a
permanent but lasting peace before his term ends.
Third, he has the primary desire to eliminate rampant drug use in the whole country but still
banking on the human rights. He aimed for rehabilitation and to strengthen the campaign
against drug use for a better society.

Fourth, he made environmental concerns one of his top priorities. He would like to implement
peoples welfare through environmental preservation and to intensify programs concerning
destructive practices that greatly aggravate the natural resources.

Fifth, he made mention of continuing, maintaining and enhancing the current economic policies
characterized by solid growth, low and stable inflation, dollar reserves and strong fiscal position.

These and more were the very important points tackled by Duterte in his SONA. Although these
were mere promises and proposals at the start, for me, it has provided a strong foundation for
good governance and future development of our country. He may have spent a few minutes
inviting everyone to stop hating each other, amidst cultural differences, and instead loving one
other for benefit of general public. To bond, act and help each other for the betterment of
everyone, which could probably have shown his soft spot. Yet in the end, he reminded everyone
that he is in the office for a bigger purpose that is to protect the country which first and foremost
has chosen him to lead.

His primary desire to have the countrys interest to be the topmost of his priorities has shown
great impact in the way he would like to govern and lead the nation. What he has delivered in
his more than hour long speech has encompassed his overall desire for a true nation building.
Maybe a lot of negative minded and ill fated public would have varying points in mind, simply
because their own personal concerns were not readily given solutions specifically in the
Presidents SONA. Yet he opened himself on all possibilities of being maligned for whatever
and however he will run his presidency. He even put himself and his post at stake just to put
through what he is planning for the Philippines.

Engaging each and everyone to a genuine change is a good quality of good governance and
development. He is not striding into leadership all by himself but instead carrying under his
wings all the Filipinos who have elected him to office and who actually believed in his potentials.
He listened to the desires and demands of his people, and he did not pretend to be an all-
knowing man. Progressivism was at the very top of his advocacies. This alone summarizes his
would-be change-of-a-nation dream for his most loved country, the Republic of the Philippines.