This Monday, President Rodrigo Duterte delivered an almost expletive-free fourth State

of the Nation Address (SONA) that lasted for an hour and 33 minutes. Now on the midway of
his term, the President dropped out his plans that he’ll take on his remaining years in
governance.
It is quite unpredictable that the President did not excoriate his vivid critics, unlike what
he did on his past mumbling speeches over his term.
On his latest SONA, the President said that his disputable war on drugs and fight against
corruption would remain persistent to pursue what his administration started. He noted that
the drugs will not be crushed unless we continue to eliminate corruption that allows this social
monster to survive.
Obviously, the elimination of drugs has given the highest importance that the President
has commended. We all know what could illegal drugs deal with the victims and their families
and yet, the execution of this campaign has already caused depredation with the human rights.
Human rights groups are already condemning this ‘war’ that was against the international law.
The President also wanted to push the reimposition of death penalty against plunder
and heinous crimes related to drugs. In the current 18th Congress, Senators Bong Go and
Manny Pacquiao had already filed bills seeking to reinstate the death penalty for illegal drugs.
In Go's bill, plunder was included as a capital offense.
Government agencies were also asked to simplify their transactions and processes into
client-friendly methods.
Regarding with the territorial dispute on the West Philippine Sea, President Duterte said
on his speech that President Duterte says his administration is doing a “delicate balancing act”
for the sake of “avoidance of conflict” with China, which continues to have de facto control of
the West Philippine Sea and hampers Filipino’s access to its resources, especially fisheries.
The President’s autonomous actions in turning down China’s tyranny on WPS is not
acceptable. Duterte administration seems to be careless with the conflict. They rather look at it
as a ‘friend’ without knowing that they are now forcibly taking our territories that belongs to us
in accordance to the UNCLOS and Hague Arbitral Award.
Earlier this April 2015, President Duterte had pushed for the revival Reserve Officers'
Training Corps (ROTC). As he went on his term, he enlisted it as one of the priority bills of the
Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) in 2017. He mentioned it again in
his speech. The House moved accordingly, passing HB 8961 in May 2019, requiring ROTC for
Grades 11 and 12. Duterte then certified the bill as urgent the following month. However, the
Senate education, arts and culture committee did not take up the House bill until the end of the
17th Congress. The same Senate committee approved its own version (also for Grades 11 and
12), Senate Bill 2232, but it didn't reach second reading.
It is quite alarming for us the youth, especially students in Senior High School that is
affected by this implementation. Students will be exposed in corruption as what happened way
back in the year 2001. Students paid their officers so that they won’t undergo with the training
but still get a passing grade. This was exposed by the University of Sto. Tomas student, Mark
Chua on their school publication. According to a March 18, 2018 report from The Varsitarian,
the story titled "Struggle Against the System" revealed the formal complaint of Chua and Yumul
against Maj. Demy Tejares, the commandant of the UST ROTC unit, and other Department of
Military Science and Tactics officials. Chua went missing after the story was published and his
father Welson received a call claiming that the UST student was kidnapped. On March 18, 2001,
Chua's body was found floating in the Pasig River. His body was wrapped in a carpet, his face
covered with masking tape and his hands were tied. Chua's death led to a series of protests by
student activist groups, who planned barricades and launched a signature drive to abolish the
ROTC program.