Yays and Nays in PRRD's SONA
I wish to contribute some of my opinions pertinent to the recent SONA of PRRD. But I wish to begin by saying that:
1. Dili ko Yellowtard nor Dutertard. Im not a member of any fans club. I see issues not persons.
2. Wa ko naga pa hawd hawd og yes naa sad koy nahimo para sa atong nasud and in fact ubay2x sad. I simply want to share my thoughts to the national discourse.
3. Wa ko nangandoy nga ako na lang unta presidente. Being critical doesnt equate to political ambitions. In fact it is our duty to participate in discourses.
4. Dili puro na lang gyud dautan akong nakita because honestly there are things i appreciated in the SONA. I do not make a blanket judgment. and
5. That I remain to be a human rights advocate and I will die defending all our rights from any form of undue infringement even your right to call HR advocates many names, most of which ugly.
The Yays in the SONA:
I applaud the President in his sincerity to give environment a priority despite the non confirmation of the COA of Sec Gina Lopez as DENR Secretary. It is high time that the political will provide the infrastructure to prevent the worsening ecological terrorism brought about by mining in the country. I am one with PRRD in demanding accountability from mining companies to be resposible in doing their businesses. I fully agree that we cannot build genuine national development at the expense of our environment. Therefore, I support his call for a new mining law in the country, not to relax the restrictions but to provide stringent requirements to ensure environmental protection.
I also recommend further to the President that this pronouncement be supported by his act of confirmation of all the closure and suspension orders made by Sec Gina Lopez and at the same time issue an executive order setting a moratorium on new mining applications until congress is able to enact a new mining law.
I am also happy to hear the President call upon congress to finally enact the National Land Use Act. I believe this is long overdue. The NLUA is needed to finally settle most of the conflicts in communities resulting from confusing and overlapping multiple tenurial instruments. I hope Congress understands the imprtance and urgency of this legislation.
The proposed Department of Disaster Response and Risk Reduction is equally appreciated. A country beset with natural and human-made disasters almost regularly must have an agency whose focus is solely ensuring community resilience and preparedness.
Our brave assertion to reclaim the Balangiga Bells being a part of our history and heritage is a happy note. It may be trivial to some but to many who value historical justice, reclaiming it also means re-asserting our identity and nationhood.
Thumbs up to PRRDs call for the urgent lifting of the TRO on the RH Law. The longer we suspend its implementation the more women die in the country due to pregnancy complications and lack of access to RH information and services. Remember that 15 women die everyday in the country on account of pregnancy complications. The call for the immediate implementation of the RH Law is further reinforced by PRRDs promise to implement the magna carta of women's rights down to the barangay level.
These, I think deserve a round of applause.
Now the Nays in the SONA:
There is nothing I can do to the President's filthy mouth. That is already organic to him and the 16M who voted for him have already embraced that as part of his package as a President though quite many are still hopeful he makes a few changes.
But my heart was most devastated when he gave up on his promise of peace. Calling out the war against the CPP NPA disregarded the decades call of the communities especially the lumad to spare them from hostilities. In the words of Timuey Jimid Mansayagan, the lumads are dying from war not of their own making. An issue as sensitive as the peace process must not be based on impulses but on thorough and careful discernment. While I commiserate for those police convoy who were attacked allegedly by NPA, the President forgot that it happened after he publicly said, "stop the talks, let's go to war." In short he gave what he calls the enemy of the state the license to attack and yet cried foul when the enemies took his word for real. Very absurd.
His cancellation of the peace talks to me showed that his commitment to attain peace is not well founded. In fact shallow. Had it been strong enough, he would not have given up too quickly. He himself said that the road to peace is not easy, but it is not impossible. Instead of creatively finding a better alternative, he resorted to an easy but dangerous conclusion - go to war. I am more convinced that PRRD re-energizes himself through his trash-talking and this is much cultivated in an environment of war than peace. Take all this with his intoxication in the spirit of martial law.
The 2 hour SONA spent mostly on his adlibs missed out some other critical issues. To me it was a sheer display of his machismo and arrogance by threatening every critic to his administration. I remember him as mayor who listened to the peoples' sentiments. He would usually say, "I will listen to what the people have to say sincI serve them in the first place."
The hubris in him has eaten him alive and he is now self destructing. Threatening to bomb lumad schools, calling his enemies by many names, warning human rights advocates are all manifestations of his self conceit. Anger has always been the opium for a madman and this is what he has become.
I feel I havent really heard the real state of the nation and the framework upon which he, as president, intends to proceed to achieve what he puts in Ambisyon 2040. Much of his SONA were blurbs of threats and castigation.
The question still lingers. How will he bring every Filipino out of poverty? Perhaps, through crime-busting and campaign against drugs. But these cannot be stand-alone strategies. How will these blend into the mix of economic, political, cultural and legal directions to me, are still in a blur.
How do we generate more employment opportunities for Filipinos in the country? How do we improve agricultural produce and empower the farmers? How do we make education more accessible to all? How do we address the root causes of radicalism and extremism? What is the blueprint for federalism? How do we ensure a healthy nation? How do we manage urban expansions? All these were overshadowed by his expletives and nagging. The Congress and the Executive branch are all led by Mindanaons. PRRD missed a golden opportunity to maximize this to challenge Congress to help Mindanao progress. Perhaps, he is just relying on Martial Law to prove that Mindanao is the land if promise.
I have to take notice as well how harsh the President was to human rights. I am not sure if we are reading the same human rights instruments but I think he must have forgotten that the very same human rights he disdains are the very human rights that allowed him to become Mayor for 23 years and now as President. It is the same human rights that allowed him the liberty to cuss against his enemies. It is the same human rights that his administration invoked whenever criticized. It is the same human rights that made him alive and human. Should he throw the value of human rights away, being the head of the state, is in effect abbrogating our commitments to the constitutional bill of rights and to the international human rights treaties.
Human rights is not the enemy of the state. In fact it is the duty of the state to respect, protect and fulfill human rights. Disregard it and the result would be anarchy. Human rights should actually enhance governance and ensure participation, accountability, non discrimination, transparency, empowerment and the rule of law. If PRRD is so allergic to these, then I am more convinced that he is a despot in the making.
I agree that he is sincere with his love for the country. I will give that to him. But i cannot quite reconcile what he says and what he does. He is an oxymoron himself. The President is polarizing and the Filipino people are divided as well. We must therefore strive to transcend divisions and admit that there are many bad things that happened in the Duterte administration as there were good things and vice versa.
(Photo grabbed from Alive, The Journey blogger)
