MANILA — President Rodrigo R. Duterte will be addressing the country’s “triaging issues” in his third State of the Nation Address (SONA), Malacañang said Monday.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque made this statement hours before Duterte’s third SONA, noting that among issues the President will tackle include the West Philippine Sea, the Bangsamoro Organic Law and inflation, among others.
Roque added that although Duterte is expected to stick to his 35-minute speech, it might last for about 40 to 45 minutes.
“So, mga feeling ko mga 40 minutes iyon at babanggitin niya lahat iyong mga triaging issues — merong West Philippine Sea, merong BBL, merong inflation, merong iyong matataas na presyo ng bilihin, merong — ano pa ba; halos lahat po at saka iyong kanyang legislative agenda(So I think it will last 40 minutes and he’ll mention all the triaging issues including the West Philippine Sea, BBL, inflation, the high prices of goods, and the legislative agenda),” Roque said.
Roque, however, said Duterte will do away with the usual SONA format where he enumerates the administration’s achievements one by one since pre-SONA forums were held weeks before.
“Hindi na niya inisa-isa iyong kanyang mga nagawa ng taon na nakalipas, dahil iyong mga miyembro ng Gabinete niya eh nagkaroon na ng pre-SONA na tinatawag (He won’t mention the achievements in the past years because the members of the Cabinet held a pre-SONA),” Roque said.
Moreover, Malacañang also released a copy of “The Duterte Administration: Year II” accomplishment report which lists President’s top achievements in the last two years.
“(The) Office of the Presidential Spokesperson, kami iyong gumawa ng (we made the) annual accomplishment report,” Roque said.
Roque, meanwhile, shrugged off criticism that the Duterte administration has barely achieved anything, noting that the Philippine economy speaks for itself.
“Sa larangan po ng ekonomiya at iyan naman ang pinakaimportante, it’s in the economy ‘no. Eh ang ating economy po ay pinakamagaling sa buong Asia, pangalawang pinakamagaling sa buong daigdig (In the field of economy, and that’s the most important, our economy is the best in Asia, and second best in the world),” Roque said.
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported that the GDP for full year 2017 grew by 6.7 percent, making the country among the fastest growing economies in Asia.
“So, wala pong makakasabi na walang nagawa ang Presidente, at ang problema, kung meron man po ngayon, ay iyong problema ng inflation na dulot po ng mas mataas na presyo ng krudo at langis sa pandaigdigan (So nobody can say that the President has not done anything, and the concern, if there is one now, is the problem on inflation brought by high prices of crude and oil in the world market),” he added. (Azer Parrocha/PNA)