By Nanette Guadalquiver/Philippine News Agency
BACOLOD CITY — Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson on Tuesday said the fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Rodrigo R. Duterte has set the direction for governance in the final three years of his administration.
Lacson noted that the President emphasized his relentless pursuit against illegal drugs and corruption in his speech that lasted for about an hour and 30 minutes.
He quoted Duterte as saying that, “No amount of euphemism can trivialize betrayal of public trust.”
The President also said that “corruption continues and emasculates the courage we need to sustain our moral recovery initiatives,” calling it “both a national embarrassment and a national shame”.
The governor also welcomed Duterte’s directive to prioritize the streamlining of government processes by instructing local government units to ensure that all clearances and permits are issued within three days.
Lacson added that Duterte’s assurance of his focus on social adequacy through preparedness and security was shown in his act of urging the Congress to approve the creation of Department of Water Resources and Department of Disaster Resilience and Fire Protection.
He further said that the drop in poverty incidence is a good indicator that the administration is on the right path in the fight against prevalent poverty.
In his speech, Duterted cited the decrease in poverty incidence from 27.6 percent in the first half of 2015 to 21 percent in the first half of 2018, but said that “the most important number, though, is the six million Filipinos we need to pull out from poverty.”
“I am in total agreement with the President that there is much to be done in ensuring our responsiveness to the people’s needs,” Lacson said.
The governor added: “In the end, I guess we are all one with the President in his dream of a better Philippines, better than the one we grew up with.”
On Tuesday, Lacson, Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia, and other city and municipal mayors in Negros Occidental will attend the post-SONA gathering with the President at The Manila Hotel.
The meeting, themed “Patuloy na Pag-unlad, Malasakit at Pagkakaisa, at Katatagan: A Post SONA Meeting of the President with the Local Chief Executives on the Prospect of Constitutional Reform,” will provide an avenue for national and local governments to “discuss collective accomplishments for the mid-year, and steer direction for the remainder of the year.”
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