DU30's SONA 2018

Some 15,000 protesters on Commonwealth Avenue. (Photo by the author).

23 July 2018 was sunny all day. Typhoon Josie has left Metro Manila although a light rain came after President Rodrigo Roa Duterte has delivered his State of the Nation Address 2018 and after his effigy dubbed DU30-train has been burned.

The protest march came from two directions and met under the overpass before the Ever department store. The religious organizations led by priests and nuns assembled in the vicinity of St Peter's church then moved toward the merging point. The massive group comprising the familiar left-of- center organizations marched from the Quezon Memorial area preceded by the DU30-train effigy,

Labor issue. (Photo by the author)

Commonwealth Avenue was as colorful as the broad spectrum of issues, causes, advocacies and interests of some 15,000 participants from participating organizations.

It was a peaceful assembly. The police contingent near the stage was relaxed, watching the assembly and listening to short speeches of representatives of the organizations. One speaker read the message of Sen. De Lima which dwelt on the 'shortcuts' that DU30 employed in his governance.

The news went around that something was going on at the Batasan, which explained why DU30 was already late in his report to his countrymen. Former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo had toppled House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez. Apparently a compromise was agreed on; hence, it was still Alvarez who stood at the rostrum with Senate President Vicente Sotto III to open the bicameral session.

Nuns and other religious were in the march. (Photo by the author)

Of course, DU30 had been saying that he will just read his speech and promised that it would not take him long to do that. He did just that with a few adlibs. The delivery would have been totally lackluster except when he stressed some points for which he received applause.

The first jolt came shortly after greeting of the distinguished guests and his reminder of the two-year war on drugs.

"The war against illegal drugs is far from over," he said, and then explained why this will "not be sidelined."

"Instead," he fired, "it will be as relentless and chilling, if you will, as on the day it began." This has been reverberating in the print, broadcast and social media.

Spokespersons for women issues. (Photo by the author)

With regard to corruption, he thanked Congress for the 'swift passage of the Ease of Doing Business Act, which is a significant fight against corruption and improving service delivery.'

He enjoined government agencies to make their services "truly customer-friendly." "Our people deserve efficient, effective and responsive government services," he stressed, and "they deserve nothing less."

Because of the power struggle at the House that day, the Bangsamoro Organic Law was not ratified. Duterte asked to be given 48 hours to sign it once that has been done.

"I make this solemn commitment that this administration," he declared, "will never deny our Muslim brothers and sisters the basic legal tools to chart their own destiny within the Constitutional framework of our country."

Furthermore, he iterated his pledge "that the ISIS terrorists or groups or its allies will never gain foothold in our country."

DU30 caricatures. (Photo by the author)

He spoke of continuing "to assert and pursue an independent foreign policy" in out international relations.

With regard to "our improved relationship with China," he said that this "does not mean that we will waver in our commitment to defend our interests in the West Philippine Sea."  He clarified that "opening lines of communication and amicably managing differences have led to positive development that include renewed access of Filipino fishermen in the areas in dispute in the West Philippine Sea."

DU30-TRAIN effigy set to flame. (Photo by author)

There were several tasks that he implored Congress to address --

• Pass the bill establishing the Coconut Farmers' Trust Fund;
• Draft terms of reference for the entry of a new industry player "to ensure that the country's telecommunications services are reliable, inexpensive and secure;"
• Pass the free Tertiary Education Act and the increase in the salary of men in uniform, soldiers and policemen;
• As a result of the actions in Boracay, pass the National Land Use Act "to put in place a national land use policy that will address our competing land requirements for food, housing businesses, and environmental conservation;"
• Passage of a law creating the Department of Disaster Management, which is aimed at "genuinely strengthening our country's capacity for resilience to natural disasters;"
• Passage of Package 2 of the comprehensive tax reform program that will "lower corporate income taxes, especially for small businesses;" and 
• Speedy passage of the Universal Health Care Bill;"

He ended his SONA with a happy note (that he has received copy from the Consultative Committee of the draft Federal Constitution) and his favorite quotation from Abraham Lincoln.

 

No effigies burned on DU30's SONA 2017 afternoon

For the second time, the parliamentarians on the avenue leading to the Batasan Pambansa did not burn the effigy of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte (DU30). Last year was honeymoon time for the chief executive and the so-called Left. He had appointed leftists to the Cabinet; hence, a cordial mood prevailed on Commonwealth Avenue.

After he delivered his long SONA 2017--scripted and ad libbed--before the joint session of the Senate and the House, the diplomatic corps, and the slick crowd in the galleries, and viewed live on TV by the common people, DU30 surprised the rally crowd by appearing on their entablado. He spoke briefly (around 13 minutes in the YouTube video) but hecklers interrupted him every now and then.

DU30 according to the Socialistas.

There were two effigies of DU30. The Socialistas, who did not mix with the Bayan (Bagong Alyansang Makabayan) groups, spoke on their own entablado and displayed their DU30 effigy in military camouflage with sidearms, tagged 'pasista' on his cap. Aside from the large hardboard cut-out of DU30 as Hitler look-alike, Bayan also had effigies of the president held by the claws of the eagle Uncle Sam, with Finance Sec. Carlos Dominguez and DND chief Delfin Lorenzana on the side.

DU30 according to the Bayan bloc.

One fellow hugged his own democratic space in front of the Batasan, right beside the Bayan assembly. In his placard, he described himself as a 'nuissance candidate' during the last presidential elections. He called DU30 a Hitler.

DU30 dubbed as Hitler.

The BlockDuterte group focused on the EJK or tokhang killings. They had sacks of old, junked shoes to display on a large swath of Commonwealth Avenue, past the St, Peter's Church but far from the entablados and red flags of the Socialistas and the Bayan groups. The shoes were intended to represent the missing, the victims of the illegal killings associated with the droga war.

We always tend to gravitate to the lumads participating in protest events in Manila: Lakbayan or the the SONA. The Manobos usually represent the lumads, the schoolchildren and adults with the leaders in their beaded takulong headgear. They lend ethnic color to the mass rallies.

Lumad schoolchildren in protest front line .

In this SONA, the lumad children brought to the fore their schools. They got the ire of DU30 who threatened to bomb these schools. He did not like the children joining anti-government demonstrations, and he alleged that the schools were illegal, not authorized by DepEd, and were being used for leftist indoctrination.

It was a sunless afternoon altogether with slight showers breaking up huddling groups every now and then. The police just watched the rallying crowd, the anti-riot shields stacked far from the entablados.

The surprise visit of DU30 was preceded by barong clad PSG members surveying the Bayan entablado area while he was delivering his SONA. Nobody suspected that he would be coming down here,. But may be Bayan Secretary Gen. Renato Reyes, Jr. and Saturnino Ocampo knew it before hand. There was an amiable exchange of words between them and the police general while the security survey was being done.

Duterte's ASAP: As SONA as possible

I missed the mass action on Commonwealth Avenue during the first State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Rody Duterte on 25 July 2016. I saw him speaking though on the large TV screen at the airport boarding gate for the Emirates flight to Boston MA via Dubai, but the audio was drowned out by the hustle and bustle of passengers waiting to board.

The view of the demonstration moving to the Batasan from the pedestrian overpass on Commonwealth.

I replayed the YouTube video of the SONA as soon as I have rested from the almost 24-hour transcontinental travel. The demonstration of the Left sector on Commonwealth Avenue did not have an effigy burned similar to the various giant paper mache caricatures of PNoy Aquino in all his six years of governance. The unorthodox Duterte had his barong tagalog sleeves rolled up with both hands in his trouser's pockets when he entered the Batasan session hall.

Lumads in the Manilakbayan rom Mindanao.

The almost two-hour long address--scripted and adlib-ed--was interrupted with plenty of loud applause and appreciative laughs from the joint Congress and the gallery audience,

"We cannot move forward if we allow the past to pull us back," Duterte said. "Finger-pointing is not the way. That is why I will not waste precious time dwelling on the sins of the past or blaming those who are perceived to be responsible for the mess that we are in and suffering from."

May be it's a good thing that former president Benigno Cojuanco Aquino III did not attend the SONA event. It could have been very awkward to see him seated with the other living ex-presidents including Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, recently acquitted by the Supreme Court on plunder charges against her. Duterte's lines resonate with what we will mostly remember of PNoy's governance: vindictiveness, putting the blame on GMA in almost every major speech he made in local and international fora.

Instead of an effigy to burn, giant artistic murals of the aspirations of the Filipino masses.

"... During my inauguration last 30 [June] 2016, I said that the fight against criminality and illegal drugs and corruption will be relentless and sustained. ... We will not stop until the last drug lord, the last financier, and the last pusher have surrendered or put behind bars or below the ground, if they so wish. ..."

The droga war started before his inauguration. The media, church and civil rights groups have since been keeping account of the victims (alleged users/ pushers) of drug-related killings by the police and vigilante groups. None of the 'big fishes' yet have been caught; they're out of country, said Duterte, remotely directing operations via digital signals.

He emphasized later in his speech that"[h]uman rights must work to uplift human dignity. But human rights cannot be used as a shield or an excuse to destroy the country --- your country and my country."

"To our police officers and other officials, do your job and you will have the unwavering support of the Office of the President. I will be with you all the way. Abuse your authority, and there will be a hell to pay, for you will have become worse than criminality itself."

The nation awaits the outcome of the investigation of the National Police Commission on the five police generals he alleged to be connected to illegal drugs.

On achieving peace in the country:

"... To our Muslim brothers, the Moro country, and the members of the CPP/NPA/NDF, let me say this: All of us want peace, not the peace of the dead, but the peace of the living. 

"That is why, I reach out to you, to all of you today. To our Muslim brothers, let us end the centuries of mistrust and warfare. To the CPP/NPA/NDF, let us end these decades of ambuscades and skirmishes. We are going nowhere. And it is getting bloodier by the day.

"To immediately stop violence on the ground, restore peace in the communities and provide enabling environment conducive to the resumption of the peace talks, I am now announcing a unilateral ceasefire with the CPP/NPA/NDF effective immediately.And call on our Filipinos in the National Democratic Front and its forces to respond accordingly."

Duterte lifted the unilateral ceasefire following the reported ambush in Davao del Norte by the NPA, which resulted in the death of one AFP volunteer and wounding of four others. He imposed deadlines for the CPP-NPA leaders to meet. The Left offered their own version of the story: it was the AFP that violated the ceasefire. Jose Maria Sison from his exile labeled his former teacher Duterte, in a heated commentary, a 'butangero.' Of late though, Sison said that they will declare a ceasefire on 20 August, when the peace talks are scheduled to start.

A 'ceasefire' on Commonwealth Avenue during the SONA event.

In his ad libs, Duterte rumbled on many  items in every Fiipino's wish list, which includes traffic, MRT, processing of documents in government agencies, among others.  He offered solutions that hopefully implementing agencies will implement. He spelled out his own dicta on the Bangsamoro Basic Law, on the lumads, and his favorite agendum: federalism.

Hot lines have already been activated:  the 24-hour 911 emergency response hotline was launched nationwide as part of President Duterte's measure to combat crime and corruption, and the 8888 calls are reserved for citizen complaints.

This is not the ending paragraph of his SONA. It was one of his ad libs: "May I address again to the Filipino: Ako po’y nagdo-doble ang pagod para sa inyo, para sa kapakanan ng bayan. Seryoso po ako. Kaya yung mga ganun, ticket-ticket at magkaroon ng gulo, huwag ho ninyong gawain yan. Ito na yung warning ko, yon na ang last, wala nang iba, hindi ko na gagawin: Huwag ninyong sirain yung mga bagay-bagay na ginagawa namin para sa kapakanan ng tao. Mabuti ang magka-intindihan tayo."

He's down to earth. 

Photo credits:  Mon Ramirez

SONA 2015 and the indigenous people of Capas, Tarlac

When we got to the protest zone at Commomwealth Avenue, only the contingents from Southern Tagalog and the indigenous peoples of Capas,Tarlac, and Mabalacat and Porac, Pampanga so far have arrived, patiently sitting on the sidewalks, seeminly unperturbed by the threat of a heavy rain..

We sat down with the Aytas from sitio Pisapungan of barangay Santa Juliana of Capas town in Tarlac. Their sitio leader informed us they came in five jeeps. Pretty soon, we were talking about how life is in their village.

The women were holding a “patalsikin si Noynoy” placard of the ACT Party-list. Other indigenous people carried the Katribu group streamer proclaiming “US-Aquino Kontra Katutubo.”

But from their stories, we got to know that they came to the rally to convey their aspirations to the government, not to agitate for the ouster of the president. 

Barangay Santa Juliana is located on the mountainside, and the Pinasapungan River runs between several sitios.  The river is almost two kilometers wide, which they have to swim during the rainy season to get from one side to the other. They are happy to say though that the river teems with fish for their food.

They earn their living through vegetable farming, and their main crop is the “puso” from a banana variety that has seeds. They raise also other vegetables like kamote and taro. They plant two traditional rice varieties that do not need much water to thrive: the binundok (hard) and binikol (soft). 

They have a school for around 200 children, and the teachers stay at the barangay during schooldays, going home only during the weekend.  The school is only up to Grade 4. For further schooling, the children have to go to the town. Some of them have finished high school.

They also suffered the wrath of Mt Pinatubo. They said they rebuilt their homes with the help of an international organization, a Korean group. Up to now though, electricity has not reached their area.

Their culture, they affirmed, is still very much alive. They have not lost their traditional music and their talipi dance. The women still roll tobacco leaves for their customary way of smoking with the lighted end inside their mouth.

All of us were not able to hear President Aquino’s State of the Nation Address, where he highlighted the major achievements of his administration for the last five years, resurrected the ‘sins’ of the Gloria Macapagal Arroyo administration, swiped subtly at an unnamed target, obviously Vice-President Binay, and, like a high school valedictorian, praised and thanked almost everyone including his household help and his hairdresser except ex-Cabinet member Binay.

On the other hand, the Aytas or kulots would have wanted Aquino to hear their social services ‘wish list’: better educational opportunities for their children, carabaos for transporting their crop harvests to the town market, better access roads and a bridge across the river, and electrification of their barangay.

Aquino said, “Ang agenda: ayuda, kaalaman, kasanayan, at kalusugan para walang maiiwan. Ang isa sa mga mekanismo: Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program. Sa Pantawid Pamilya, kapalit ng tulong sa mga benepisyaryo, pangunahin nilang dapat tutukan ang pag-aaral ng mga anak. ... Siyempre, bukod sa Pantawid Pamilya, may kontribusyon din ang Alternative Learning System para masigurong pati ang mga katutubo at street children ay hindi napapag-iwanan.”

Will the Aytas of Santa Juliana be able to benefit from these programs?

“Ayon nga po kay Bro. Armin,” the president said, “ang suma-total ng naipagawa nating mga classroom at na-hire na guro ay higit pa sa pinagsama-samang nagawa mula sa nakalipas na 20 taon bago tayo manungkulan.”

Will the Santa Juliana school initially expand to Grade 6 and eventually to Grade 12 for the katutubo children?  Aquino made this clear: “Nagpatupad tayo ng K to 12 dahil hindi praktikal ang pagsisiksik ng kaalaman sa 10-year basic education cycle.”

The president narrated: “Noong 2011 po, inimbentaryo natin ang mga sitio; tinukoy natin kung sino pa ang nangangailangan ng kuryente. Gawa ng Sitio Electrification Program, nakapaghatid na tayo ng liwanag sa 25,257 sitiong natukoy sa imbentaryong ito. Dagdag pa rito, dahil sa paggamit ng solar at iba pang teknolohiya, kahit malayo o liblib na lugar, nagkakakuryente na rin. Ngayon po, 78 percent na ng target ng SEP ang energized na. At tinitiyak sa atin ng DOE na bago tayo bumaba sa puwesto, lahat ng naitala noong 2011, may kuryente na.”

Is Santa Juliana included in the last 22% of sitios that will benefit from the Sitio Electrification Program during his last year in office?

The president asked: “Di na nakakagulat na nitong nakaraang taon, tumaas ng 27 percent ang car sales sa Pilipinas. ... Sa dami ng nakakapagpundar ng bagong sasakyan, dalawa po sa pinakamalaking kompanyang nagbebenta sa Pilipinas ay inaabot ng dalawa’t kalahati hanggang tatlong buwan bago makapag-deliver ng kotse.”

The Santa Juliana folks do not dream of cars. They only want carabaos to help ease the burden of manually transporting their goods to the marketplace. They also dream of the day that they will no longer plod through muddy roads during the rainy season, or swim across the big river when going to from one sitio to another.  No big-ticket infrastructure needed here like the Cavite-Laguna Expressway that he inaugurated recently.

President Aquino boasted: “Mula 2010 hanggang 2014, nagtala tayo ng average GDP growth na 6.2 percent; ito ang pinakamasiglang yugto ng ating ekonomiya sa loob ng 40 taon. Kung aabot po tayo sa 6.8 percent ngayong 2015, makakamtan natin ang pinakamataas na six-year average growth sa loob ng halos anim na dekada.”

The benefits from this growth, sad to say, have not trickled down to Santa Juliana. 

The P-Noy of street parliamentarians on SONA day

We like the color of the streets on any SONA day. There's more than the blue, black and the predominant red of the usual protest organizers' banners. 

The towering yellow papier mache figure of P-Noy was not burned. There was yet no reason for the torching.  It's his first SONA, and the common Pinoys--who he said are his bossings--are still on ground zero for presidential debts to collect and grave misgovernance to denounce. 

This yellow P-Noy higante draped with the stars-and-stripes would surely find its way to a Philippine museum of protest art (MOPA) if ever there is one or to a collector for future e-Bay sale.

Alas, the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo effigies of her nine SONA days were all torched. There are plenty of photographs in the archives to go back to for their appreciation as protest artworks.

This year, some UP fine arts students led by their student council painted P-Noy on that part of Commonwealth Avenue fronting the Ever Department store, just like what they would do during the annual street-painting event in front of Palma Hall in UP Diliman.

Their P-Noy of course is in yellow barong and he's holding a balance beam with protesters spilling off from one side and with the elite smug on the other.

P-Noy can be Zorro. He has painted in the public mind an illusion that he can be one, and that's what his bossings conjure after his platitudes of no wangwang, no tong-pats, no waldas, etc. even if he has not said anything substantial about key areas like land reform and foreign policy.

We hope though that P-Noy would not be this Zorro (picture above)--almost a fixture at the academic oval of the Diliman Republic--who has his own Katipunan flag ("Viva Caballero," it says) and his own revolution to finish.