The forthcoming State-of-the Nation- address of President Duterte on July 27 should be a historic and significant one. For one thing, it’s his penultimate SONA, or should be, barring any unforeseen intervention, made-made or heaven-sent.
The President has only about two years left to his term. That means, basically, that the remaining time for him as president will be to serve in a somewhat lameduck mode or capacity, unless he has other plans in mind.
The President is protean, like the COVID 19 virus much of the world is wrestling with and has to win over still, for lack of a vaccine that would bring the planet back to normal. But he’s not opaque. He may not telegraph his moves all the time, but his language, body or otherwise, will surely give him away.
In other words, his SONA will tell us in a broadstroke how much farther down the path he has led this nation will go should be readable or discernible. A good example is how ABS-CBN was eased out under the cover of his alleged neutrality which nobody believed anyway, not even his dyed-in-the-wool supporters. Everyone saw the fait acompli coming, first as tragedy then as a farce.
For the President’s speechwriters, it wouldn’t difficult to frame his SONA.
Two overarching issues besieged this administration: the pandemic crisis and human rights. The latest report from the United Nations are not flattering, to say the least. The Duterte Dispensation, the report summed up, is weak in suppressing the corona virus while strong in supressing human rights, with the anti-terror law cited as Exhibit A, not to mention the laundry of violations in connection with the war on drugs.
But, as they say, the Nile is not only a river in Egypt. Vice President Leni Robredo has accused the administration of self-denial if not self-deception. Denying the Veep’s accusation has only resulted in what looked like a set-up parody for the government’s spokeperson with a special skill for digging a deeper hole for the leadership he represents through his clumsy messaging, let alone convenient mendacity.
For instance, while the number of COVID cases has continued to rise exponentially in the last two weeks or so, the spokeperson has assured the occasionally browbeaten public that the curve has been flattened. One wonders whether he’s not talking of a different curve. The Cabinet member on health has seconded the motion but only to correct himself later to say it’s “bent”, actually.
The issue on human rights is an intractable beast still on the loose because mainly the Duterte administration continues to refuse any outside and independent probe into alleged violations. The new anti=terror law, which has been seen as another sword of Damocles hanging over people’s rights and freedom, particularly free speech and free press, is already in effect.
Many Filipinos wait with baited breath and frayed nerves on how the Supreme Court will handle this “hot” item, a potentially rights steamroller in the making. If people’s uncertain outlook is on the tenterhook, blame that on previous High Court decisions that didn’t sit well with those who strongly adhere to democratic values and the due process. In short, fair play.
Mixed in the brew the latest mea culpa of the President in Jolo over the shut down of ABS-CBN, using it as context for dismantling of the oligarcy in the Philippines. For that, he has bandied about a bragging right: no martial law necessary. The pretext is suspect. Ferdinand Marcos looked a dummy and a dwarf in a comparison. Of course, dictators and despots are not dumb sooner, only later.
That’s what on Duterte’s plate as he prepares for his historic SONA next Monday which, by the way, has been dubbed as no red-carpet fashion show, not as usual. But it’s not hard to tell what’s on the House that day.
But there’s warning sign on the horizon: someone is singing the old tune of Cha-Cha anew, usually a retro when Malacanang’s principal tenant is running out on his lease.
As for China’s continued incursion into Philippine territories in the South China Sea, it’s the least of concern. For now. His SONA will confirm or deny his unmoved position on the subject.
Against this backdrop, it would be easier for anybody to predict what Duterte will do in the last two years like it were set in auto trigger. And there’s a caveat to that: to a monster, wrote American Nobel Prize nobelist John Steinbeck wrote in ‘East of Eden’, the norm is monstrous.
Hold your breath. Or may be not. The face mask has been doing that for most us, among other existential options.
