‘#EJK is already DU30’s ten-fold Mamasapano’—Bocobo tweet
Accountability and due process amid the wave of killings of suspected drug pushers and users, most of them poor, are among the hot-button issues that President Duterte should speak about in his first State of the Nation Address (Sona), according to people interviewed by the Inquirer.
Other issues include the President’s stand on the Paris pact on climate change, conditional cash transfer and poverty alleviation, the South China Sea dispute, the monster traffic jams in Metro Manila, K-12 program and corruption.
“While we condemn the killings that are happening around the world, I am appalled at the silence when it comes to vigilante killings. What are his plans regarding this and how will he guarantee that this will not further scare the people?’’ said Graziella B. Almasco, a car sales executive in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.
Almasco said she wanted “to know why out of the 500 who were killed, a majority were poor?”
READ: THE KILL LIST
Dean Bocobo compared the extrajudicial killings of drug suspects to the Mamasapano incident in which 44 members of the PNP Special Action Force died in Maguindanao province in 2015 when they ran into Moro rebels after they shot and killed an international terrorist.
“#EJK is already DU30’s ten-fold Mamasapano. Will he take Command Responsibility for the BLOODBATH or like PNoy, shirk it?” Bocobo tweeted.
Saul de Jesus has had enough of the killings. “#PresidentDuterte Please put a stop to extrajudicial killings.”
Kim Quilinguing, a media production specialist at the University of the Philippines System Information Office, said the Sona should touch on human rights violations.
“He should express his views on his administration’s commitment to the observance of due process and respect for civil liberties,” he said.
Rommel Copuyoc, a mechanical engineer, wanted to know how the President could restore the people’s trust in the police. “Before they engage in killings, the police should be credible first … What will happen to the policemen who were proven to have killed innocent people?”
Mr. Duterte “has command responsibility for the alarming number of deaths of [alleged] pushers not even proven yet to be culpable,” said Gino Leocadio Paje, a special investigator at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
But other Filipinos appeared not to be bothered at all by the killings.
“For sure President Duterte will talk about his campaign against illegal drugs. That’s one of the good things that he has started and I hope it will continue. It’s all over the news and I believe he will give us an update on this issue,” said Josephine Gongora, a fish vendor in Olongapo City.
Noemi Frondarina, a spa owner in Guiguinto, Bulacan province, expected the President to continue the crackdown on illegal drugs and push for the restoration of the death penalty. “I support these initiatives,” she said.
READ: Pasay hitmen leave cardboard signs; Manila cops find ‘drug-using robbers’
“I want to hear President Duterte name mayors and other politicians who are involved in illegal drugs,” said Elizar Lauro, a college student and part-time mall clerk in Tagum City.
Netizen @decentlydoped favored a national ID system. “#SONADu30 national ID system and SIM card registration. No more prank calls. Criminals can easily be traced.”
Lottie Salarda, a stringer of TV5 in Tacloban City, expressed concern about media killings.
“I hope that during his Sona, President Duterte will talk about killings involving media practitioners in the country and solve them, and at the same time, give an assurance that our constitutional rights, like freedom of expression, will be protected,” Salarda said.
Paje of the DENR was not in favor of Mr. Duterte’s repudiating the Paris Agreement that sought to reduce greenhouse gas emissions aimed at curbing climate change. “I want him to ensure that his statements of abandoning our commitments to international agreements on carbon cuts will be thoroughly reconsidered,” he said.
Jake Sibat, a volunteer with Sirib Ilocano Kabataan Association in Ilocos Norte province, wished the President would mention disaster risk reduction and management as one of his priority programs.
A househelp wondered whether the Duterte administration would scuttle the conditional cash transfer (CCT) program.
“I hope he (the President) does not because many people like myself rely on it,” said Dahlia Parajas of Calasiao town in Pangasinan province.
Imelda Nilo, a store owner in Olongapo City, would like “to know if our lives will improve under his administration.”
Jocelyn Tañon, a househelp in Lucena City, said there should be a government agency that could provide livelihood and financial, legal and moral support to single mothers like her.
Benedict G. Nisperos, a Chevening scholar in London, also asked about the administration’s antipoverty program. “How will he address poverty now with the planned removal of bottom-up budgeting and reformatting of the CCT program?”
Wilfredo Bernardo, a farmer in Science City of Muñoz in Nueva Ecija province hoped Mr. Duterte would discuss “his concern for us rice farmers who … work hard to supply rice … [but] remain very poor. I hope, too, that as he talks about the prospect of a better economy in the country, the gains will also trickle down to us and to our respective families.”
Coconut farmers expect to hear a clear statement about the coco levy fund from the President in his Sona.
“I want to know what President Duterte’s course of action is on workers, who are still receiving salaries below the minimum wage,” said Jemuel Sisa, a waiter in Cagayan de Oro City.
Copuyoc, the mechanical engineer, asked: “What’s his strategy for creating jobs?”
Robert Badrina, a weather specialist at the weather bureau, said he was looking forward to the passage of a bill that would increase the pay of state employees.
Christie S. Sales (@christiesales06) called for the lowering of income taxes for low income earners.
K-12
Jennifer Quinto, 20, a student in the City of Malolos, said she was “interested to find out what [Mr. Duterte] would say about the K-12 education reform program, and explain what social media is saying about replacing algebra and calculus with business math.”
“I hope President Duterte would tackle and bring more emphasis on the implementation of the ongoing K-12 [basic education] curriculum even though this was implemented under former President Benigno Aquino III’s term,” said Marteena Kyla Panopio, a Grade 11 student at Bicol University in Legazpi City.
Traffic jams
“I want to hear his plans to curb the uncontrolled growth of our urban areas that commonly translate to gridlock traffic, pollution, squatting problems, increased crimes, overpopulation and unemployment,” said Joey Manalad, an architect in Pasig City.
Ray Casile, a doctor at St. Luke’s Medical Center, said: “I like to hear something aside from killing addicts. What’s his plan for the health service in the far-flung corners of the Philippines? Things that help make life longer, not shorter.”
Copuyoc wanted to know whether the campaign against corrupt officials would continue after the Supreme Court ruled that there was weak evidence in the plunder charge against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, leading to her release from hospital arrest.
“Will there be follow-up cases against GMA? Or the issue will die down already,” he asked.
Nisperos also wanted to know “the next strategy” in the South China Sea dispute after the UN-backed arbitral court ruling that rejected China’s nine-dash line. Reports from Jodee Agoncillo, Aie Balagtas See, Maricar Brizuela, Erika Sauler and Jaymee Gamil in Metro Manila; Yolanda Sotelo, Inquirer Northern Luzon; Anselmo Roque, Inquirer Central Luzon; Delfin T. Mallari Jr. and Ma. April Mier, Inquirer Southern Luzon’ Carla Gomez and Joey Gabieta, Inquirer Visayas; and Frinston Lim and Jigger Jerusalem, Inquirer Mindanao/TVJ
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