By Francis Allan L. Angelo
With pressing mattes at hand like the COVID-19 pandemic, Pres. Rodrigo Duterte used his fifth State of the Nation Address on July 27, 2020 to get back at an opposition senator whom he labelled as a protector of oligarchs.
Right at the get-go, Pres. Duterte slammed Senate opposition leader Franklin Drilon for labeling his daughter Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte and son Rep. Paolo Duterte as oligarchs.
“There are those who take advantage of a preoccupied government. One of them is Senator Frank Drilon…. He arrogantly mentioned that oligarchs need not be rich, then he linked the anti-dynasty system with oligarchy, and the topic was my daughter and son. This happened after the Committee on Franchises voted 70-11 to deny the grant of franchise to ABS-CBN. He was defending the Lopezes, that they are not oligarchs. I am a casualty of the Lopezes during the 2016 elections.”
In a previous interview with ANC, Drilon challenged Duterte to ban political dynasties after the President flaunted to have destroyed the country’s oligarchy days after ABS-CBN was denied a new broadcast license.
Drilon reminded Duterte that identifying an oligarch should not be based on wealth alone.
“You are an oligarch if you use your power to promote through the political system your own interest,” Drilon had said.
Before ending the address which lasted 1 hour and 40 minutes, the President again took a swipe at Drilon and the oligarchs.
“You are a hypocrite. You know that you cannot pass an anti-dynasty law. Ikaw ang nandiyan sa Congress, ikaw ang mauna dito. But to take it against me for protecting my country is something which I really resent.”
In the middle part of his speech, Duterte slammed how oligarchs controlled the water and power industries.
“Hinawakan ninyo ‘yung tubig pati electricity. ‘Yun ang oligarchy.”
In a statement, Drilon denied defending the Lopezes.
“I was defending freedom of the press, not the Lopezes. The closure of the ABS-CBN sent a chilling effect. As I said before, for democracy to thrive we need free press and we should allow journalists to exercise complete freedom to do their mandate of reporting facts without fear,” Drilon said.
He added that access to information was vital amid the pandemic.
“In the face of a pandemic, we need more access to information. I aired my support for the renewal of the franchise of ABS-CBN, because undeniably the network complements other stations in providing timely and accurate reportage even in the farthest locality unreachable to others, even to the government.”
He added that his statement was in defense of ABS-CBN workers who lost their jobs amid the health crisis.
I was defending the 11,000 people and their families who would lose jobs amid the pandemic, not the Lopezes.”
SHAPE UP OR ELSE
Duterte also sent a warning to telecommunication firms such as Globe and Smart to improve their services lest he shut them down.
“I might just as well close all of you and revert back to the line, telephone, i-expropriate ko ‘yan. ‘Yung Smart, pati ‘yung Globe, ilang taon na ito? At ang sagot palagi sa akin, ‘The party cannot be reached’…. Eh kung gano’n lang naman, ibigay ninyo sa amin. The patience of the Filipino people is reaching its limit and I will be the one to articulate the anger of the Filipino people…. Improve the services before December. I want to call Jesus Christ in Bethlehem. Better have that line cleared.”
The president said he will use his remaining years in office to sort out the telco industry.
“Tell us now if you cannot really improve on it because I will warn you… I have two years, the next two years will be spent improving the telecommunications of this country without you. I will find a way, talk to Congress….”
To note, one of the President’s top election contributors, Dennis Uy, is at the helm of the third telco firm Dito Telecommunity which seeks to break the Globe-Smart duopoly.
Uy promised to roll out Dito’s services next year.
In a statement, Globe Telecom said its multi-billion dollar investments in network have improved services but challenges remain.
“We heed the call of the President to improve telco services. Service performance and increased consumer demand for data are the key reasons why we have been investing billions of dollars to upgrade and improve our network. This year Globe has earmarked 1.2 billion US dollars in capex, majority of which goes to network and capacity builds. These substantial investments are paying off as we experience marked service improvements. Today, the Globe network is running at 4G/LTE.”
The Ayala-led firm also cited that it launched its 5G for Globe At Home and soon we will be launching mobile 5G services in the country.
“Globally, we are being cited for having improved internet experience. Only recently, independent mobile analytics Open Signal ranked the Philippines as the 4th most improved country in mobile video experience. The ranking was included in its State of Mobile Network Experience in 2020 report. Although we have seen marked improvements, the industry is not without its challenges. The long drawn permitting process across LGUs, HOAs and national agencies including the DOH and CAAP have hampered cellsite builds and laying down of fiber to homes. We express our optimism that the recently signed Joint Memorandum Circular 01s.2020 spearheaded by the DICT with other national agencies to fast track builds of telco towers will finally lead the way to a more robust connectivity in the country and provide internet services to every Filipino.”
Globe said it has actively supported public and private hospitals, quarantine facilities, and frontliners.
“We are working with the Department of Education to assist the sector through low cost data plans and devices as well as teacher training, online platforms and mental health support. Globe was able to provide over P1.3 billion in combined services and assistance package for COVID-19 benefitting customers through services and promos, monetary and in-kind donations.”
COVID CRISIS
The President also addressed the COVID-19 pandemic saying that the crisis has diminished the country’s gains.
“My countrymen, there are lessons to be learned from the coronavirus pandemic. It jolted us to realize that gains made… could diminish quickly and considerably for reasons beyond one’s anticipation… That it is much easier to destroy than build. The gains we achieved for the past 3 and a half years were put to the test when the pandemic suddenly struck the global community.”
Pres. Duterte said the government is aiming to conduct 1.4 million COVID-19 tests by the end of July 2020.
Department of Health figures indicated that 1,334,541 cumulative samples were tested as of July 25. To reach the 1.4 million goal, DOH must conduct 65,459 more tests or around 10,909 tests a day by July 31.
He also vowed to help small businesses survive the pandemic and also called on lessors to help micro, small, and medium enterprises or MSMEs.
“The government will intensify its efforts to help businesses, especially micro, small, and medium enterprises or MSMEs, by providing responsive government assistance…. Nananawagan po ako sa ating mga lessors: malasakit…ang sanang pairalin natin ngayon. This is not the time to drive away lessees.”
He also ordered various agencies to help OFWs who have lost their jobs and returned home due to the pandemic. In the last 6 months, the pandemic has forced over 100,000 overseas Filipinos to return to the Philippines.
The more than 100,000 OFWs who lost their jobs are in addition to the 5 million whom the COVID-19 pandemic rendered jobless. In May 2020, Labor Secretary Bello said the number of jobless could even hit 10 million.
Pres. Rodrigo Duterte also reiterated in his SONA that he will not allow traditional face-to-face classes until a COVID-19 vaccine becomes available.
“Until the COVID-19 vaccine is available, I will not allow a traditional face-to-face teaching or learning unless the risk to exposure to the sickness [is] eliminated. I cannot and will not put to risk the health and lives of our students and teachers,” Duterte added.
On July 21, Malacañang announced that Duterte has allowed “limited” face-to-face classes in low-risk areas or those under modified general community quarantine.
“I seem to have said that I would allow the face-to-face classes to resume. We were talking actually of January, because my thinking is by September, we would have the vaccine,” Duterte said in the press briefing.
The other agenda he presented Congress were:
– creation of a National Disease Management Authority that will deal with pandemic and other health crises;
-passage of a law creating Boracay Island Development Authority;
-passage of additional tax reform laws;
-passage of a law that will revive the death penalty;
-improved pension system for uniformed personnel;
-TV frequencies returned to gov’t to be used for education
-passage of the National Land Use Act, among others.
