What use is the State of the Nation Address (SONA) if people already have fixated opinion even before they hear it?
That’s the prevailing observation before, during and after the fourth SONA of President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday. Whatever it is that he said in his report, the mentality of people will not change. Those who support him will be filled with hope and will see opportunity beyond. But those who are against his administration, his policies and his person, will always find in what he said all the faults and impasses.
This is the sad reality of the SONA, an event prepared for a considerable amount of time, exhausting considerable resources and researches to make happen. Only that, at the very end, it will still be a divided nation.
So do we need a SONA afterall?
Isn’t it hypocrisy for people antagonistic of the programs and policies of the sitting President come to the occasion, all dressed up, but only to have ears shut to the actual report because even before the first word is said, the mind is just as wide shut as the ears.
The SONA contained just about everything, but yes, not completely everything the people expected to hear. It wasn’t a perfect SONA, but it was a sincere one. President Duterte, known for his knack of deviating from prepared speeches to deliver his unguarded chatter, spoke about the fight that he will battle through to the rest of his term. These fights include the controversial war on illegal drugs, corruption, and crime. And then there is also the ‘fight’ that he will wage without going head on against the perceived enemy–the sovereignty issue on the West Philippine Sea which President Duterte said he will not engage a direct conflict with against China after seeing through the country’s capabilities to defend itself. This has been an issue mistaken for cowardice but the President reiterated on Monday the government is performing a delicate balancing act.
He skipped some subject matters like charter change and Federalism perhaps knowing that it is better discussed within the confines first of immediate policy makers and political experts rather than throw the issue wide open without having anything concrete to defend it to the world.
Another SONA went and with it are the same perceptions and reactions. The same scenes too in and out of the halls where the President spent over two hours to make his report. The report, to say the least, reflected the government’s progress halfway through the Duterte era. But to the minds and ears that were shut from the very beginning, the SONA was another failure.
Another SONA done, another failed success.
