I AM greatly amazed at how our legislators, diplomats and government officials love the President. They give great admiration and honor to their “king”. Look at the State of the Nation Address (Sona) last July 22. There was a large group of protestors wanting to oust the President but they were immediately dispersed and no great news were heard of them. They have failed to disrupt the event by their strike. In short, it did not make “noise”. It lacked the mass support. Anyhow, the Sona of the President went on as planned and the pageantry continued.

The points in the Sona were well explained by the President in his one hour and a half of extemporaneous oration. He boasted of his popularity rating and that only a minor percentage are dissatisfied. Although I always say that surveys defy the rules of logic and reality, one could see how people accept Duterte. I have seen other presidents getting high approval ratings but only in numbers. Digong translates these figures into reality like magic.

He pointed out the following issues in his oration ala comedy skit: his victory over drugs; the restoration of death penalty for heinous crimes and “drug lordism”; postponement of the Barangay and SK elections; fight against corruption in government; anti-red tape ; rehabilitation of tourist attractions; more telecommunication companies; the fast-tracking of the implementation of the Bangsamoro Organic law; the end to communism; claim to the West Philippine Sea; Poverty alleviation program; Tax reform; liquor ban; Salary Standardization law; Fire Protection and disaster risk management; water and land use; traffic; rice and coco industry; and national security.

These are the requests of the President to the Legislature. Of course, he could get all of these. No matter what the congressmen and senators are saying as regards to their individual and independent decisions. I am sure that all of these proposals will no longer pass through the eye of the needle but will have a smooth passage.

But for me, I only see half of these issues presented are real issues that would affect the majority of the Filipinos. Allow me to share some comical thoughts regarding the issues.

On drugs. We all agree that this is the only administration who has given so much effort to crack down the drug trade in the country. The president devoted most of the government resources at tracking down all those involved in this industry. The only thing we do not want about this is that “vigilantes” had taken the persecution and prosecution on their hands. Extra-judicial killing in the name of drugs became the talk of the town. It is like the movie “the purge”. We are like purging our lands by taking out the lives of people who are not guilty of a crime they are allegedly accused of.

On death penalty. This is a very wrong notion that the death penalty deters crimes. There was a study in the past that claimed that death penalty pushes the criminal to kill its victim. I stand by the principle that God has the sole authority to get human lives.

These are just the first two of the series of my opinions regarding the SONA of our dear Tatay Digong.

On a final note, allow me to share this disgusting observation. The peoples’ money was once more used uselessly by our dear politicians. They spent our hard-earned money over their lavished and unfashionable gowns and barongs. I dream of a day where simple dress and simple barongs shall be worn on an occasion for the people. There is also an issue of the food served to satisfy the reptilian appetite of the politicians and dignitaries.

God save us.