DEPUTY Speaker and Cebu 3rd District Representative Gwendolyn Garcia said President Rodrigo Duterte’s second State of the Nation Address (Sona) will be nothing short of an “impressive report” on his administration’s achievements, a year after the highly-popular Davaoeño took over Malacañang.
"I think the usual expectation is naman a report on the accomplishments of the first year of the Duterte administration and we expect that to be quite an impressive report,” Garcia said in an interview with SunStar.
According to Garcia, the high approval rating of Duterte and his administration was an indication of Filipino’s appreciation of the chief executive.
“I believe that with the 82 percent approval rating by the Filipino people, you know that really is an indicator of how much the President has accomplished and how much hope that the President has been able to establish amongst our countrymen,” she said.
Polls on Duterte continue to yield relatively high ratings, despite controversial statements and policies that often get criticism from local oppositions and international organizations.
But for Garcia, Duterte is a "working President" who has “performed far beyond expectations,” crediting his long experience being the Mayor of Davao City for two decades.
"From one who was once a cheif executive of my own province, I believe that the President has performed far beyond expectations. He has applied his own experience as a chief executive of the city of Davao and he has shown by example by working tirelessly, by reaching out to as many Filipinos as possible, by being there in the frontline. This is a working President,” Garcia said.
Duterte on Monday is set to deliver his second Sona at the House of Representatives, this time armed with more than a year of experience leading the country. (SunStar Philippines)