PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte veered off from the prepared speech for his State of the Nation Address (Sona) on Monday, July 24, to warn mining companies to place environmental conservation and restoration on top of their agenda, lest they will never be allowed to mine at all.
He did this for around 30 minutes, the first time ever that a President tackled environment concerns at such length in a Sona.
The 30-minute segue into an extemporaneous speech, however, was peppered with a short diatribe against ABS-CBN and Rappler and Rappler's violation of the Philippine Constitution that requires media companies to be 100-percent Filipino owned. The Sona stretched on for two hours and had very few applause as at one time, Duterte told the audience not to interrupt.
Duterte was still reading his speech when the topic turned to mining, where he said in his speech that more than just allowing mining that vow to restore, he is telling "industries, investors, and commercial barons" to process these minerals into finished products and not tie up the Philippines to just becoming a raw material supplier while having to buy the finished products from the very minerals taken out of the country and pay for this at triple the price.
In his prepared speech, he also said that government will require mining companies to regard the environment with "extreme care".
"The protection of environment must be made a priority ahead of mining and all other activities that adversely affect in one way or another, and this is non-negotiable," he said.
Mining companies are also prohibited from "unbridled and irresponsible destruction of our watersheds, forests, and waterways."
He veered off to appeal to the mining companies to stop the destruction that has been forcing the rural poor to dire poverty.
"Ang palayan tumuyo at ang soil nag-crack, the farmers cannot eat anymore, they are reduced to the garbage of what you can get there, they salvage anything. Ganun ang nangyari sa mga Pilipino," he said.
By polluting the streams, the President said, the mining companies not just dry up ricefields it also deprives the rural poor of their only source of protein.
"Try to go out... and try to see how hard it is for them. Tutal sobra-sobra na man yang pera ninyo," he said, pointing out that mining companies usually are part of a conglomerate of companies.
The President gave the mining industry two choice: "Spend to restore the virginity of the resource, or I will tax you to death."
He said he needs a lot of money to help restore the destruction in Marawi.
In a later order to the Bureau of Internal Revenue to accept the P25-billion settlement offer of tobacco company Mighty Corporation, he said, he needs the money to rehabilitate Marawi and Ormoc City. Ormoc was recently damaged by an earthquake.
"Seriously, I'm telling those in mining, declare your correct income, pay your correct taxes, your failure to do so will be your undoing," he said.
The President pointed out that this is not just about the present but the generations that will come after.
"There are so many billions of the future generations waiting. How about the billions and billions of Filipinos that will come after us. Kawawa naman. They will have to stretch Mother Earth to eat," he said.
Various concerns
The Sona tackled various issues, including the lack of funds approved by Congress for the upgrade of mass transportation systems; the need to change the procedures on whom to award government contracts to as the rule to give the contract to the lowest bidder has been at the root of a lot of corrupt practices; the need to stop the practice of issuing temporary restraining orders on government projects that have been causing massive delays and wastes like the more than P36-million worth of sub-dermal implants for family planning that are going to expire a month from now; and the appeal to return the Balangiga bells that remain in the hands of the US Government.
He also ordered government agencies to address concerns of overseas Filipino workers, attend to the needs of the people in the shortest time possible and stop making people go back several times when transacting business with government offices.
Duterte was also very clear that he will no longer pursue peace talks with the communist rebels citing the group's insincerity in pursuing peace and the number of casualties that the rebels have already caused both on civilians who do not want to join them and the uniformed forces.
Unrelentless drug war
But most of all, he stressed that the war on drugs will continue unrelentless.
He chided the opposition for always taking the cudgels for the criminals and remaining silent when the criminals prey on the innocents like families being massacred and children being raped.
He challenged the opposition "to educate the people on the evils of illegal drugs instead of condemning the authorities unjustly, bringing every killing that bloodies the country" to international attention.
He brushed off the opposition's constant threat of filing complaints with the International Criminal Court, saying he is not afraid to go to jail as he has been in and out of jail in his youth.
Bullying the left
He admitted that he does bully the leftist militants because as President, his role is to serve the people, and not just the left.
As Davao City mayor he was inclined toward the left and made friends even with rebels.
"We were friends, but times have changed because God placed me here and I have to take care of the republic," he said.
"Sabi nila bully ako. Tarantado kayo, talagang bully ako, Put-na. Especially to the enemies of the state, talagang bully ako," he said.
Stalemate in Marawi
He also admitted that the reason why the battle in Marawi is dragging on is because of the more than 300 hostages still being held by the rebels.
After the first rounds of airstrikes, he said, he has asked the military to stop as this endangers the lives of the hostages. But this order has placed the military in a difficult position as the Maute Gang are stationed in sniper positions on the tall buildings.
But the soldier will just have to engage in close-quarter battles to save as many hostages as possible.