Duterte to deliver final SONA before nation besieged by pandemic, drug war questions

President Rodrigo Duterte will deliver his sixth and final State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday with the country still battling the COVID-19 pandemic, now made worse by the more infectious Delta variant. 

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque has assured the public that the Chief Executive’s final address will detail the roadmap to the country’s recovery from the pandemic which has already killed over 27,000 people and left millions of Filipinos jobless due to quarantine restrictions imposed to curb COVID-19 transmission. 

Roque also said the final SONA won’t touch on the President’s political plans in 2022. 

It remains to be seen, however, if Duterte will do away with his penchant of going off-script for the last SONA. 

Off-script or not, Duterte will address a nation where COVID-19 vaccination coverage remains low with only over five million people fully vaccinated so far. 

Such figure is way behind the lowered target of fully vaccinating 58 million people in highly urbanized areas by the end of the year. 

Vaccine Expert Panel member Dr. Rontgene Solante has said the ultimate target remains achieving herd immunity against COVID-19 by the end of the year, a feat that can be achieved by vaccinating 70 million people. 

The country’s COVID-19 vaccine supply, however, is not enough even for the lower target figure of 58 million. 

While the country has already received 30.9 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, only 16 million doses of that number have been used to inoculate people so far. Moreover, only 3.2 million of such doses account are Johnson and Johnson single-dose vaccine. 

Aside from the shortage in COVID-19 vaccine supply, critics say the President is also due for reckoning over the deadly war on drugs (WoD). Former International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Fatou Bensouda asked the ICC to probe the Duterte administration’s drug war since there is “reasonable basis to believe that the crimes against humanity of murder, torture, and the infliction of serious physical injury and mental harm as other inhumane acts were committed on the territory of the Philippines between at least July 1, 2016 and March 16, 2019 in connection to the WoD campaign launched throughout the country.” 

Bensouda, in a 52-page report she submitted before retiring, cited police, human rights groups, media reports and confidential sources in concluding that the drug war kilings which numbered over 20,000 had a pattern of killing suspects who are not resisting arrest, with some even begging for their lives to be spared. 

Duterte has been firm that he will never cooperate with an ICC probe,  even saying that the court will never have jurisdiction over his person. 

Roque also claimed that a Pulse Asia study showed that most Filipinos trust and are satisfied with the President’s performance. This is because he remained focused on fulfilling his vow to address illegal drugs which Roque said remains a priority alongside the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite such popularity, Duterte teased that he could just run for Vice President in 2022 to secure immunity from charges that could be filed against him by his critics once his term ends on June 30, 2022. 

As to which one between herd immunity against COVID-19 and immunity from charges will come first for Duterte, the final SONA is sure to give at least a clue.

Meanwhile, health protocols and tightened security were already in place at the Batasan Complex in Quezon City a day before SONA, House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco said on Sunday.

Progressive groups meanwhile are all set to hold protest actions on Monday.

Police will implement signal jamming in parts of Quezon City while protesters will be allowed only in certain areas, National Capital Region Police Office chief Police Major General Vicente Danao Jr. said Sunday. —KG, GMA News