Duterte opens final SONA by enumerating admin gains

President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday opened his sixth and final State of the Nation Address (SONA) enumerating his administration’s achievements.

“When I ran for presidency, I just made fundamental processes and strangely, you can count them by the fingers on your hand,” he said.

Among the achievements he mentioned were the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act, the Universal Health Care Law, and the Free Irrigation Act.

“I made those changes which I thought really there was time and doable to offer free education. It is there already. The Universal Health Care, nandiyan na po (it is there already). The fight against illegal drugs, criminality, and corruption and the development structure, including free irrigation and big ticket projects which I thought I did not have the funds to do it, but by chance, among others, it was done in my term,” Duterte said.

In 2017, Duterte has signed into law the free tuition in state universities and colleges.

In 2018, the President has enacted a measure that effectively subsidizes irrigation for local farmers.

In 2019, Duterte also signed the UHC Law which guarantees all Filipinos equal access to quality and affordable goods and services in healthcare.

Under the Duterte administration, the Build, Build, Build infrastructure program was launched where the government invested in infrastructure program in a bid to boost the economy.

So far, the President said that his five years in office had been “challenging and humbling.”

“I bore no illusions that steering the nation towards a comfortable life for every people will be easy. The past five years have truly been challenging and humbling,” Duterte said.

“I stand here before you today bearing no conceit, but if there is one thing I could be proud of is that not once did I waiver in doing the unpopular even if it meant upholding the greatest good for the greatest number,” he added.

He maintained that his administration is still committed to giving a "comfortable life" for all Filipinos "anchored on a people-centered approach" to development and governance.

In the latter part of his speech, Duterte tagged the Malasakit Center Act as “poignant” act of Congress and the Executive Department.

He said this would complement the UHC Act.

“On the burden of tedious process of going to various agencies and offices in order to avail assistance to the government, I am pleased to report that we have established 130 Malasakit Centers across the country. That has already helped millions of Filipinos in their hospitalization needs,” he said.

Duterte said his government will be establishing more Malasakit Centers.

In December 2019,  Duterte signed the Malasakit Center bill into law.

This seeks to reduce the out-of-pocket expenditures of indigent and poor patients, including non-medical expenses.—AOL, GMA News