Diokno, De Lima point out SONA hits and misses

Akbayan Representative Chel Diokno and ML party-list Rep. Leila de Lima on Monday said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA) should have included issues that tackle accountability among public officials.

“Unang-una, sa issue ng accountability, nandyan ‘yung pagbabalik natin sa ICC (International Criminal Court). Nandyan ‘yung pagpapanagot sa likod ng mga EJK (extrajudicial killings) nung nakaraan,” Diokno said in an ambush interview following Marcos’ speech.

(First of all, on the issue of accountability, there is our return to the ICC. There is the holding accountable of those behind the EJKs in the past.)

“Nandyan ‘yung issue sa  corruption na hanggang ngayon ay wala pa rin tayong nakikitang konkretong mga hakbang na parusahan ang mga nasa likod ng iba’t ibang sindikato at iba't ibang malalaking kompanya,” he added.

(There is the issue of corruption, which until now we still haven’t seen concrete steps to punish those behind the various syndicates and major companies.)

Diokno was referring to the ICC case of former President Rodrigo Duterte, who was arrested last March, for crimes against humanity over his administration’s war on drugs.

Asked how he will rate this year’s SONA, Diokno said they will give an “incomplete” grade.

ML party-list Rep. De Lima opined that President Marcos should have addressed the Supreme Court decision junking the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte.

“I just wished he could have spoken about accountability because of the decision of the Supreme Court. He could have said something about how significant is accountability in our Constitution,” de Lima said after the SONA.

“Maybe the President is just being careful about it. [But] without necessarily taking issue with the SC decision, he could have stressed the importance of accountability,” de Lima added.

In a separate interview, De Lima’s fellow former impeachment prosecutor and Oriental Mindoro Rep. Arnan Panaligan said there are other ways to exact accountability outside of the Supreme Court decision and the SONA.

“Maybe the President is just allowing other independent government agencies, like the Ombudsman...no one will stop the Ombudsman if it wants to conduct an investigation [on a public official],” Panaligan said.

“The Ombudsman is an independent body and are free to investigate government officials. So there is no inconsistency concerning the President not mentioning the impeachment while he calls for accountability,” Panaligan added.

In his speech, Marcos tackled issues related to the sports, economy, education, the missing sabungeros, water service interruptions, and flood control projects.

He warned that government personnel who steal public funds, such as those for flood control projects, will be dealt with under the law as various parts of the country suffer from inclement weather.  — BAP, GMA Integrated News