BACOLOD City – From “bad to worse.”
That is how the country’s situation had changed under President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration, according to Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) in Negros Island.
Bayan Negros conducted a demonstration dubbed as the “People’s United SONA” yesterday in this capital city before Duterte gave his State of the Nation Address (SONA).
Bayan Negros secretary-general Christian Tuayon said Duterte, who is now on his third year as the country’s chief executive, must be ousted.
Since Duterte assumed office in 2016, the “culture of impunity had worsen with over 24,000 people killed” in his administration’s “war on drugs,” stressed Tuayon.
He added that over 30 million Filipinos remain homeless and thousands more – farmers especially – were displaced in their communities due to the militarization in the countryside.
Bayan Negros called for immediate justice for all who were killed, including radioman and peasant leader Julius Barellano of San Carlos City, Negros Occidental.
The militant group regarded Duterte as the “worst president ever,” adding that he is a “puppet of not only the United States but also the People’s Republic of China.”
Duterte delivered his SONA around 5:20 p.m. yesterday. It lasted for less than an hour.
In his speech, the President said the “war on drugs” is “far from over.”
During the 2016 campaign period, Duterte vowed that he will end the country’s drug problem in three to six months.
The President in his latest SONA said he values “human life” over “human rights.”
“If you think that I can be dissuaded from continuing this fight because of demonstrations, your protests, which I by the way find misdirected, then you got it all wrong. Your concern is human rights, mine is human lives,” Duterte said.
According to the Philippine National Police, at least 4,200 Filipinos have died in the antidrug campaign of the government since May 2016 for fighting back against authorities./PN
