Aldrin Cardona
It could only be later when we’ll ask the President whether he had ended criminality, corruption, human trafficking, political turncoats, insurgency, political dynasties, poverty, traffic congestion and social injustice.
Filipinos — and the world that’s interested in Philippine affairs — should listen to President Rodrigo Duterte’s final State of the Nation Address (SoNA) on 26 July 2021, a Monday that should signal the transition from his term’s dying days to the new leadership that we’ll welcome on 30 June 2022.
We could expect Duterte to report his administration’s achievements in the last five years as the 351 days left in his stay in Malacañang would be spent just overseeing the gains he would leave for what could be his legacy or failures, and to pack the memories of his stay at the Palace, of course.
Duterte — in many speeches— had claimed the presidency had sapped his energy, viewed from the south as a waning bravado, a departure from his 2016 past, and this last would spell a different future for the country that had nixed a dictatorship, embraced liberalism, and welcomed the return of an iron-fisted leadership under him.
It will end, however, with his followers romanticizing a continuity to be provided either by Duterte’s choice for his successor — that could be Senator Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, his former assistant, or Sara Duterte, the Davao City mayor and the President’s daughter whose footsteps are now so darn close to the shoe marks left by her father.
All signs of another Duterte taking the main seat at the Palace are present.
Sara Duterte is leading all surveys this early into the presidential contest, a feat never achieved by her father whose rise rocketed only when the 2016 elections were close.
Five major political parties have signified their intention to join Sara’s coalition, moves that will strengthen her regional Hugpong ng Pagbabago party that is reminiscent of the Liberal Party defections of old that strengthened Duterte’s influence and weakened the opposition.
The elder Duterte’s speech would mention Sara, perhaps an open statement to try to dissuade her from running for the top national post, but he should also look at his own PDP-Laban members who could later desert him for his daughter, whose camp vowed will run as an independent.
Some of them did already, triggering the President’s attacks against Senator Manny Pacquiao, the octuple boxing champion whose eyes are also on the presidency. They now form the PDP-Laban’s wing as the party waits the days before these personalities are expelled.
The people’s focus is now on this, hyped no less by the President’s own declaration of entertaining thoughts about sliding down to the vice-presidency, and the high possibility of Sara’s running for the presidency. They still have the following, no doubt about it.
It could only be later when we’ll ask the President whether he had ended criminality, corruption, human trafficking, political turncoats, insurgency, political dynasties, poverty, traffic congestion and social injustice; and had introduced judicial reforms, global connectivity — his promises in 2016, along with the shift to federalism and making the Philippines an economic power in Asia.
He may have an explanation why and how these were achieved or not, but many of us will have our minds fixed on what the future holds for us after Duterte.