7/26/2016
7/26/2016

DONITA JOIE C. BAGGAS
DONITA JOIE C. BAGGAS
State of the Nation Address 2016 (SONA) of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte State of the Nation Address 2016 (SONA) of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte

President Roa Duterte delivered on Monday, July 25, 2016 his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) in front of lawmakers and guest at Batasan Pambansa in Quezon City. The much-anticipated SONA 2016 took 1 hour and 32 minutes, President Duterte’s speech made history as first longest SONA. The President discussed the present economic, political and social condition of the country as well as the accomplishments and plans of his administration to change the Philippines.
In his first State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Duterte laid down measures his administration plans to implement to push the economy forward, even as he continued to focus on his campaign against drugs and lawlessness.

As part of our reaction paper on the Economic aspect of President Duterte’s SONA, listed below are the following economic condition and his plans for the country that he stated during the SONA; * Investing in human capital to ensure equal access to economic opportunities. * Retaining the sound macro fundamentals already laid in place. * Addressing the bottlenecks in business registration and processing, streamlining investment applications process, and integrating the services of various government offices. * Out-of-the box financing packages to capacitate small and medium entrepreneurs. * Construction of more access roads and tourism gateways to service centers and tourist sites, to promote the tourism industry. * Providing modern agriculture infrastructure, including constructing and improving roads and irrigation, establishing modern harvest and post-harvest facilities. * Conducting a nationwide soil analysis to determine areas most suitable for rice farming to optimize production with the use of effective soil rehabilitation and fertilization. * Strict enforcement of fisheries laws, particularly on illegal fishing * Promotion of aquaculture along riverbanks and in backyards. * Tax reforms aimed at reducing personal and corporate taxes. * Speeding up Internet in the country and provision of free wifi access in selected public areas. * Accelerating infrastructure spending by improving national roads and bridges and implementing the Mindanao Logistics Infrastructure Network and other road network master plans.

He reiterated the need for reforms to ensure competitiveness and promote ease of doing business so that the country will attract investments in manufacturing, agriculture and tourism that will generate jobs, especially for the poor and unskilled members of the work force.
He mentioned the need to promote entrepreneurship opportunities in rural neighborhoods, where employment is not an option.
His administration will continue and maintain the current macroeconomic policies, and will achieve better thru prudent fiscal and monetary policies which means maintaining proper balance between borrowing, expenditure and saving, having minimal fiscal deficit so that borrowing becomes less, government does not have to print excess money and controlling revenue and capital expend so that the economy grows properly and the growth will lead to more job creation by public sector or private sector.
As I further analyze his speech and contemplate his words, he seeks equality in everyone under his leadership. It is worth noting that he wants to assure everyone else that vindictiveness will not be the basis of his leadership. As he said, "I wish to assure everyone though that vindictiveness is not in my system. Just like you and I, all, equal treatment and equal protection are what I ask for our people." It is upon my firm belief that he has no room for blame on past mistakes, evident in his speech in which he said "We cannot move forward if we allow the past to pull us back. Finger-pointing is not the way. That is why I will not waste precious time dwelling on the sins of the past or blaming those who are perceived to be responsible for the mess that we are in and suffering from."
I hope that everything comes to form and Philippines undergoes a complete change of heart for the betterment of our country and countrymen under the new leadership of President Rodrigo Duterte.