Last July 22, President Rodrigo Duterte delivered in full swing his fourth State of the Nation

Address (SONA) in front of 3,000 lawmakers and guests around the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City.
Even though foul words have been inevitable every time he speaks in front of thousands of guests, his
achievements are indisputably praiseworthy.

In terms of environmental concerns, the Manila Bay cleanup which has not yet been done for
the past years is truly laudable. President Duterte said he hopes to relocate those informal settlers near
the Manila Bay before his term ends. As many people know, Manila Bay has been greatly polluted by the
trashes discharged by residents and establishments near the bay. Some of the companies were shut
down for not complying with environmental regulations.

Moreover, the disclosure of the massive fraud enacted against the public health insurance
system proves that corruption has been truly ‘pervasive.’ The President is on point and it was really
disappointing that millions of pesos was conned which could have been used to save ‘Human Lives.’ We
hope that the newly appointed PhilHealth President will do his best to help in eradicating corruption for
the benefit of the health insitutions.

Furthermore, the West Philippines Sea issue has been controversial for many years. Supreme
Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio is definitely correct that asserting our rights in our
exclusive economic zone does not mean waging war. However, with the recent news about the life
threatening experience of the Filipino fishermen, this is a manifestation that China can do more against
our country even if there are international laws which they may not care about. It is easy to say that we
should fight our rights, but ‘Human Lives’ should be the utmost priority. Peace should be the main
concern and Filipinos should be unified to at least support and motivate our administration rather than
wasting the time in social media sharing articles of bad journalism and commenting nonsense opinions.

Also, discipline should be instilled in us as Mandatory ROTC was asked by the President to the
Congress to pass a law which would inculcate discipline and patriotism among the youth. Also, the death
penalty for plunder and heinous crimes related to drugs may awaken the sleeping and disorderly society
and can intimidate foreign and local criminals.

Indeed, to achieve global competitiveness, Philippines should be locally competitive first

through polishing environmental, economic, and social concerns to become a progressive nation
fostering nationalistic values for future generations.