President Rodrigo Roa Duterte delivered his 4th State of the Nation Address

(SONA) yesterday, July 22, 2019, at Batasan Pambansa at Quezon City.

Supposedly, the SONA should have begun at exactly 4:00 in the afternoon. But
due to unfavorable weather condition, the presidential chopper was not able to
fly at the designated time and thus, the SONA began at 5:15 in the afternoon
which is more than an hour late as compared to the original plotted schedule. As
the father of the nation, President Duterte delivered his SONA, highlighting the
accomplishments of his administration for the past year and proposing the
changes that he would still want to pursue in the coming years.

The accomplishments of the past show that there is nothing that this nation could
not achieve for as long as there is an effort to do so. It reveals how much changes
we have had and how much we are still expecting to have in the future. Based on
the SONA, one thing that I realized is that it takes a village to build a better
community. Hand in hand if people from the government and laypeople will do a
collaborative effort, nothing is impossible. Together, we shall rise at the pedestal.

The need to reinforce the “delicate balancing act” about the West Philippine Sea
is the only solution that the government could come up with at the moment.
President Duterte emphasized that this will be possible if all matters concerning
negotiation about the natural resources of the country as well as territorial waters
will be handled through “peaceful way.” With the conflicts being experienced with
the Chinese vessels trying to establish their camp on our territories paired with
the pressure given by the mass people to protect our land to the government,
the administration is in the middle of a difficult situation.

If the country can fight with Canada because of the tons of trash that they threw
in our land and we can compel them to take back the trashes, it think it is also
possible with the Chinese case. It is our land and it is rightfully ours. Though I
agree that peaceful talk should be employed, I also strongly believe that we
should manifest power and authority over our land. If not, our silence may be
seen as an act of acceptance. It is our land and we should do all it takes to protect
it against anyone.

The government may be subtle about dealing with our supposed to be land at the
moment. This may be because of civic and state affairs purposes. Perhaps, it is
in the desire to establish a good state relationship with the other countries that
push our government to handle things this way. I hope that the government will
stand true to its words that if in case that other state will dare to touch and exploit
our lands, we will protect it at all cost. No state relationship nor state friendship
could ever surpass the importance of taking good care of one’s land.