SONA 2019 Reaction Paper

Last July 22, 2019 is the 4th SONA 2019 of President Duterte. The State of the Nation Address
or SONA is delivered by the President of the Philippines every year. The Chief Executive reports
on the state of the country, reveal that the government's agenda for the coming year and may also
propose to Congress certain legislative measures. The SONA is a constitutional obligation,
required by Article V11, Section 23 of the 1987 Constitution. Moreover, Article V1, Section 15
prescribes that the Congress "shall convene once every year on the fourth Monday of July for its
regular session."

Death Penalty is one of the topics that President Duterte said, also it is one of the problems in our
country which is the Philippines. Death Penalty also known as capital punishment or execution is
the sentence of death imposed by courts as punishment for a crime. People who receive the death
penalty typically are convicted of murder and similar capital like aggravated murder. State
legislatures establish the death penalty and set forth the offenses that maybe punished by death.
For thousands of years, many governments have punished people convicted of certain crimes by
putting them to death, using various means to accomplish this.

The death penalty is considered by many to be the ultimate form of punishment for those who
have committed society's most heinous crimes, including rape and murder. Should we do to the
criminal as they did to the victim? Is there a chance that the accused is innocent? There are
examples of death penalty those are the Hanging, Shooting, Lethal Injection, Electrocution, Gas
Inhalation and Beheading. Death Penalty is not solution for a crime because all of us have a one
more chance to live. The death penalty is unjust and morally wrong. When someone murders
someone else, the correct punishment is not to murder him or her, but to try and help them. The
fact that the criminal will not learn and does not have the ability to change his or her ways, but it
can be argued that every human is given one chance at life and their morality is their own choice.

President Rodrigo Duterte again threatened to go after establishments that pollute waterways
leading to Manila Bay, which is currently being rehabilitated by the government. Duterte had
threatened in January to close down establishments, particularly hotels that pollute Manila Bay.
He told them to "do something" about the waste that contaminate the bay. On Monday, the
President said that while the government still has a long way to go in its rehabilitation of Manila
Bay, they were "encouraged" by the test results of waters collected near Padre Faura –
considered one of the dirtiest parts of the bay. Duterte also took note of the relocation of informal
settlers, which he hopes can happen during his time as president.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources, which led the cleanup drive in Manila
Bay last January, already began the relocation of informal settlers in June with the help of the
Metro Manila Development Authority and the National Housing Authority. The Manila Bay
rehabilitation rides on the momentum of the 6-month rehabilitation of Boracay Island in 2018.
On Monday, Duterte said that Boracay was "restored close to its original pristine state" after its
temporary closure. Protecting what remains of these ecosystems is important to regional
development. Failing to do so would not only cause a decline in fisheries, but also deprive
coastal communities of ecosystem services such as mangroves as an adaptation measure to sea
level rise and saltwater intrusion. It is not only the environmental framework for rehabilitating
Manila Bay and other critical areas that needs to be changed, the existing socioeconomic policies
must also be modified to promote sustainable, inclusive growth that the country needs. Given the
current situation, reclamation and rehabilitation of Manila Bay simply do not complement one
another.

Corruption is defined as the abuse of entrusted power for personal or private gain. Corruption has
become so widespread that it is broken down into several categories, based on the sector in
which it occurs, and the amounts of money lost, or other damages it causes. Corruption has many
effects on society, costing people their hard-earned money, their freedom, their health, and
sometimes even their lives. There are examples of corruption those are the Police Corruption,
Judicial Corruption, Political Corruption and Government Corruption. Corruption is everywhere
in every department whether it hospitals, education, job, government offices, nothing is left of
corruption. Everything has become a business and the source of earning money in wrong way.
Educational institutions are also involved in the corruption and they give seat to those students
only who have paid for, whether they are good students with good marks or not. Very weak
students are given admission in the top colleges and universities only on the basis of money paid
for wrong admission and the topper student with good marks and lack of money gets back in the
life or take admission in any simple college.

We have forgotten the real responsibility of being a human just because of the money. We need
to understand that money is not everything and it is not a stable thing. We cannot keep it forever
to us, it can only give us greediness and corruption. We should give importance to the value
based life and not money. It is true that we need lot of money to live a common life however it is
not true that just for our selfishness. We need to use the money correctly.

Duterte commends Secretary Leonor Briones and the Department of Education for having over
27 million enrolled students from kinder to senior high school. Improvements in the national
education system are also seen in the Alternative Learning System for out-of-school youth and
adult learners. He also supports the creation of a National Academy for Sports. Education is
definitely important in one`s life. A gift of knowledge can bring us to the top of our dreams. It
leads us to the right path and gives us a chance to have a wonderful life. Education makes people
capable of doing new interesting things that can go a long way to improving human living
conditions and standards. Our whole life is the process of learning and gaining new useful
knowledge. We should always remember that getting a good education is imperative in today`s
society as it is a foundation of our successful future. Our education is really worth investment.
Only if you believe and work hard you can achieve anything.

The possible establishment of Department of Water Resources and a Water Regulatory

Commission is suggested by President Duterte. This is to come up with plans and regulations to
address the persisting issue of the water crisis. This is particularly true in Metro Manila since the
city is known for having water issues during the summer season. Because of this shortage of
water supply is prevented and better service is given to the public. Just months ago, I can still
recall the rotating water interruption in the entire metropolitan. The scenes of fire truck trying to
supply water from one barangay to another are all over town. As we all know, water supply is
scarce every summer season as brought about by the decrease in water level on dams. The low
level of water is happening because of the lack of rain to supply its content. Because of this
phenomena, people are forced to take a bath every other day or even every three days. At the
same time, diseases and other unfavorable consequences are also pouring. It is high time to solve
this type of case since it brings a lot of adverse effects in the lives of many people.

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. As a student in this my role is to
study well. Even in that way I am helping our country. This country really needs a high number
of educated Filipinos. So I will study hard and someday our country will be successful. Without
it, no one will judge the performance of our President. No one can co-correct if he did something
wrong. There is a purpose here in our country. But it is not to the point that sin can be treated as
physical harm. But the most important thing is that our government needs to fulfill their
responsibilities properly our president is really looking for a way to live our lives well in not
only the centers of our country but also in the provinces and rural areas. Let us pray that our
country will enjoy peace again not only with other races but with ourselves