The President’s love affair with China continues, and his defeatist attitude towards our inability to go to war all but seals his failure to protect our sovereignty. Yes, we do not have to go to war, but why should it ever come to that? The fear of war is a smokescreen to the President’s inability to uphold a ruling handed at The Hague.

The West Philippine Sea is, indeed, a complex and difficult issue. Surely any President would, and should, be careful in dealing with the precarious circumstances. Recognizing the delicate nature of diplomacy, the President should also be careful with his words and not just surrender our territory and relinquish possession of our rights. Let us be reminded that our victory at The Hague gives us the support of the global community; there are numerous peaceful means of settling international disputes at our disposal. To jump to the conclusion that war would be our only option is a short-sighted view of our ability to work with our global partners; we must continue to act with composure, integrity, and cultural adaptability.

However, there is not the same fear to call a war against our own citizens, as four years of this administration has been characterized by the war on all fronts. The War on Drugs, with thousands dead through EJK, is a war being raged four years later. It looks like the only winners in this ongoing war are the drug lords that use their mules as scapegoats. If history is written by the victors, what will they say? That the defeated were the poor and the defenseless, the unwilling victims of drug abuse? Now, instead of calling for a ceasefire, we continue with our blind fascination of fear-mongering with a War on Terror.

The Anti-Terror Law is now being used as a weapon to legitimize abuse, not only against terrorists but against our own peace-loving people. How many more must die to the already tens of thousands murdered without due process? We cannot also forget the number of lives unnecessarily lost in yet another failed war, this time against COVID-19. How many more will be lost in the continuation of their “living experiment of Metro Manila”? Now, as if there hasn’t been enough blood on our streets, there is a call for the reimposition of the Death Penalty. Rather than justifying our desire to wipe out the victims, why not instead push for a fair and equal justice system, one that acknowledges our own societal ills? The last thing we need is more death, more war. The President claims to be a casualty of war, a casualty of ABS-CBN, but the truth is, after four years, the biggest casualty of this Administration is the Filipino People.

Today marks the fifth time President Duterte will speak on the state of our nation. What should we expect? Another attempt to portray our leadership’s response to the ongoing pandemic as heroic? Will we, once again, listen to vague aspirations of a change yet to come?

With less than 2 years remaining of this presidency, the promises made in 2016 are nowhere in sight. All that is left are jokes; with the selective application of the law being the biggest joke of all. We cannot keep hearing new promises made but must start acknowledging how many promises have not been kept.

In addressing the state of our nation, concrete plans for COVID-19 should be the number one priority of the President; a fully-detailed and implementable policy addressing health and economic revival, rather than a reliance on magic, yet to be realized vaccine. This narrative that “no one is prepared for a pandemic” is contradicted by the strong leadership of Vietnam, Thailand, and New Zealand, who have all declared victory over the virus in their respective countries.

We’ve been asked to be patient and, four months later, our goodwill and patience have allowed complacency. Dissent to the current priorities have been labeled as terrorism and the desire to slowly open up our economy has been characterized as a lack of discipline. While other countries focus on debt relief, loans to small businesses, and grants to self-employed individuals, we have only been able to approve 15% of those who have looked to our government for help. With each local business that has been forced to close it’s doors, we have not seen assistance or accountability, we have only seen deflection and backpedaling.

If there is one thing that our leader must reassure our country on, it is the job and food security during the continuation of the world’s longest lockdown. We cannot begin “heal as one” when the wounds of the Filipino are not being tended to. The prioritization of the Anti-Terror Law, ABS-CBN shut down, and now recently Charter Change are not policies that will put food on the table. Our leadership must concentrate on a united effort on what matters most to Juan dela Cruz. Otherwise, he will not wake up to the dream painted back in 2016, but rather a nightmare.