Senator Panfilo Lacson revealed what he expects to hear from President Rodrigo Duterte’s last State of the Nation Address (SONA) next month.
“After five years, where are we now, or what is the situation in the many aspects of his administration such as peace and order, fight against illegal drugs, corruption, economy, and foreign policy, particularly the West Philippine Sea? We want to hear what happened in the last five years — and moving forward for the last year of his administration, what can still be done?” Lacson said.
“But it is critical to update us on the government’s response to the pandemic. This includes the status of the government’s vaccination program. This is important because many Filipinos still do not trust the vaccine. In the meantime, the government must continue its campaign to gain the people’s trust in vaccines, based on science,” he added.
In speeches made after his inauguration on June 30 of 2016, Duterte urged citizens to kill suspected criminals and drug addicts. He said he would order police to adopt a shoot-to-kill policy and offer them a bounty for dead suspects.
Lacson reveals his expectations from Duterte’s last SONA
In December 2020, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency reported that a total of 10,721 high-value targets had been arrested during President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs, which started in 2016.
PDEA added 266,126 drug suspects were arrested in the 183,525 anti-illegal drugs operations conducted since July 1, 2016.
The agency also noted that 5,942 suspected drug personalities were killed, which was way lower than local and international human rights groups claimed that around 27,000 people were killed under Duterte’s war on drugs.
PDEA also reported that 20,538 barangays were already cleared from illegal drugs, while 14,308 others are yet to be cleared. In addition, a total of 648 dens and clandestine laboratories have been dismantled, the agency added.
“To recap, what we need to hear from the President is what has been done in the last five years. Are we better off than when he stepped in as President on June 30, 2016?” Lacson added.
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