Ocbina, Hannah Isabela S. STEM 11 – Perla D.
Ocampo
SONA 2019: Reflection Paper
Our President Rodrigo Roa Duterte held his 4th State of the Nation Address or SONA this
past July 22, 2019. I did not have the opportunity to watch it on time because I was in school, so
what I did was I read some articles and watch some videos online about the summary, the main
topics and its main points. He tackled many things in his speech. He talked about his War on
Drugs, Philhealth, the need for improvement in agencies, Boracay rehabilitation, Corruption, the
issue about our stand on the West Philippine Sea and lastly, the Mandatory ROTC.
After reading and watching about President Duterte’s SONA. I was satisfied because he
discussed all the issues and problems that our country is facing right now and is doing some
actions on how to solve it. He said in his War on Drugs that he will not give it up and he will
fight for it until the las term of his career as a President. Next is the issue about the massive fraud
in Philhealth and because of this, he appointed a new Philhealth president that will do a great job
and has seen talents and skills as a new speaker which is Peter Alan Cayetano to help lessen the
corruption on the Philhealth organization. He also mentioned some agencies particularly the
LTO, SSS, BIR and PAG-IBIG. I think mentioned this for them to have a quick and efficient
services and for us Filipinos to know and be more convenient in their agencies. Next is about the
Boracay rehabilitation, I was very happy seeing some pictures online about how beautiful
Boracay is now. He stated that he also has a plan about the rehabilitation of Manila Bay and I
think that it’s a good step in protecting our nature and to be free from pollution. He also
emphasized the biggest problem in our government and in our society, Corruption. For me, this
is the hardest problem to eliminate in our country because our government officials should be the
ones to solve this problem but instead, they are the ones who are doing it and still people are
blinded by their wrongdoings but if people will open their eyes and vote for those who are
deserving and are good government officials then, maybe we can fight corruption. He mentioned
the latest and longest issue about our stand on the West Philippine Sea. President Duterte said
that we can talk and complain about it but it can mean trouble. He also said that for now he
cannot do anything because China claims possession on the territory. But for me, West
Philippine Sea is ours. We have the rights on it and they just can’t own it without showing real
and accurate proof. Our president isn’t that aggressive about the issue is because I think that he
doesn’t want any trouble that may lead to war because we are still not capable of fighting and we
do not have the equipment and population like China but I have this strong feeling that President
Duterte wants to fight for this issue but we just can’t. The next topic he tackled about is the
Mandatory ROTC. My opinion about this issue as a part of the youth. I think that it is good for us
to have discipline and help us to strengthen our nationality but it is also hard because some of us
does not have the capability to do hard and exhausting things.
I think that President Duterte’s last 3 terms would be more challenging and he will not
stop fighting for it until he finds solutions for it all. If I would rate it 1-100, I would rate it 90
because it is true that his speech contains good topics and he discussed all the issues clearly but
he still used foul words that people might find offensive and it is not good for young people like
me to hear those kind of words in a very formal address. I also want people to believe and trust
in our President because even though he is not perfect, he is still trying his best to protect and
make our country better.
