MANILA – Peace and order and poverty reduction will be among the issues President Rodrigo Duterte will discuss in his fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 22.
Cabinet secretary Karlo Nograles said Duterte has started drafting his fourth SONA that will focus on sustaining economic growth and lifting more Filipinos out of poverty.
“Now we’re moving towards malasakit, so you’ll see more of our poverty reduction programs at ‘yan ang magiging direksyon natin sa last three years,” Nograles said.
“‘Yung peace and order program will still be obviously the focus but sustaining the growth, patuloy na pagbabago, sustaining what is already accomplished will be the highlight,” he added.
Communications secretary Martin Andanar said Duterte aims to ramp up socioeconomic initiatives particularly infrastructure development and peace and order to mitigate extreme poverty.
“Itong lahat pong ito ay asahan niyong tututukan ng gobyerno,” Andanar said. “The last
three years will be about: first, protecting the Duterte legacy na nagawa na po ng mga nakaraang taon. Secondly, building the final Duterte legacy.”
Earlier this year, Duterte signed into law the Magna Carta of the Poor and the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or the government’s national poverty reduction strategy.
Some 9.5-million Filipino families or a record low 38-percent considered themselves poor as of the first quarter of 2019, based on the latest Social Weather Stations survey./PN
