VERA Files
President Rodrigo Duterte’s self-imposed deadline to eradicate illegal drugs and reduce criminality “within three to six months” has long passed, and Congress has yet to respond to his constant plea for the revival of the death penalty against drug-related crimes.
The Philippine economy is slowly recovering after the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic crippled various businesses and grounded Filipino workers in their homes due to community quarantine restrictions imposed since mid-March 2020.
President Rodrigo Duterte expressed hope “to see concerted efforts in protecting the environment” in his penultimate State of the Nation Address in 2020. A year later, his hope remains a dream as bills on disaster mitigation, administration of Boracay’s rehabilitation, and resource management are stalled in Congress.
Find out what President Duterte has achieved — and what he did not — in our 2020 SONA Promise Tracker.
Of the seven remaining priority bills on social services mentioned by President Rodrigo Duterte in his previous State of the Nation Addresses, not a single one has been passed by Congress.
During his 2017 State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Rodrigo Duterte promised to usher in a “golden age of infrastructure” to spur development in the country through his “ambitious” Build, Build, Build (BBB) program.
The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) reported on July 7 that P16.24 billion had been released to local government units for various projects in barangays which had been “cleared” of insurgency.
In his 2020 State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Rodrigo Duterte asked Congress to prioritize the approval of a bill that will provide a unified system of separation, retirement, and pension for the military and uniformed personnel (MUP).
Ending corruption in three to six months is one of President Rodrigo Duterte’s most well known promises. After five years in office, Duterte, during a Feb. 24 pre-recorded Meeting on COVID-19 with cabinet members, admitted that fulfilling this vow was “impossible.”
In his State of the Nation Addresses (SONAs) since 2016, President Rodrigo Duterte has only made seven promises related to media: five on state-controlled media, one concerning access to information and one addressing media killings.