Dasol Catholic School inc.

DD

REACTION SONA DEATH PENALTY (2019)

Name: Bernadeth A. Montes Date: July 30, 2019

Gender: Female

Introduction

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte delivered his 4th State of the Nation Address

(SONA) last, July 22,2019, at Batasan Pambansa at Quezon city. Supposedly the SONA

should have begun at exactly 4:00 in the afternoon. But due to unfavorable weather condition,

the presidential chopper was not able to fly at the designated time and thus, the SONA begun

at 5:15 in the afternoon which is more than an hour late as compare to an original plotted

schedule. As the father of the nation, president Duterte delivered his SONA, highlighting the

accomplishments of his administration for the past year and proposing the changes that he

would still want to pursue in the coming years. Based on the SONA, one thing that I realized

is that I take a village to build a better community. Hand in hand if people from the

government and laypeople will do a collaborative effort, nothing is impossible .

Together, we shall rise at the pedestal.

MANILA, Philippines- President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday, July 22, asked the
Congress to reinstate death penalty for “heinous crimes related to illegal drugs and plunder.”

The reimposition of the death penalty was the first priority legislative measure he mentioned
in his 4th State of the Nation Address (SONA) before a joint session of Congress.

Before he made his call, he lighted how illegal drugs kept by terrorist in Marawi had led to

military action on May 23, 2017 that developed into a 5- month slege between state forces

and extremists.

“It pains me to say that we have not learned our lesson. The illegal drug problem persists,”

said Duterte. The President has pushed for the reinstatement of the of the death penalty since

he was a 2016 presidential candidate. He had called for capital punishment also I his second

SONA 2017. Among his disciples and most trusted aides, former police chief Ronald dela

Rosa, won in the 2019 senatorial elections with a single campaign promise: bringing back the

death penalty for the drug traffickers. The House of Representatives, in the 16th Congress,

had passed a death penalty measure for drug-related crimes.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III said earlier on Monday that death penalty ill would

be among the first measures to be debated in the Senate in the 18th Congress. Sotto said, that

limiting the reimposition of capital punishment to high-level drug traffickers stood a better

chance of passage in the Senate than other versions.