MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte’s fourth State of the Nation Address (Sona) consisted “mostly of make-believe narration” and “unfulfilled promises,” the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) said on Tuesday. “The President is still waging his war against illegal drugs, which the entire world has seen as nothing but a war against the poor. Instead of welcoming the independent examination, he called again for the Congress to reimpose the death penalty for drug suspects and plunderers,” the NUPL said. The group also took a swipe at several politicians “guilty of plunder” with some even attending the President’s Sona donned in “extravagant” outfits. “The courts have already found several politicians guilty of plunder, but we have yet to see them behind bars, with some in their extravagant barongs and Filipinianas, attending the SONA,” the NUPL said.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer July 23, 2019 02:15 UTC