President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) last Monday, July 25, 2016 provided an initial official view of his Administration’s priorities.  As expected, he focused on the campaign against illegal drugs, and also against human traffickers and illegal recruiters.  Along the way, he again issued statements that raised concerns among human rights advocates; saying, for example, “Kayo namang hindi pa bungog diyan … kung ayaw ninyong mamatay, ayaw ninyong masaktan, huwag kayong umasa diyan sa mga pari, pati sa Human Rights (Commission), hindi nakakapigil yan ng kamatayan.  So huwag ninyong gawin”.  (Those of you who are not yet into drugs, if you don’t want to die, if you don’t want to get hurt, don’t depend on the priests and Human Rights (Commission), they cannot deter death. So don’t do it.)

Declaring that he is for the comfort and welfare of Filipinos, President Duterte promised actions that would cut the waiting time and make transactions with government easier, solve the traffic problem, decongest the airports and improve the train service.  He also pushed strongly for peace, declaring a unilateral ceasefire with the communist rebels and asking Congress to approve the Bangsamoro Basic Law (although without “the constitutional issues that are contentious”).

He vowed a clean government, and proudly said that he beat Congress by already signing an Executive Order on Freedom of Information.  He reiterated his support for federalism, announcing that he has asked the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) to lead a nationwide information campaign on federalism.

President Duterte also declared that his Administration would fight illegal logging and illegal mining, and would ensure the strict observance of environmental laws.  He asked all agencies and local government units to fully implement the Magna Carta of Women.

However, a big missing piece in the President’s SONA is his Administration’s program to effectively address poverty and inequality – which have persistently plagued our society despite more than a decade of continuous and impressive economic growth.

President Duterte proclaimed that his Administration “shall implement a human approach to development and governance, as we improve our people’s welfare in the areas of health, education, adequate food and housing, environmental preservation, and respect for culture”.  He also said that the government will improve its social protection programs, including the conditional cash transfer program.

However, his development programs still focus on “business as usual” measures such as improved urban and rural infrastructure, enhanced ease of doing business and the removal of restrictions on investments.  Most of these are needed, but they are clearly not enough to pull up the country’s poor families.

The President’s SONA, and even his 10-point socio-economic agenda, does not include the fast-tracking and improvement of the asset reform programs, particularly agrarian reform, ancestral domain, access of small fishers to fishing waters and housing and urban land reform.  This is doubly unfortunate as it continues years of neglect of programs that would directly address the issue of inequality. An assessment of the 2011-16 Philippine Development Plan (PDP) done by the Caucus of Development NGO Networks (CODE-NGO) and partner organizations in late 2015 to early 2016 reviewed the government’s performance in eight thematic areas.  The assessment showed that the Aquino government’s principal weak performance area was asset reform.

The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) managed to distribute less than half of the 818,390 hectares it targeted for 2011-16.  President Duterte told indigenous peoples in his SONA that “Government has given you the tool, the legal tool to improve yourself financially, economically and socially. Make use of your ancestral domain. Do not let it remain idle”.   However, records show that while 155 Certificates of Ancestral Domain Title (CADTs) were approved by previous administrations, only 25 CADTs were approved during the Aquino Administration as of mid-2015, and only one of these was actually awarded.  While many of the housing targets of the 2011-16 PDP were met, most of these housing projects were still focused on distant resettlement, rather than on in-city and near-city housing, which have been proven to be more effective.

The nearest that the 10-point agenda of the Duterte Administration comes to asset reform is to “ensure security of land tenure to encourage investments, and (to) address bottlenecks in land management and titling agencies”.  However, this seems more intent on securing land tenure for big time investors and corporations rather than for poor farmers and indigenous peoples.

Some signs of hope are President Duterte’s SONA statements that small fisherfolk must have priority in “entitlement” in Laguna Lake and that there will be “no demolitions (of informal settlements) without relocations”.   It is also noteworthy that he has appointed Rafael Mariano, a long-time farmer leader, as Agrarian Reform Secretary.  However, the success of agrarian reform and other asset reform programs is not dependent on one agency alone, but on many other agencies involved in providing support services and performing related functions.  The development framework and actions of Duterte’s economic team – who led the formulation of Duterte’s socio-economic agenda – will greatly affect the asset reform programs in the next six years.

The 10-point agenda includes “promot(ing) rural and value chain development toward increasing agricultural and rural enterprise productivity and rural tourism”.  This is important since poverty in rural areas and in regions far from Metro Manila is more pronounced, but the development of agricultural and rural enterprises will make a significant dent on poverty only if it is based on successful asset reform programs for farmers, fishers and indigenous peoples, and if they have a significant role in this development through their people’s organizations and cooperatives.  Without these, only a few wealthy investors, entrepreneurs and traders will enjoy the gains from these enterprises.

People’s participation is crucial for a “human approach to development and governance”.  This vital component is also missing in President Duterte’s SONA.  The Bottom Up Budgeting (BUB) program started in 2012 was an important advancement towards a people-centered approach to development and governance.  It would be a big step backward if BUB is scrapped by the Duterte Administration.

Sixto Donato C. Macasaet is the Executive Director of CODE-NGO.