On the State of the Nation, 2018

tl;dr This country has been batshit, thanks for asking

There used to be a time when the State of the Nation Address season brought more work to our tables, as it was time for the President’s reckoning of sorts: It was time to assess the President’s performance based on the previous year’s promises delivered during the SONA.

That approach used to work, or so it seemed to me, considering that in the past, the presidents could at least be held to their word. And so that was what we did. Who would’ve thought those would be good times?

#SONA2015 Bingo card. This card lost, btw.

This administration single-handedly broke my brain. It gaslit me on a regular basis, and gave me whiplash. Its words, much less its promises, meant very very little. Promises given are taken back or broken altogether. Sometimes, it likes saying it made no promises at all.

It drove me insane, quite literally.

Considering this, I’m all for new ways of evaluating how this government has done by us, in addition to tracking its performance via promises. A few things from around the Internet:

This monitoring of the President’s appointees:

In, out, in: Select Duterte execs get new lease on official life

This update of the President’s public appearances and travels:

Duterte made fewer public appearances, fewer trips abroad in 2018

An interactive list of people that the President has insulted:

The Duterte Insult List

Exits and reappointments under this administration:

'A whiff of corruption, you're out': Notable Duterte admin exits and reappointments

While it is tempting to just tune out what the President has to say for this year, perhaps now’s not the best time to. In any case, here are some places to watch the livestream of this afternoon’s State of the Nation Address:

• Inquirer
• Rappler
• ABS-CBN

Call to action

I send a newsletter out on Sundays, where I talk about news, Netflix, music, and stuff I see around the Internet. If that’s your thing, sign up here: The Last Girl 2.0.