ONE of the highlights in President Rodrigo Digong Dutertes fifth State of the Nation Address (SONA) was his proposal to Congress to revive the death penalty through lethal injection.

The death penalty law was passed during the term of President Fidel Ramos, but was scrapped by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who gave in to pressure from the Catholic Church.

The death penalty could decrease the commission of heinous crimes.

Digong said drug offenses would be covered by his proposed death penalty.

But how about rape with homicide, rape of a minor, murder, robbery with homicide and large-scale estafa?

How about law enforcers who commit grave offenses using their badges as a shield? Among the serious crimes by law enforcers is planting evidence on innocent citizens.

How about government officials who coddle big-time criminals?

The above-cited offenses should have been included by Digong as punishable by lethal injection.

If Congress considers the Presidents proposal to restore the death penalty, it should include the other heinous crimes mentioned above.

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Congress should not listen to bleeding hearts like Amnesty International since they refuse to see the real crime situation in the Philippines.

Bleeding hearts were not able to stop the death penalty in many countries, including some states in the United States.

Why should they stop our country from restoring the death penalty?

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I was expecting the President to announce the discovery by Filipino doctors of a cure for seriously ill coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) patients in the SONA.

The citizenry, cowering in fear of the dreaded illness, would have appreciated the Presidents speech more if he had included the medical breakthrough.

The medical breakthrough was announced by Palace spokesman Harry Roque Jr. in a virtual press conference in Malacaang several days before the SONA.

However, the story was buried in the inside pages of major newspapers, a treatment it did not deserve.

The discovery of the cure for Covid-19 was made by scientists at The Medical City hospital through its Institute of Molecular Medicine stem cell program.

Stem cells taken from the blood of preserved umbilical cords worked their magic on six patients about to be intubated through intravenous injections.

I wrote about the medical breakthrough in my column last Tuesday, July 28.

For those who missed that column, you may want to read it at the Manilatimes.net.

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A big supply of umbilical cords would bring down the cost of the stem cell therapy for Covid-19.

Tens of thousands of women give birth in the country and the umbilical cords of the newborns are thrown away.

The possible sources of umbilical cords are government hospitals and paanakan (maternity) centers.

The Philippines is a big manufacturer of babies.

Proof is that for a small country, our population has ballooned to 110 million.

To digress, I was a medical representative (detailman) in 1973 and one of the hospitals in Metro Manila that I was assigned to cover was the Fabella Memorial Hospital, a maternity hospital, in Sta. Cruz, Manila.

As I was fixing the promotional medicines I would give to some doctors at Fabella, I heard the screams of pain by a woman about to give birth at the delivery room.

Armando, Armando! P****g i*a mo! the woman was shouting, apparently referring to her husband.

I heard the nurse or midwife tell the woman, Tumigil ka nga diyan! Huwag mong sisihin ang asawa mo. Taun-taon nandito ka (Shut up! Dont blame your husband. Youre here every year).

See what I mean by the country being a manufacturing center of babies?

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Another highlight of the Presidents SONA was his plan to establish the Coconut Farmers Trust Fund.

That part of Digongs speech was near to my heart as I come from Davao Oriental, a province where the main livelihood of the people is harvesting coconuts and turning them into copra.

Coconut farmers are the poorest in the country.

It was not so before, say, in the 1960s, when the price of copra was very high and coconut farmers in my hometown Manay could send their children to very good schools in Davao City and elsewhere.

But the price of copra in the world market is now very low and Filipino coconut farmers have become impoverished as a result.

However, the dying coconut industry might soon come to life again and the farmers could be rich once more.

An American friend of mine, Matt Grecsec, has invented a machine that converts coconut husk into hardwood for construction materials.

Grecsec, whos from Florida and married to a Filipina, has been coming to the Philippines looking for a place to set up his plant to make hardwood out of coconut husk.

Coconut husk is thrown away by farmers who make copra.

Grecsec has been meeting with Agriculture Secretary William Dar who has expressed enthusiasm for his project.

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Digong forgot to mention the cure for Covid-19 The Manila Times - The Manila Times