Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte delivered his penultimate State of the Nation Address as the onslaught of COVID-19 pandemic continues. Instead of providing a concrete plan to address the rise and spread of the virus, he used the opportunity to attack his political enemies and reiterate his declaration of awar on many fronts.

The populist president vowed to fight this pandemic with the same fervour as our campaign against illegal drugs, criminality, insurgency, and corruption in high places and entrenched parochial interests.

Dutertes statement confirms his governments lack of focus on the pandemic. It was only after four months of thestrictest and longest lockdownsin the world that Dutertedeclaredthat the Philippines number one problem today is COVID. This declaration came after his government and political allies in Congress expended much of their energy passing a draconianAnti-Terrorism Lawand ending the franchise of the countrys largest broadcast networkABS-CBN._Rappler_news site CEO, Maria Ressa, and researcher Rey Santos were alsoconvictedfor cyber libel during this time.

While Duterte appears victorious in his assault against human rights and media freedom, his governments record fighting its self-declared war on many fronts over the past four years is spotty at best.

Duterte ascended to the presidency on a the people versus the corrupt elite narrative in 2016. He considers the closure of ABS-CBN a significantachievementin his administrations fight against the so-calledoligarchs. Since gaining power, Duterte has complained that he was wronged by the station during the election campaign andvowedto reject renewal of its franchise.

Among the oldest and wealthiest families in the Philippines, theLopez familys political powerhas waned throughout the latter part of the post-Marcos period. Its wealth has been overtaken by a new set of billionaires listed inFortune 500. The late dictator Ferdinand Marcos used the dismantling of the Lopez empire and the oligarchy as hisjustification for placing the country under martial law in 1972. He similarly shut down ABS-CBN and subsequently handed its sequestered equipment and property to one of his cronies. One presidents oligarch is anothers crony this has always been thesystemin the Philippines.

In his State of the Nation speech, Dutertelashed outagainst the countrys two leading telecommunication companies controlled by theAyala familyand billionaireManuel V Pangilinan. Complaints offaulty telecommunication and internet servicesare hot button issues across all socio-economic classes in the Philippines.

As Dutertes critics point out, his own set of cronies look just likean emerging oligarchy. An example is Davao-based businessman and Duterte campaign contributorDennis Uy. Uys China-backed Dito Telecommunity is making abig pushto break the telecom duopoly of Ayalas Globe Telecom and Pangilinans Smart Communication. Dito has also recently announced its intention to producedigital entertainment and other content.

Duterte vowed to continue hisbloody war on drugs. Despite causing thousands of deaths, thefailing campaignhas only seized 1 per cent of the total illegal drug supply in the country. He reiterated his desire to reimpose thedeath penaltyby lethal injection. His call strikes an odd note as the COVID-19 death count rises. Duterte has applied the sameiron fist approach to the public health crisis. Instead of mobilising epidemiologists, virologists and scientists, hes drawn insoldiers and police.Retired generalslead the inter-agency task force assigned to implement his COVID-19 national action plan.

His much-vaunted war on corruption is nothing more than mere rhetoric as the countrysanti-corruption scorescontinue to slide down in rankings published by international agencies. He hasfired and rehireda number of officials linked to corruption. Allegations ofmassive fraudin the state-run Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) amounting to 15 billion pesos (US$306 million) was exposed in a Senate hearing.

The strongman remains soft on China. In his public appearances, Duterte never fails to mention his special relationship with President Xi Jinping. He has pinned the nations COVID-19 recovery on the development of a Chinese vaccine and haspleadedto be on Chinas priority list for distribution.

Maintaining close ties with Beijing at a time when the international community is demandingaccountabilityis not without its Filipino critics. The Duterte government opted to downplay the countrys landmark arbitral victory in 2016 against Chinas territorial claims in the South China Sea in exchange forbilateral economic concessions. In his State of the Nation address, Duterteadmittedshamelessly to the nation that the Philippines has no option but to concede to Chinas geopolitical power. This defeatist statement drewharsh reactionsfrom other government officials and publicly.

As Duterte meanders through the COVID-19 crisis, the Philippines case numbers continue to rise there are now over 110,000 confirmed cases,far exceedingconfirmed case figures in China. It is poised to be the biggestCOVID-19 hotspotin Southeast Asia. Dutertes tone-deaf speech exposed the weakness of his approach, one that panders to the populist sentiments of his base constituency. A couple of days after his speech, Duterte reiterated hisadviceto use kerosene as a disinfectant for the coronavirus.

The pandemic has become an unfamiliar enemy for Duterte and hispopulist counterpartsaround the world. It is difficult to sustain a people versus the elite narrative against a viral and existential threat. One cannot merely discipline the virus, and people are afraid, hungry and dying.