President Rodrigo Duterte opened his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday, July 25, with a statement saying that he will not play the finger-pointing game.
“We cannot move forward if we allow the past to pull us back. Finger-pointing is not the way,” Duterte said.
He added, “This is why I will not waste precious time on dwelling on the sins of the past or blaming those who are perceived to be responsible of the mess that we are in and suffering from.”
But while he said that the country must focus on what today and tomorrow can offer and looking back at the past should only be done to learn a lesson from our mistakes, Duterte said that those who do wrong will be punished.
“Lest I be misunderstood, let me say clearly that those who betray the people’s trust shall not go unpunished and they will have their day in court,” Duterte said.
Duterte’s ‘move forward’ statement was quickly quoted by netizens, making it out as a ‘hugot’ line for people with romantic woes.
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Apparently, one of those who were quick to quote Duterte and tweet about it was former Senator Bongbong Marcos, or at least the admin of his verified Twitter account.
“We cannot move forward if we allow the past to pull us back. Finger pointing is not the way,” – Pres. Rody Duterte #SONA2016
— Bongbong Marcos (@bongbongmarcos) July 25, 2016
As of writing, Marcos’s tweet has received 2,354 retweets and 3,338 likes. It has also gained mixed reactions, mostly bashing him with Martial Law references.
Some Twitter users said that they sort of expected that Marcos would tweet about this.
One Twitter user commented about one Martial Law victim, while others talked about the Marcoses’ ill-gotten wealth.
There were also those who asked if Marcos has applied the meaning of the quote to his attitude towards the result of the May 9 elections.
On July 14, Marcos’ son, Sandro Marcos, was also bashed on Twitter with Martial Law references. He trended for a few hours on Twitter after a publicity company announced that 12 girls could win a date with Sandro by sending their best selfie with the hashtag #WinADateWithSandro. But anti-Marcos sentiments caused the event to bomb, canceling the date and forcing Sandro to deny that he was even involved in the first place.
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