"Back when I decided to answer your call to run for higher office, never did I imagine that my presidency would not only be judged on how I made good on my promises to fight drugs, criminality and corruption but how well I led my nation during the global pandemic," he said in his sixth and last State of the Nation Address.He said the pandemic rolled back economic gains made in the first three years of his term.
Health officials are now scrambling to contain the spread of the highly infectious Delta variant, which data experts warn could be fuelling a spike in cases in Metro Manila. He said that he was not inclined to fall back into rolling lockdowns"lest our economy bleeds to the point of irreversible damage".
He conceded that he fell short on delivering on his promises to rid the Philippines of the drug menace and to end corruption.