Kapamilya star Nadine Lustre posted the photo of a hand-painted statement as President Rodrigo Duterte delivered his fifth State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 27.
On Instagram, Lustre shared a photo that bore the words: “Pagbabago, hindi abuso. Pagkakaisa, ‘wag mang-isa. Hawak kamay, ‘wag hugas kamay.”
“I’m a Filipino and I stand for my country. We deserve better!” she declared.
Lustre captioned the photo with “Nakikiisa sa bayan na lumalaban” with the hashtags #ItoAngSONAko and #SONAgkaisa.
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With her hashtags, the actress seemed to be joining the SONA online protests together with the netizens in spreading awareness to all people about how poorly the government is handling the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nadine wanted the people to know that the Philippines deserves a better government and even a better president in serving the Filipino people. Through her post, the actress showed that she is not satisfied with the way Duterte is governing the country.
She hinted that she wanted a leader who will make a positive change to the country. That instead of abusing one’s power, he will genuinely care for the well-being of the people and that a leader who can unify the people despite their differences and not tear them apart.
Many people believed that Nadine was pertaining to how Pres. Rodrigo Duterte abused his power recalling the president’s brutal War on Drugs ‘Oplan Tokhang’. The movement involves officers going door to door to root out drug-related offenders, which also taken the lives of innocent bystanders.
Officially, the Philippine National Police admit that 6,500 people have been killed by officers in operations related to the drug war since the launch of the policy. Rights groups, however, argue that the scale of the killings may be much larger.
Duterte’s SONA saw protests take place online and offline in various parts of the country. For instance, artists and celebrities took part in the online concert “Tinig ng Bayan”.
Tinig ng Bayan: SONAgkaisa Concert, was a concert for the benefit of Project Paghilom, which supports families left behind by the victims of the war on drugs.
Frankie Pangilinan, Ebe Dancel, Iza Calzado, and a host of other musicians and artists came together to raise their voices in a concert that ran parallel to Duterte’s State of the Nation Address on Monday, July 27.
Kapamilya artists Maja Salvador, Julia Barretto, and Gerald Anderson also joined the SONA online protest by posting separate messages expressing support for their home network, which has been forced to retrench thousands of workers after its free-TV and radio broadcast were forced to stop its operations by congress.
They each mentioned Kapamilya workers who have lost their livelihood because of the shutdown, amid the coronavirus crisis which has caused widescale unemployment.
Lustre is one of the many celebrities who have spoken up about current issues.
Earlier, she broke her silence by taking a stand with her fellow ABS-CBN artists and staff days after Congress denied the application for franchise renewal.
She posted a series of messages on her Instagram stories explaining how she shares the sorrow of all the ABS-CBN employees who lost their jobs due to the network’s shutdown amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
She assured that she stands with the Filipino people in grieving for the media giant’s shutdown and that she will continue to pray for the nation’s well-being.
“Gaya ninyo, [K]apamilya din ako. Gaya ninyo, natatakot ako sa mga nangyayari, Gaya ninyo, nalungkot din ako para sa 11,000+ na taong nawalan ng trabaho. Gaya ninyo, umiiyak ako para sa sariling bansa,” she added. “Dahil gaya ninyo, Pilipino din ako.” she said.
“Kasama ako sa laban na ito. Patuloy na tumutulong at nagdadasal sa kabila ng pagluluksa,” she added.
The actress also hopes that instead of the Filipinos being divided, we should instead pay attention to subjects that deserve to be focused on.
“Sana ay ibaling natin ang attention sa bagay na nararapat na tuunan ng pansin. Pakiusap, huwag tayong magaway away at maghati,” Lustre added. “Wala na tayong oras.”
