Will Duterte regime be coronavirus's next victim after failing on 2 fronts

Even as failure has dogged the public health front, incompetence has marked the administration's response to the economic crisis triggered by the lockdown

In his fifth State of the Nation (SONA) address on July 27, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte tried to live up to his old form: by turns menacing, double-talking, cursing, dripping with cynical humor, digressing, and irreverent.

Instead he came across as uninspiring, unimaginative, and perhaps overwhelmed by the realization that a formula which might have worked in the pre-Covid-19 period — where his unorthodox gangster charm worked with millions frustrated by a malfunctioning democracy — no longer connected in these times of the coronavirus.

Instead of coming across as invincible, as in previous SONAs, Duterte offered the country the rare