AS if to illustrate what he meant when he spoke of the need for a catharsis in the nation’s public life during his fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Duterte on Friday unleashed the equivalent of a thunderbolt on the operations of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), to the surprise of both the agency and the nation.

The announcement was unusually released. It skirted the normal channel of presidential communications, via a briefing of the Malacañang press corps.