“Ano ba ito, ang gulo gulo, ang gulo gulo?

Ano ba ito, ang gulo gulo, ang gulo gulo?

Baliktad na ang mundo, baliktad na ang mundo…”

This protest song was just one of the many that were sung during the “People’s State of the Nation Address (SONA)” rally on July 24, but these lines could very well sum up the first year of President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration.

For those who joined the protest at Batasan Road, the world seems to have turned upside down from the last time they were there. A year ago, they did not even consider the demonstration as a protest. They were filled with a sense of hope and cautious optimism. And perhaps, rightly so.

Many of the sectors present were aligned with the militant Left, and were happy that the newly-elected president–a self-styled socialist–agreed with them on several key issues: ending labor contractualization, implementing genuine agrarian reform, regulating the mining industry, resisting new forms of American imperialism, and resuming peace talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF).

As a symbol of his outreach, President Duterte even appointed some prominent figures from the militant Left to his cabinet: Rafael Mariano as secretary of the Department of Agrarian Reform, Judy Taguiwalo as secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, and Liza Maza as lead convenor of the National Anti-Poverty Commission.

SONA 2016 was also the first time in recent history that a demonstration was held just a few hundred meters away from the Batasang Pambansa, where the president delivers his annual speech before a joint session of Congress. There were no effigies of the president to be burned, only banners bearing messages and symbols of peace.

A year later, anger, rather than hope, was the prevailing sentiment at Batasan Road.

For the protesters, this was justified. On key issues, Duterte’s bold pronouncements turned out to be “all talk.”

Labor contractualization persists. Gina Lopez, a staunch anti-mining advocate appointed to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, was rejected by a Commission on Appointments (CA) packed with the president’s Congressional allies. The late dictator Ferdinand Marcos is now buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani. Martial law has been declared in Mindanao.

And just a few days prior to SONA 2017, Duterte ended peace talks with the CPP-NPA-NDF after an encounter in North Cotabato between the NPA and the Presidential Security Group injured four of the president’s security detail.

Unsurprisingly, Mariano, Taguiwalo, and Maza were also at the demonstration. They even spoke at the stage minutes before the president spoke, albeit in a more conciliatory tone.

“Kami po ay narito upang kongkretong ipahayag, i-express ang aming pakikiisa sa mga lehitimo at makatarungang panawagan ng magsasaka at mamamayan (We are here to concretely express our solidarity with the legitimate and just call of the farmers and citizens),” Mariano said.

“Umasa kayo na mananatili niyo kaming kaisa (Rest assured that we are one with you),” he added.

The protesters paused the program to listen to the president’s speech. “Kayong mga Left, I will not talk to you. Why should I?” Around halfway through the speech, they decided they had enough of Duterte.

The organizers asked the people to come closer to the stage with their banners and flags. Two large effigies of the president–one depicting him as a two-faced dictator and the other as a pet of the United States and the military–were being prepared to be burned.

Vencer Crisostomo, the firebrand chairperson of Anakbayan, took to the stage and pumped up the rhetoric not just against Duterte, but to those gathered inside the Batasan. “Nandito ‘yung mga hanggang ngayon gutom, walang bahay, walang trabaho, hirap ang buhay dahil sa mga patakaran ninyong bulok! (Here are the people who until now are hungry, homeless, jobless, struggling in life because of your rotten policies!)”

“Nandito ang tunay na state of the nation. Kayong mga walang kuwenta, magsiuwi na kayo!(Here is the true state of the nation. Those of you who are useless, go home!)”

The crowd at Batasan Road slowly began to thin after Crisostomo’s speech as night fell and rain started pouring. The two huge effigies were never burned. But for those who remained, the night was not yet over.

Those who remained were in for a surprise when Duterte himself took to the protest stage surrounded by his barong-clad aides. He scolded the protesters for the supposed attempt made on his life. “Continue the peace talks, is that what you want? But you attempted to ambush me. If I were there, you would have killed me.”

“Now, what do you want, respect me or not? If you will not respect me, that’s what I’ll give you,” he said.

Unsatisfied with the president’s explanation on extending martial law in Mindanao and his non-committal answer in continuing the peace talks, the crowd continued to chant as the president left.

The remaining Lumad, whose schools the president had threatened to bomb earlier in the day because of their supposed role in “teaching subversion” and “communism,” looked in utter disbelief.

Nevertheless, the leaders of the protest claimed victory, saying this was the first time a president faced protesters after a SONA.

What does this mean? In the days following the North Cotabato encounter and the SONA, Duterte engaged in a public word war with his former professor and CPP founder Joma Sison.

“I dare you, as a leader of the Communist Party, I dare you, come home and fight your war here,” Duterte challenged Sison, who has been in exile in the Netherlands since 1987.

Despite the fiery rhetoric, it is unclear whether this would indeed escalate to another full-blown war with the NPA. But it is apparent that the tenuous alliance between the administration and militant Left is beginning to unravel. On August 16, Taguiwalo’s appointment was rejected by the CA, much to the dismay of some senators. Mariano’s appointment hangs in the balance as well.

Politically speaking, it seems the militant Left is first one that got left behind in the strange and delicate coalition formed after Duterte’s election. Does this mean that the sectors and the issues they are fighting for also gets left behind?