The research programs of the University of the Philippines Center for Integrative and Development Studies (UP CIDS) were formed to examine and evaluate current national policies along multidisciplinary themes, with the end goal of producing policy recommendations. In July 2019, the UP CIDS Program on Social and Political Change (PSPC), together with the Decolonial Studies Program (DSP), Islamic Studies Program (ISP), Program on Data Science for Public Policy (DSPP), Program on Escaping the Middle-Income Trap: Chains for Change (EMIT C4C), and Strategic Studies Program (SSP), convened to discuss pertinent issues and policy recommendations in the context of the policy thrust of President Rodrigo Dutertes administration as it approached its midterm. The UP CIDS Programs held a roundtable discussion five days prior to the fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Duterte in 2019. In this roundtable, a panel of scholars and policy experts reviewed selected aspects of the Duterte administrations performance from 2016 to 2019.