IT was once said of the accident-prone US President Gerald Ford that he couldn’t walk and chew gum at the same time. The quote is a sanitized version of what US President Lyndon Johnson really said about Ford, but the idea was the same—unfairly characterizing him as someone who was so dim-witted and clumsy that he could not do two things at the same time.
Today, a third of the way through his first 100 days in office, President Rodrigo Duterte needs to demonstrate that he can, as it were, chew gum and walk at the same time.
So far, he has proved he can mount an aggressive anti-drug campaign nationwide, which he promised during the campaign. While human rights groups denounce the growing bodycount of suspected drug dealers, there is no doubt about this President’s ability and determination to prosecute this war.
But Mr. Duterte has many other balls in the air—and he and his Cabinet need to assure the public this early that they can catch them deftly, and not allow them to fall to the ground.
For example, the President has made significant overtures to communist rebels, but has allowed a single incident—and ambush on a group of militiamen in Davao del Norte—to cast a shadow on the coming peace talks.
The President has also initiated a campaign to shift the country’s form of government, from a unitary presidential system, to a federal parliamentary system. These efforts, however, have been slowed down by his abrupt change of heart to pursue Charter change through Congress, sitting as a constituent assembly, rather than his original proposal to hold a constitutional convention with elected delegates.
Finally, the President has said all the right things about restoring the concept of public service and the need to focus on improving the lives of ordinary Filipinos, who have had to put up with years of high taxes, corrupt and inefficient bureaucrats, dilapidated commuter trains and airports, poor and expensive telecommunications services, and unspeakable traffic congestion.
But saying and doing are two different things altogether, and the Cabinet secretaries who must address these problems have been largely silent on how they plan to translate the President’s words into action.
For example, anyone who drives knows what a mess the Land Transportation Office is. In fact, Mr. Duterte himself has identified the LTO as one of three of the most corrupt government agencies. Yet we have not heard from Duterte’s new LTO chief how he plans to solve the huge backlog in drivers licenses and license plates—some of them years delayed—that the Aquino administration delinquently allowed to pile up.
As the Duterte administration approaches the halfway mark of its first 100 days, it’s time to show the public that the wheels are all turning—and that this President can do more than one thing at a time and do each thing well.