SENATOR Alan Peter Cayetano said Monday people believed that presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte could do what he promised in case he won in next year’s elections.
As a result, he said, Davao City Mayor Duterte had been reminding him and their other teammates not to “over-promise.”
“That’s why his instruction to me and the whole team is that let’s not over-promise, like the traffic, we can’t solve it overnight,” said Cayetano, Duterte’s running mate.
“Let’s not draw up a platform that we cannot do. So that any salary increase, any form of taxation that we want to change, not only will experts be involved, we’ll make sure it’s doable.”
But Cayetano said genuine reforms would involve peace and order 24/7 in Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao and the elimination of the illegal drug trade. He cited a 300-percent increase in the crime rate and the crime volume from 2012 to 2014.
He said the incidents of crime surged to 1,161,188 in 2014 from 217,812 in 2012. He said 92.1 percent of the villages in Metro Manila had been infiltrated by drugs.
Cayetano said an iron fist and a fearless application of the law were needed to solve these problems. The law enforcement agencies also needed cleansing.
But Cayetano said they were not suggesting extra-judicial killings or using vigilante justice.
He said Duterte’s message was clear: The government should not be afraid to use the law when that was called for.
“He’s not saying that we will go wild and if you are a suspect, you should be shot. That’s not the way it should be,” Cayetano said.
He said the tough-talking mayor only favored no mercy for criminals and other law violators.
He said the Duterte-Cayetano tandem would also work for an inclusive economy through regional development, and with emphasis on industry, agriculture and the promotion of micro, small and medium enterprises.
Cayetano said they would also shift from attending private meetings and events to town hall meetings starting this week.
“On Thursday, we‘ll have our first town-hall meetings and a two-day activity including courtesy calls to influential leaders of society,” Cayetano said.