DAVAO City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte will restore order and security in the country once he is elected president in this year’s elections, Senator Alan Peter Cayetano said Thursday.
“This is the top priority of the next government,” said Cayetano, Duterte’s running mate.
He said there is so much disorder and lack of security in the country today.
“People wake up telling themselves there is so much chaos. Crime, drugs and corruption. It’s a constant perturbation of the mind,” Cayetano said.
He said this was what he and Duterte would address first once they were elected.
“Mayor Duterte and I believe we need a strong developmental state to promote real inclusive growth through regional development,” Cayetano said.
“But we need to build first the suitable conditions by cracking down on crime, drugs and government corruption.”
Cayetano vowed to cleanse the police and military ranks of the corrupt, provide better salaries and incentives to law enforcers, and modernize their anti-crime and anti-narcotics infrastructure.
In an interview over dzMM radio on Wednesday, Cayetano promised safer streets in the country by January 2017.
“By Jan. 1, 2017, if the streets are still not safe, we will resign,” Cayetano said.
“If you go to Davao, those working in call centers are like in Singapore. You walk or ride a taxi and you are not scared that you might be robbed,” Cayetano said.
“We can guarantee peace and order within six months or we’re out.”
The senator also pushed for a “one national vision, 18 regional strategies” approach for the country to achieve inclusive growth. He and Mayor Duterte see federalism as the unifying framework to achieve this.
He said the government should respond to the needs of the poor and especially the elderly. He said the old and poor people should no longer line up in the health centers because the government should be delivering the health services to them.
“They do not owe the government. It’s the government who should show gratitude to them so the government goes to them,” Cayetano said.