SO FAR, presumptive president Rodrigo Roa Duterte has been getting positive responses from the public, especially the business community about what he will do when he assumes his post.
His call for reconciliation, healing political wounds and unity resonates with the nation. We have been divided by the Aquino administration in so many ways. I have always said that the nation cannot move forward and meet our worsening problems unless we are united.
The eight-point agenda enunciated by incoming Finance Secretary Carlos “Sonny” Dominguez has gained the support of the business community and even foreign institutions. This augurs well for the country. We must preserve the sound economic fundamentals achieved under BS Aquino and former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
But while I believe that Duterte’s critics need to support the new president, I maintain that his first year will be a rough ride.
He has vowed to end criminality, trafficking of illegal drugs, and corruption within three to six months. Are these even doable?
Many people like former Philippine National Police Chief and Senator Panfilo Lacson say this is impossible unless Duterte proclaims martial law or a revolutionary government. The big question now is, will he or won’t he?
Duterte’s plan to declare a smoking ban and a curfew for minors is laudable. But his promise to have criminals, illegal drug traffickers and corrupt public officials killed is easier said than done.
In my early years as a journalist, I covered the police beat in Manila, and I know that police chiefs worth their salt know who the members of syndicates are, and even where they live. At times, the police themselves get involved in crime. They tolerate them so long as these are not committed in their jurisdiction.
The proliferation of illegal drug laboratories and drug pushers within a community is another thing. According to crime statistics, within Metro Manila alone, over 95 percent of the barangays already have drug abusers and addicts. Nationwide, the number is at 65 percent. Santa Banana, that’s a big problem that cannot be resolved within 6 months or even a year!
The fact that the much-feared Mexican drug cartel, the Sinaloa, is already operating in the Philippines is a grave concern. The Philippines is already known as a transshipment point of drugs from West Africa to other countries. This is how deep-rooted the problem of illegal drugs is.
While Duterte’s focus is on the termination of illegal drug laboratories and trafficking, he must realize that it’s just half the problem. There’s also the rehabilitation of drug addicts to make them productive members of society.
I used to be vice president of DARE Foundation, and I know that the drug problem will continue to exist unless drug abusers get rehabilitated. The government cannot do it alone. Duterte must also have private business get into drug rehabilitation.
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Corruption? I cannot believe this problem can be solved in a short time. It is endemic in our system of government, like political patronage.
Santa Banana, Duterte must kill every politician in government and even those who contributed to his election. In one way or another, at some point in their lives, politicians get involved in graft and corruption. Many politicians I know have quit politics because of our kind of elections—money, indeed, is the bottomline.
Santa Banana, Duterte must have to kill everybody at Customs since even the security guards are corrupted. The police themselves who will follow the “kill” order of Duterte themselves have been corrupted, and so are top officials of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Duterte, having been a fiscal and a city mayor, must know this.
Graft and corruption can only be minimized by strict implementation of the law. It can never be eradicated. In China, those found guilty of corruption are executed—but corruption still exists there. Even Washington D.C. is not immune to corruption.
I can only mention Singapore as a nation-state free from corruption because the late Lee Kwan Yew and his successors had authoritarian powers.
So I ask again: Will Duterte proclaim martial law or a revolutionary government to deliver on his promises?
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Now comes Duterte promising four sensitive cabinet portfolios —Labor, Social Welfare, Agrarian Reform and Environment and Natural Resources—to communists. That is, if Joma Sison, his friend and former professor, the head of the communist insurgency movement who is in exile, makes peace with government.
Again, making peace with the communist insurgents is easier said than done. The communist movement is longer a monolithic group.
Over the years, past presidents also tried to make peace with Sison and Luis Jalandoni, to no avail. The communists come to the
negotiating table with blood on their hands. They also have conditions like the release of all political prisoners.
Santa Banana, if Duterte releases all political prisoners, how will the Armed Forces take it? The insurgents have killed so many of them in the government’s fight against insurgency.
Duterte must think it over; otherwise, he would invite a reaction from the Armed Forces that he may not expect. My gulay, can you imagine Sison and Jalandoni being members of the Duterte cabinet? The militants and leftists may sing “halleleuia,” but what about the military and the Catholic Church, and those who have become victims of the decades-old communist insurgency problem?
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The restoration of the death penalty is another thing. Duterte wants it revived —and the execution will be by hanging! He said this would be a warning to criminals. Statistics, however, have shown that death penalty has not deterred crime. Why does Duterte want a return to some kind of barbaric state?
And will Congress readily accept Duterte’s proposal? How about the Catholic Church which does not believe in the death penalty? Again, Duterte will be dividing the nation, forgetting his vow of uniting the people.
But, as I said earlier, I am willing to set aside my biases. After all, as I wrote, we are all in the same boat here.
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There are three incoming members of the Duterte cabinet I believe to be good choices. They are Carlos “Sonny” Dominguez as secretary of finance, Gibo Teodoro as secretary of national defense, and former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Perfecto Yasay as acting foreign secretary until Senator Alan Peter Cayetano can take over either as secretary of foreign affairs or justice when the one-year ban on his appointment is lifted.
In my book, these appointments are well-advised. I am a personal friend to all of them, and given their track records, I know they will do well.
Duterte cannot achieve change alone. The people’s expectations are very high.