LIKE a teacher pointing out the mistakes of his student, former President Fidel V. Ramos on Wednesday berated President Rodrigo Duterte for the “fiascos” that the Chief Executive has committed more than six months into the presidency.
During the launch of his new book, Ramos, Duterte’s mentor and top critic, enumerated some of the decisions that Duterte shouldn’t have made.
Topping his list of the so-called “fiascos” were Duterte’s decision to assign the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency to take the lead in the fight against the illegal drug menace instead of the police.
Ramos likewise scored Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, who is leading the government’s negotiating table for the termination of the peace talks with communist rebels.
“Bakit niyo binubugbog ang mga komunista? Hindi ba dapat nililigawan niyo sila,” (Why are you ganging up on the communists? Aren’t you suppose to woo them?” the former president said.
Ramos likewise opposed Duterte’s plan to reassign erring policemen to Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, which he described as “places of honor.”
The former leader was also opposed to Duterte’s plan to revive the Philippine Constabulary as it has already performed its mission and is no longer needed in the current Philippine setting.
“The things that are no longer practical must be discarded,” Ramos said. “The PC has already finished its mission in this country.”
Ramos had earlier advised an “insecure” Duterte to avoid making decisions, particularly on policies and security without first consulting his Cabinet members.
“A lot of these fears being generated by him is because he is afraid of fear or he is not secured. He is insecure. Pardon me for saying this, Mr. President Duterte, you must be at peace with yourself, do not talk about dying soon or being killed or not caring about your life,” Ramos said in an interview with online news portal Rappler.
“You must preserve your life, you have a lot of things to do and people will support you. We don’t want the president to be just disposed of like that. You are elected for six years, you fulfill it,” he added.
The former leader likewise expressed concern after observing Duterte making policy pronouncements without the knowledge of people around him, and urged Duterte to make proper use of government mechanisms at hand.
