A STAUNCH critic of President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday warned Malacañang not to belittle the 11-point drop in the public satisfaction with the government’s drug war as shown by the latest Social Weather Stations survey.
Rep. Gary Alejano, an opposition lawmaker who filed the first impeachment complaint against Duterte, said the Palace should not be complacent over the public’s “waning support” for the administration’s campaign against illegal drugs.
“Though still high, the ratings are an indication of the waning support of the people on Dutertes war on drugs,” Alejano told the Manila Standard in a text message.
“They are getting fed up and worried as can be shown in their sentiments where they wanted suspects taken alive and not killed, that they fear they or their friends could fall victims of [extra judicial killings].”
Alejano made his statement even as Senator Panfilo Lacson said the tactics being employed by the Duterte administrqtion in its war on illegal drugs were starting to reach their saturation point as far as the public was concerned.
He said while the overall strategy was still effective, it was time the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and the Philippine National Police made some adjustments in their tactical offensive.
“The summary killings by riding in tandem and other similar methods have become too predictable and the public have grown tired of hearing the same modus operandi over and over again,” said Lacson, the head of the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs.
While the government had proven much in its campaign against illegal drugs, Alejano said, “people want to hear more on the developmental policies, programs and projects being pursued by the Duterte administration rather than policies on killings, hatred, vengeance, persecutions and controversies.”
He said illegal drugs were not the Philippines’ only problems.
Presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella said the 11-point drop in the public’s satisfaction with the government’s drug war did not mean anything as 78 percent or a great majority of the Filipinos were satisfied with the government’s performance despite all the criticisms against it.
Meanwhile, Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles, a Duterte ally, said Time magazine’s “Most Influential People for 2017” was “the biggest affirmation that President Rodrigo Duterte was now the “People’s Leader” of the world.”
“With this latest feat, President Duterte also carried with him the entire Filipino nation in serving notice that the Philippines has arrived as a country that is looked upon to lead the community of nations towards a new global order,” Nograles said.
He appealed to the President’s critics to support him and his administration instead of criticizing without doing anything to address the country’s pressing problems. With Macon Ramos-Araneta