Two years after Rodrigo Duterte assumed the presidency, it might be wise for his top advisers to go back to the drawing board and reassess what they did wrong and what they were doing right, Senator Panfilo Lacson said Monday.
He said the focus should not be only against crime and corruption, the centerpiece of the Duterte administration’s deliverables, but also on the economic sector as well.
Lacson made his statement even as Malacañang said the country had achieved significant economic feats two years into the Duterte administration and defended the government’s continuing drive against illegal drugs.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch had described two years of the Duterte presidency as a human rights calamity.
Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said the human rights group’s statement was “ridiculous” and cited what he called the many achievements of the Duterte administration in protecting the civil liberties of Filipino people, keeping the people safe from crime and drugs and providing better social services.
“I have witnessed firsthand the President’s hard work, dedication and sense of duty,” Roque said. “[The] Major promises have materialized because we are headed by someone who has [a] strong political will, [a] decisive leadership and [a] compassion for his fellowmen.”
Lacson said the administration’s peace-and-order strategy was long on crime suppression and short on prevention. It should be the other way around.
“We prevent crimes and those that cannot be prevented from being committed must be suppressed with solid solution through efficient investigative work and techniques,” Lacson said.
On the revenue side, he said, the TRAIN Law needed to be revisited and amended, and Duterte, with his strong influence over Congress, must put his foot down on the vested interests of some members of both houses.
On the expenditure side or the General Appropriations Act, Lacson suggested minimizing the wastage of the government’s hard-earned resources.
Lacson said that could be done by strictly adhering to the existing jurisprudence outlawing pork barrel, which is still evident among selected members of Congress, a few of whom enjoyed as high as nine-figure insertions during the last two budget years under the Duterte administration.
“Even during the 2016 presidential campaign, when he persistently pitched for a six-month deadline to solve the drug problem in the country, I already pointed out it was impossible. It remains as impossible as saying he can stop crime,” Lacson said.
Senator Joseph Victor Ejercito said in terms of peace and order through the war against drugs, there was a very big improvement in the communities “as what people attest through surveys.”
He admitted, however, that much still needed to be done for economic development, specifically the need to speed up infrastructure programs to stimulate economic growth.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III gave Duterte an A for effort and sincerity in fighting illegal drugs and criminality.
“His weakest point is not being in good terms with the media,” Sotto said.