On Aug. 19, Malacañang brought to the Filipino people’s awareness the fact that President Rodrigo Duterte had completed his first 50 days in the nation’s highest office. Accustomed as they are to commemorations of Presidents’ first 100 days in office, the media were caught off-guard by the Malacañang initiative. But they quickly recovered and began to prepare summaries of President Duterte’s performance from July 1 to August 19.
I have prepared my own summary, based on media reports of President Duterte’s pronouncements and actions during the first seven weeks in office. The following are the things that the Chief Executive said and did during that period.
1. On June 30, Duterte gave the word for the official start of the war on drugs that he had signaled during the electoral campaign. As of the media’s latest count, the Duterte administration’s war on drugs has produced approximately 1,700 deaths resulting from alleged police operations, alleged vigilante killings and DUI (death under investigation) and over 600,000 so-called surrenderers.
2. The President, in the course of defending his decision to appoint anti-mining activist Regina Lopez as Secretary of the Environment and Natural Resources, declared that the Philippines could “do without” a mining industry.
3. The Chief Executive declared (and later withdrew) a unilateral ceasefire in the 45-year-old war against the CPP-NDF-NPA insurgency and approved the travel to Norway of a government panel to engage in an initial round of peace talks with the insurgent group. For that purpose he approved the temporary release of more than 20 members of the CPP-NDF-NPA leadership.
4. The President reiterated his interest in the full implementation of the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012, restating the need for the Philippines to slow the growth of population.
5. On July 26, the President delivered a State of the Nation Address in which he expressed his desire for the convening of a Constitutional Convention that would propose, for the Filipino people’s approval, revisions of the Constitution, including a shift to a federal form of government. Later Mr. Duterte indicated a willingness to have the revisions undertaken by Congress convened as a constituent assembly.
6. The President expressed displeasure over what he regarded as interference by certain foreign countries—including the US and Australia—in the domestic affairs of the Philippines, and he publicly insulted the ambassador of the US, who is the alter ego of the president of that country.
7. President Duterte made public the names of high public officials—including generals, judges and local officials – who he alleged were involved in the illegal drugs trade. Later he added to the list the name of Senator Leila de Lima, who was the secretary of Justice in the Aquino administration.
8. Mr. Duterte threatened to place the nation under martial law when the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court pointed out to him that the disciplining of judges is the prerogative of the Supreme Court solely.
9. President Duterte engaged the services of former President Fidel Ramos as emissary to China with instructions to re-open communications with China, which had lost the case filed by the Philippines with the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration regarding the West Philippine Sea.
10. Mr. Duterte reiterated his desire to see former President Ferdinand Marcos buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani. Naturally this raised the hackles of all the anti-Marcos groups, especially the groups of victims of martial law.
11. Mr. Duterte embarked on a tour of Armed Forces of the Philippines camps to – by his admission – explain to the troops his move towards peace negotiations with the CPP-NDF-NPA, which required the temporary release of the jailed leaders of that group.
12. The President threatened to pull out the Philippines out of the United Nations, of whose Charter the Philippines was one of the 46 original signatories. The Secretary of Foreign Affairs subsequently stated that no such move was intended and that Mr. Duterte was merely expressing his frustration over two UN special rapporteurs’ statements about war-on-drugs violations of international humanitarian law. Mr. Duterte called the rapporteurs “sons of whores.”
13. Mr. Duterte declared that he would “not honor” the UN-sponsored treaty on climate change, which was signed by around 190 countries and territories in Paris in December 2015. One of the three countries considered most vulnerable to climate change, the Philippines is heavily dependent on international assistance in times of disaster.
14. After saying that he could not give Leni Robredo a Cabinet-level position, President Duterte changed his mind and appointed her chairman of HUDCC (Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council), making her in effect the Secretary of Housing.
These are the things that Rodrigo Duterte said and did during the first 50 days of his presidency, as reported by the media.
E-mail: rudyromero777@yahoo.com
