“That should send the message to the narcotics underworld that the Marcos Jr. government will not hesitate to use the strong arm of the law to fight this baneful curse that has destroyed our youth and wrecked many families in the process”
Yesterday, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. took his oath of office as the 17th President of the Philippines.
In a solemn ceremony outside the National Museum in Manila, President Marcos Jr. promised the Filipino people a government that will attend to the needs of the country in the spirit of national unity and the common desire for hope and a better future for all.
The newly minted President also promised to continue the laudable projects undertaken by his popular predecessor, ex-President Rodrigo Duterte.
Those projects include the continuation of Duterte’s massive infrastructure program, an improved transportation and communication system, a stable economy and food security, among others.
President Marcos Jr. says he will deal with Communist China’s aggressive behavior in the West Philippine Sea without compromising Philippine sovereignty.
For that purpose, the blueprint of his late father, President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., regarding the country’s foreign policy in his time, will provide very valuable pointers.
Many Filipinos also hope and pray that President Marcos Jr. will continue ex-President Duterte’s tough stance against the drug menace in the country. Duterte crippled the drug lords during his time; Marcos Jr. should finish off the drug lords once and for all.
Back in January 1973, the martial law administration of the elder Marcos ordered the execution by firing squad of the infamous Chinese drug lord Lim Seng at Fort Bonifacio in Taguig.
After that demonstration of political will on the part of the government, the remaining drug lords in the Philippines fled in fear. For several years after that, the country was virtually free of the drug menace.
Hopefully, the new President can use his moral ascendancy over Congress and convince the legislature to revive the death penalty in the country, even just for convicted drug lords and their deplorable kind.
That should send the message to the narcotics underworld that the Marcos Jr. government will not hesitate to use the strong arm of the law to fight this baneful curse that has destroyed our youth and wrecked many families in the process.
During the term of President Marcos Sr., many hospitals were established all over the country. Metro Manila had the good fortune of hosting many new hospitals during that period.
Those hospitals include the annex building of the Philippine General Hospital, the Philippine Heart Center, the Lung Center of the Philippines, the Kidney Center of the Philippines, the Children’s Hospital in Quezon City, and a revitalized GSIS Hospital also in Quezon City, later renamed the Ospital ng Bagong Lipunan, and currently called the East Avenue Medical Center.
No other President of the Philippines has done so much for health care in the country.
For the record, the Marcos Sr. hospitals saved the lives of many Filipinos during the height of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic.
Happily, President Marcos Jr. promises to continue his father’s legacy in this regard, and establish more of the badly needed hospitals.
Filipinos will be truly grateful if Marcos Jr. succeeds in doing so.
Gasoline pump prices were always stable during the time of President Marcos Sr., thanks to his brilliant brainchild, the Oil Price Stabilization Fund.
This program imposed a small tax on each liter of vehicle fuel sold at the gasoline stations.
The fund was used to subsidize any increase in the price of petroleum in the world market.
This system provided a well-needed cushion for the nation’s consumers, and prevented surges in the prices of gasoline and prime commodities.
The Oil Price Stabilization Fund was abolished during the time of President Fidel Ramos, when the oil industry was deregulated.
That was a really bad idea because it made the country a hostage to fluctuations in the price of petroleum worldwide.
President Marcos Jr. promised to study this matter and take remedial measures to address the runaway increases in the cost of local fuel prices brought about by Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Another bit of good news is that Secretary Leonor Briones of the Department of Education (DepEd) has been succeeded by the dynamic Vice President Sara Duterte.
Under Briones and her incompetent subordinates, the DepEd allowed the publication of the infamous “sickbooks” which are elementary and high school textbooks which contain an endless array of factual, clerical and grammatical errors.
Briones and her team of inutile assistants did not bother to call for a strict review and proofreading of the books before allowing them to be published.
Due to Briones’ negligence, billions of pesos in public funds were wasted by the DepEd on those “sickbooks.”
School children using the “sickbooks” are made to believe that the contents of those materials are correct and accurate, and that the carabao English used in the same is the right way to write and speak English.
Briones should be sued for her gross inexcusable negligence.