“One of the most remarkable presidencies is nearing its end.”
On June 30, 2022, one of the Philippines’ most remarkable presidencies will come to an end.
Rodrigo Roa Duterte ends his six-year term with possibly the highest approval rating for any outgoing president, 67.2 percent, and trust rating, 61.8 percent. Those are Publicus Asia numbers in its 2022 first quarter survey.
In Pulse Asia’s December 2021 survey, Duterte enjoyed an astronomical approval rating of 72 percent, up from 64 percent in September 2021.
Contrast that with the approval rating of Leni Robredo as vice president, 43 percent in the same Pulse Asia December poll, down from 48 percent in September 2021.
Per Pulse Asia, Duterte had approval ratings of 50 percent or higher in all regions of the country and in all income classes—77 in NCR, 62 in Luzon, 64 in the Visayas, and 97 in Mindanao; 71 in income class ABC, 72 in D, and 76 in E.
In December 2021, per Pulse Asia, no region and no income class gave Robredo any majority or plus-50 approval rating: 34 in NCR, 49 in Luzon, 41 in the Visayas (down sharply from 70 percent in September 2021), and 43 in Mindanao; 38 in ABC, 42 in D, and exactly 50 in E.
in Publicus’ poll, Robredo had a disappointing approval rating of 32.3 percent in the first quarter this year. Even more heartbreaking is her disapproval rating, 43.2 percent. Only one out of five approves of Leni’s performance as VP; two of every five give her a thumbs down for performance.
Publicus’ reason for Robredo’s high disapproval rating as VP: She is identified with the opposition. She is yellow. While she pretends to be pink on the outside, people see her as yellow on the inside. Like salted egg—pink outside, yellow inside. Like salted egg, she cannot be the main course for presidential leadership.
Why is Duterte hugely popular? One reason is his economic leadership. He delivered the major economic reforms, thanks to his team led by Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez. Sonny designed Duterte’s ten-point economic agenda. “We delivered 90 percent of the ten-point agenda,” Dominguez told businessmen in a forum last April 5, 2022.
“Years from now, when the Philippines brings down its poverty incidence to single-digits, we will look back to the Duterte presidency as the moment when the country made the turn towards more inclusive growth and prosperity,” Sonny gloated. “The Philippines made the decisive shift from an inward-looking economy to one ready to compete with the rest of the world.”
The amazing thing about Duterte’s reforms is that many of them were languishing in Congress for decades until the President revived them and had them enacted into laws. Anchor projects were completed.
Among the major reforms and projects:
—Build, Build, Build. Duterte poured over P4 trillion into roads, highways, bridges, airports, ports and railways. Average infra spending reached P800 billion per year and exceeded P1 trillion in a single year. The P4 trillion infra built created 6.5 million jobs, a record, thanks to Public Works Secretary Mark Villar. Railways increased from 77 kms in 2016 to over 1,100 kms by 2022, thanks to Transportation Secretary Art Tugade.
—Cheaper rice. Agriculture Secretary William Dar broke the bankrupt state-trading company, NFA’s monopoly on rice importation, with the passage of the Rice Tarrification Law (RTL).
The 2019 Rice Tariffication Law ensures that farmers benefit directly by providing at least P10 billion each year for mechanization, high-quality seeds, access to credit, and training. For 30 years, NFA was subsidized by an average of P11 billion per year. RTL stopped that and instead earned for the state P46.6 billion in import tariffs in three years of its implementation.
—Peace. “We took a significant step towards lasting peace with the establishment of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. The administration also maintained an unrelenting campaign against criminality and terrorism,” said Dominguez.
—Tax reform. Big corporations now pay 5% less on their income tax, down from 30 to 25 percent. SMEs pay 20 percent.
“The Duterte administration implemented the most comprehensive tax reform program ever in this country. This provided robust and recurring revenues that helped expand social services and supported our massive economic investments in modern infrastructure,” gushed Dominguez.
TRAIN or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act reduced the personal income taxes for 99 percent of our taxpayers, giving them much-needed relief after 20 years of non-adjustment. Through TRAIN, we have basically given out a 14th-month pay every year to our wage earners, reckons Sonny.
The law imposed excise taxes on sweetened beverages from which we collect almost P104 million a day. TRAIN likewise mandated the implementation of our first-ever nationwide fuel marking program to curb oil smuggling.
No past administration increased sin taxes more than once. Duterte raised sin taxes three times. The excise taxes on tobacco and alcohol products improved funding for the Universal Health Care Program.
All in all, TRAIN and the other enacted packages of the tax reform program raised for the government additional P504.6 billion during the first four years of implementation.
—Ease of Doing Business Act. It paved the way for improved and efficient delivery of public services and will remarkably increase the competitiveness of the country’s business climate.
—National ID system and financial inclusion. This improves e-governance by cutting physical red tape and promotes financial inclusion with easier access to cash and finance by the poor.
As of March 23 of this year, 61.3 million individuals had a national ID. This allowed Land Bank to give 7.7 million formerly unbanked registrants to open a bank account.
For their part, OFWs now have their own bank. The Overseas Filipino Bank is our first branchless digital-only bank in the country. It now serves overseas Filipinos in 116 countries.
To further accelerate financial inclusion and broaden the capital markets, the Bureau of the Treasury introduced innovative government securities for small individual investors that can be purchased through digital channels.
“We also finally implemented the long-dormant Real Estate Investment Trust Act, which has become a powerful financial instrument for the property development sector and small investors,” Dominguez reported. Market capitalization of REITs has reached P269.7 billion.
