THERE is no question about the resoluteness of President Rodrigo Duterte in effecting the change that he has promised during the campaign.
For example, we know he is not backing down on his campaign against illegal drugs, criminality and corruption even amid stinging criticisms from various groups and the international community. In fact, Mr. Duterte takes on these critics himself, telling them that their opinion has no bearing on how seriously he intends to do what he says he would do.
The decisiveness, however, sometimes appears to be only in principle, with the finer details hammered out by Palace officials and communicated in a bumbling fashion.
Last month, for instance, Mr. Duterte ordered more than 6,000 presidential appointees to tender their courtesy resignations within seven days from the issuance of a memorandum circular. The move was meant to stem the corruption that persists in various government offices.
There was subsequent confusion, however, on who were and were not covered by the order since Mr. Duterte had already made some appointments himself, even as it appeared the real targets were the holdovers from the previous Aquino administration.
The same pattern emerges with the war on the Abu Sayyaf bandits, which Mr. Duterte recently decided he would crush, undaunted as he is by the armed group’s threats to his life and to the nation’s safety.
For instance, in view of the President’s trip to Southeast Asian countries for a regional summit, the Palace announced that Mr. Duterte was canceling his trip to Brunei because of Friday night’s blast in Davao City.
Soon thereafter, Malacañang officials said the President was still going, after all–– only to take it back and say that the cancellation holds.
Palace officials–– Communications Secretary Martin Andanar, Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella and Special Assistant Christopher Go––continued to issue conflicting statements about the government’s response to the atrocity.
A state of lawlessness was declared, and rightly so. But first we were told it applied to the entire country, and then to Mindanao only, and then, again, nationwide.
This is a crisis situation, and decisiveness must not be in mere principle. The confusion that Palace officials themselves are showing makes the public insecure, and somehow dilutes the strength of the message that is being sent. We are sure this is not what the leadership has in mind.
We want to hear only that this government is in charge and knows exactly what it must do––and exactly how.