Where are we headed?
“This is no time for making new enemies.” — Voltaire
PRESIDENT Rodrigo Roa Duterte has been busy putting out the fires that he himself has started, which is creating a cloud of uncertainty over the Philippine economy.
Nonetheless, in spite of warring on many fronts and mounting opposition and criticisms, the President remains determined and relentless in his war against illegal drug trafficking as a priority objective, to the subordination of other issues and problems.
Moreover, President Digong Duterte is not only confrontational in conflict with Chief Justice Lourdes Sereno, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, and his tireless nemesis, Sen. Antonio Trillanes, but is also courting criticisms and censure from the United Nations as well as from international human rights organizations.
These controversies, justified or not, do not augur well and are ominously destabilizing in the long run.
With the derailment and detour of the roadmap, if there is one, it begs the question: Where is the nation headed?
First, assuming President Duterte remains on track and in the right direction, his governance style and authoritarian tendencies, and abhorrence to advice leave much to be desired and send a shiver down the spine.
As Joseph Conrad said, “You shall judge a man by his foes as well as his friends.”
Thus, while the people are essentially supportive of his war against drugs, the fixation on the drug war distracts the President from focusing on other equally critical and urgent national problems such as employment, poverty alleviation, insurgency, injustice, and rising criminality.
Owing to the Chief Executive’s unique personalized, arbitrary, and impulsive public statements, administration officials tend to anticipate and second – guess what the President might do or say. There is therefore a tendency to await instructions and verbal orders.
Second, while the President may have valid and solid reasons to lower the boom on Mile Long, Mighty Tobacco, and Philippine Airlines, it sends a frightful message and trepidation to businessmen as to who will be next in the rogue’s gallery.
Like it or not, the developments will send a nervous tic and apprehension to businessmen which will not be healthy or conducive to future investments.
When all is said and done, while President Rodrigo Roa Duterte is the leader that the people have been praying for, there are pockmarks and gaps in governance and in President Duterte’s character and proclivities that tend to leave so much to be desired.
That is, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, tough, sincere, compassionate, is not the compleat president who will lead this country to greatness. You be the judge.