Flip-flopping decisions by the President may even do some good for the country

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MANY of his critics may pillory President Duterte as someone who says something but means another, or one whose right hand does something that the left hand is not aware of.

But events last week showed those inconstant moves may even prove beneficial to his character as a perceptive leader.

Last Sunday, for example, the Chief Executive said he has no plans or option to lead the country out of the membership in the International Criminal Court (ICC).

That was what he confirmed in Davao City after the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC, based at The Hague in the Netherlands, made it known that it will now start preliminary examination on reported “extra-judicial killings” connected to the Duterte administration’s war on illegal drugs.

Critics claimed the “bloody EJKs” have resulted in the death of some 4,000 illegal drug users, dealers, and protectors since July, 2016, the start of the Duterte presidency. He denies the accusation.

It is worth knowing that his Sunday announcement in Davao City is a complete reversal of what he brandished last year about leaving ICC because the latter is “picking and bullying only on small countries.”

His change of mind is seen by many supporters as advantageous to the country, given the President’s staying the course on the ICC membership. That means the President is bent on defending himself of the charges and will go on to prove his innocence.

And what’s more, he avoided getting pinned by the tag “Flight is guilt!”

On the fate of some 25,000 Filipinos working in Kuwait, earlier the President said he would personally fly to the Gulf State and appeal to its leaders to treat humanly the OFWs there.

But he turned around and decided to stop further deployment, and ordered their repatriation instead.

His decision earned the plaudits of his countrymen all over the world. He virtually ended the inhuman treatment of Pinoys done by sadistic Kuwaiti employers.

Now, those “tanim-bala” perpetrators at the NAIA face a lenient punishment by the President – instead of outright dismissal from government service, they will now be assigned to the Zamboanga City Airport.

The racket which proliferated from the 2014 to 2016, involved the “planting” of live bullets in the pieces of baggage by departing passengers done by crooks and criminals at the airport. They demanded monetary payoff in exchange for the dropping of charges against the unsuspecting travelers.

The outrageous “tanim-bala” incidents had earned for the Philippines a notoriety among countries that sent the most tourists to our shores.

“Clean up Boracay or I will close it,” goes the stern warning ofthe Chief Executive. Aside from thousands of tourists in Boracay, the President himself had personally seen the filth and garbage around the beaches.

The menacingly angry President said last week he would not tolerate the negligence of both local and national officials. And “they should do something quick before Boracay visitors are contaminated with the unsanitary condition of the place.”

Anything less, that notorious Duterte flare-up will descend upon the pristine blue waters of the place, plastered with ominous signs that holler, “Off-limits to beach-combers and swimmers!”