Duterte as candidate; Duterte as president

THE politician who ran for public office and the public official who got elected are no longer the same person? Candidate Rodrigo Duterte was not the same Rodrigo Duterte who is now president?

That seems to be one argument defending the president's decision to reject a P2,000 increase for each Social Security System (SSS) pension: the candidate who promised that during the campaign is no longer the person who now runs the country.

Of course, they're the same person. Maybe what is meant is that the public official has changed mindset and outlook: the same person with a different view of things.

Critics like Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes may suspect that the "different person" theory is being used to get the president off the hook of promises he made during the election season.

To expect politician to keep each promise he made is to be naive. Ask cynics who have heard them made and seen them broken, president after president.

What to watch are the basic precepts the candidate said he believed in. Are they still being substantially followed by him?

Some of Duterte's promises were exaggerated. For one, the vow to rid the country of crime in three to six months was a stretch. Did voters really expect him to do that? As things have turned out, the deadline has been moved to one year and may be extended anew.

Changes

A lot of room must be made for changes in conditions, aside from shifts in beliefs: facts not available to candidate Duterte are now supplied to President Duterte; advisers during the campaign are replaced by advisers in public office. The primary purpose then was to win; now it is to do well as president.

Rejection of the SSS pension hike can be explained, as then president Noynoy Aquino did, without sallying into in the wishy-washy thinking about split personalities. (paseares@gmail.com)