One year of Duterte

The first 365 days of Rodrigo Duterte as president is not as bad as the six years of Benigno Aquino III’s presidency. This is my answer to friends and readers who had been prodding me to give my assessment of how the Duterte administration performed in the first year of incumbency.

Let me qualify that. There were two important agenda in the Duterte campaign. Elimination of illegal drug syndicates and curbing corruption in the bureaucracy. That diplomatic shift is a bonus.

The Catholics clerics, especially those identified with the oligarchy (oh yes you can spot them), can howl over the number of deaths resulting from the drug war which President Duterte launched on day one of his presidency.

It’s not to defend Duterte and Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Bato Dela Rosa, but you can count with your fingers the number of innocent victims killed. And mind you there are more policemen killed in the war against drugs than the unfortunate victims that had been accounted so far.

Well, Duterte and his drug busters miscalculated the number of people who are peddling and hooked to drugs. Who would even think that the biggest and most sophisticated drug distribution center of drug is right in the air-conditioned corridors of Muntinlupa?

On the matter of corruption, President Duterte had to deal with people he inherited from the regime of Aquino and his own appointees. It’s not only the defective MRT that he has to repair and parts to replace, there are remnants of the Aquino regime that still cannot break their habits and had therefore to be replaced pronto. He may not have the refinement of diplomatic language for which he drew flak from those who unabashedly claim they are masters of, but the results from his foreign trips should convince even the worst of the critics and skeptics that Duterte did mighty well. So well did he skipper his diplomatic voyage to unchartered routes that the country now expects a bonanza from these travels.

In the words of Bases Conversion and Development Authority president Vince Dizon and Department of Transportation (DOTr) Undersecretary Cesar Chavez, it’s Build! Build! Build! In fact, DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade must be worrying now as there will be a dearth of qualified workers who will build railways, maintain trains and operate them.

Did I hear him say, as early as now he is contemplating to put up a “Railway Academy”? We should. We should stop relying on a train maintenance firm which was organized only yesterday with a capitalization of a sari-sari store.

Remember the Bitangcol caper? The “kamaganak at kabarilan” rackets extend to the subordinates who can share the largesse in the past regime.

The Marawi siege will soon be over. Our soldiers and policemen valiantly fought to neutralize the Maute and Isis terrorists that had planned to take control of the once idyllic Islamic City of Marawi. Soon the reconstruction will begin.--

There are remnants of the Aquino regime that still cannot break their habits