Never a majority

With President Rodrigo Roa Duterte continuing to enjoy phenomenal ratings (approval, satisfaction, trust), expect him to get even more aggressive in channeling his inner David to slay society’s goliath scourges. It reminds me of Lewis Rothschild’s line in the movie the American President: lets take this 63 percent (Presidential job approval rating) out for a spin and see what it can do.

Filipinos have historically conceded to new Presidents outrageous benefits of the doubt at the start of their terms. The exception, possibly, was President Fidel V. Ramos. To FVR, the love was slow to come as he prevailed with only 23 percent of the vote and with an election protest, at that. This “honeymoon” blank check is crucial every single time as we have never given a majority mandate to any one President.

Pardon my french. This is why, with personal life stories as appetizer, the developments in the French Presidential elections have captivated our imagination. France, which like the Philippines is on its 5th Republic, decided long before – under General de Gaulle’s guidance – that its diverse populations would be best served if the country were headed by a leader whose mandate was solid. How to operationalize? Win more than half of the vote.

France walked the talk that the majority rules in a democracy. Hence, the curious scenario now unfolding of a run off election between the top two vote getters in a previous multi candidate race. There will surely be one who gets at least half. In this sense, the french model, with its guarantee of a majority president, does supply more stable leadership. The same cannot be truly said of a plurality president, even one as popular as PRRD, as more than half his constituents chose the other guy (or girl).

My kingdom for a bridge. Much has been said about how PRRD has seemingly gone soft on China, all in the name of a couple of bridges over the Pasig. I know that this is, again, something said in levity but I know that critics are having a field day conjuring up names for the bridges – the more popular ones we've heard are: tatlompung pirasong pilak bridge and bridge.

Bridges – not just the figurative ones we continue to build with our ASEAN neighbors – but the real stone, brick and concrete viaducts and aqueducts have figured a lot in the news of late. There are the magnificent heritage bridges of Tayabas for which a petition has been filed to avert their demolition by the Department of Public Works; and then there is the ambitious bridge from Sorsogon to Northern Samar as part of the road link from Luzon to Visayas. It has been years since we have witnessed public works projects of this magnitude and significance.

This bridge and road network expansion project is initiated by San Miguel Corp. in hand with Philippine National Construction Corp. This is one Private Public Partnership that deserves commendation. Perhaps they can jump the gun and first construct two bridges across the Pasig to allay fears that PRRD may truly be serious in trading away our claims to our islands and shoals, just for that.

The poor standard. Last year, with self rated poverty hitting its lowest levels in 29 years, administration mouthpieces were quick to grab credit. Citing the people’s belief in genuine change, Secretary Martin Andanar planted the PRRD flag on the 42 percent rate in September and the overall 44 percent fourth quarter rating.

But, oops, at the end of this first quarter of 2017, the 44 percent rate has suddenly ballooned to 50 percent. With this 6 percent increase, the administration now has something to think about and to learn from. We are curious about its explanation on why this increase happened during their watch. This after so blithely attributing the previous record decline to the President. Statistics will show that the self-rated poverty level either kept steady or was in decline for the past nine quarters.

Marcos v Robredo. With the camps of both Bongbong Marcos and Leni Robredo welcoming the scheduling of the preliminary conference before the Presidential Electoral Tribunal in June, it would appear that, finally, we will be moving closer to finding out who really won the vice presidency last May. We were beginning to tire of the unbecoming ad hominem attacks from both sides.

Tidbits. Statistics show that in 2015, there was an increase of more than 150 percent in the number of road accidents in the country from the same period in 2014. The 2016 figure is also at least 130 percent higher than the 2015 rate. What this shows is that there is a steady decline in road safety in the Philippines. More and more people are dying or getting hurt from road accidents, with more than half being motorcycle riders.

Our responsible government offices, specially the Land Transportation Office, should be exerting extra and remedial effort to correct this lamentable situation. Approaches integrating road works projects, traffic rules rationalization and strict regulation of authorized drivers should be considered. Regarding licensing of drivers and their discipline, despite the strides taken to improve what was once an unbelievably loose system, there is still room for improvement. In most countries, one test that even highly trained professionals are anxious about – more than bar or board licensure exams or even medical diagnostic exams – is the driving test. Arguably, driver education goes far in enhancing safety ratings.

Aside from the myriad driving schools, we welcome the initiatives from the automobile and motorcycle companies themselves. Foremost among them is the Honda Safety Driving Center in Paranaque, a world class training facility where you can learn, both theory and hands on, the rudiments of automobile and motorcycle riding.