A new era starts
President Rodrigo Duterte takes office today, and how he starts his administration is anybody’s guess. Steamrollers can be fast or slow, and in his case, it remains to be seen whether he can quickly adjust to national office. He is not new to government. But, comparatively speaking, Davao City is small compared to the entire country in terms of administration and problems.
The same goes for Vice-President Leni Robredo, who went into politics for the first time three years ago after winning a congressional seat. She starts office today as the country’s second highest-ranking official, and serves as alternative president if and when President Duterte, for one reason or the other, cannot finish his six-year term.
One should perhaps greet today with a sense of hope, with anticipation of a new beginning. Or, a fresh start on the path to success and growth. But I, on the other hand, cannot help but regard the next 12 months with guarded optimism, much like post-surgery for midstage cancer: the tumor may have been removed, but chemotherapy or radiation comes next.
And like cancer treatment at mid- stage, interventions after surgery are not always successful. Some go into longer-term remission, but some are not as lucky. Some only get temporary reprieve, but in other cases, disease comes back quickly and with a vengeance. Who knows, six years down the road and the tumor may just be back, and late stage at that.
In my relatively short lifetime on God’s good Earth, I have seen so far seven presidents in office: Ferdinand Marcos, Cory Aquino, Fidel Ramos, Joseph Estrada, Gloria Arroyo, Noynoy Aquino, and now Rodrigo Duterte. My good friend Meniong Teves of Negros Oriental, on the other hand, has been around since before Quezon became Commonwealth President in 1935.
Of this lot of seven presidents, only Duterte comes from Mindanao ( although he was actually born in Maasin, Leyte). Only Duterte and Estrada had served as mayors of their respective towns. And like his predecessors since 1965 (except for Cory and Ramos), President Duterte had also served in Congress. But he was never in the Cabinet, nor in the Judiciary.
Is President Duterte qualified to be president? I would say, he is just as qualified as any of his predecessors. But, his decades of service as the Chief Executive of Davao City surely beat the others in terms of bureaucratic and administrative experience. However, whether or not he will do good in the next six years is much like prognosis for cancer treatment — it can go either way.
I am neither for nor against Duterte as president. My sentiment now about him and my out-
I cannot help but regard the next 12 months with guarded optimism, much like postsurgery for mid-stage cancer: the tumor may have been removed, but chemotherapy or radiation comes next.