"To deliver a comfortable life for all, Duterte must rescue six million Filipinos from poverty."
"To deliver a comfortable life for all, Duterte must rescue six million Filipinos from poverty."
A comfortable life for everybody, all Filipinos. In three years.
That is the audacious promise of Rodrigo Roa Duterte in his 93-minute, 9,490-word State of the Nation Address (SONA) Monday, July 22, 2019, delivered before a joint session of Congress in his trademark Davao English of incomplete sentences and mispronounced words.
The President, who openly admits he is now a lameduck, in effect, wants to telescope in three years what his own NEDA wants to accomplish in 20 years.
“In 2040, we will all enjoy a stable and comfortable lifestyle, secure in the knowledge that we have enough for our daily needs and unexpected expenses, that we can plan and prepare for our own and our children’s future. Our family lives together in a place of our own, and we have the freedom to go where we desire, protected and enabled by a clean, efficient, and fair government,” proclaims NEDA at its website.
Still, Duterte warned “believe me, I will end my term fighting.” That means the President will wield all the power and political will in his command to get things done over the next three years. Duterte is fond of employing generals who have the discipline of command and obedience (“If you tell them ‘no corruption’, then no corruption, unless the top is corrupt.”)
To deliver a comfortable life for all, Duterte must rescue six million Filipinos from poverty, a tall order given that previous administrations from 1986 failed to dent gnawing poverty. Poverty incidence is to be reduced from 21.6 percent (or 21.8 million of the 101-million population) in 2015 to 14 percent (or 15.7 million of 112.8 million) in 2022.
To do that, the chief executive tackled what I call the six Cs—crime, corruption, climate change or cleanup of the environment, capital (human and business capital), China, and congestion in Metro Manila or traffic.
“The illegal drugs problem persists,” Duterte winced. The Marawi siege of May 2017, he related, was a case of illegal drugs aided by local radicalism. Tons of shabu worth millions were found. Drug money killed 175 and wounded 2,000 soldiers and policemen.
“The drugs (problem) will not be crushed unless we eliminate corruption that allows this social menace to survive,” the President declared. He wants death penalty for illegal drugs and plunder (corruption involving at least P50 million).
Why the persistent corruption? Said Duterte: “We cannot distinguish our need from our greed, our principles from our prejudices, the real from the fake, and the truth from a lie. (For) many of us, what matters above all is the ‘self’… selfishness [at] its worst for no purpose other than personal aggrandizement.”
In the President’s 8888 hotline, the most complained about are: the LTO, SSS, BIR, LRA, and Pag-IBIG, “the top five agencies that need drastically to improve their service.” Expect firings in these agencies.
The anti-corruption campaign also covers the courts, ironically the weakest link in the administration of justice.
The 63 Customs officials facing corruption charges are no longer allowed at the bureau. Instead, they will report daily to Congress and help in the paper work. That is not saying though that the culprits will move from one house of thieves to another.
For all government agencies, Duterte’s order is “simplify.” Clearances and permits from LGUs must be out in three days, preferably one day, as Manila has promised. Davao City already issues business permits in just one hour. “Slap the idiot. Make a scene,” Duterte advises victims of bureaucrats.
For national government agencies, permits must be released within 30 days, says Department of the Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año, a retired general.
Año is the new de facto traffic czar. By September this year, the LGUs or mayors and governors must have retrieved all public roads being used for private ends. That means roads converted into parking spaces by barangays must be roads, not parking lots. Gated private subdivisions in traffic hubs must be opened for vehicular traffic. Traffic congestion in Metro Manila, the President estimates, costs P3.5 billion in economic losses, daily.
On climate change, the President wants a Department of Disaster Resilience (DDR) to “focus on natural hazards and climate change.” Boracay has been restored to its pristine origin.” Squatters will be removed and relocated from Manila Bay. Buildings sitting on waterways “I am going to dismantle or just burn them down.” Sources of renewable energy will be fast-tracked.
On human capital, Duterte gushed that 27 million are enrolled in basic education, kinder to high school. Another 823,000 who are out of school have non-formal education. For health of body, there will be a National Academy of Sports for High School, maybe to train future Pacquiaos and Lydias de Vega. Malasakit Centers will be established, a pet measure of Sen. Bong Go, upgraded from a campaign gimmick.
A Department of Overseas Filipinos will be established, a bill authored by Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, also author of the proposed DDR.
For business capital, the Department of Trade and Industry has given away P3 billion loans to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
Big Business will get bigger perks. Corporate income tax is to be reduced, from 30 percent (the highest in ASEAN) to 20 percent. However, factories in more than 300 export zones will lose tax perks (valued at P300 billion a year). PEZA’s preferential 5 percent gross income earned (GIE) will now be time-bound and performance-based.
One good thing. Duterte has no cronies. “I have no rich friends,” he declared.
Finally, Duterte will not fight China. “I will fish,” China President Xi Jingping told Duterte in a recent summit. “I allowed (them),” Duterte revealed in his SONA. “Confrontation will lead to violence,” the President explained. China’s guided missiles can reach the Philippines in seven minutes.
“We are not in control in the property (the West Philippine Sea),” Dutere admitted to Congress. “China also claims the property and he is in possession.”
Duterte assured: “Let me assure you, that national honor and territorial integrity shall not—shall be foremost in our mind, and when we may take the next steps in this smoldering controversy over the lines of arbitral ruling, the West Philippine Sea is ours.”
biznewsasia@gmail.com