President Duterte campaigned and won on his promise to launch a war on illegal drugs, criminality and corruption.
Upon his assumption to office, he immediately made good on his vow to eradicate the drug problem. There were between three million and four-million drug dependents, he said.
Mr. Duterte’s mistake, however, was to see the drug problem as a law-and-order issue. But so long as there is demand for illegal drugs, the menace will persist. Not until 2022 when Duterte’s term ends, but even beyond that. Worse, the drugs war was targeted against the poor.
Now the President is in the midst of his fight against corruption, which has long been a problem in government. Just like illegal drugs, corruption is bound to outlast Duterte. After all, the menace can only be minimized, not eradicated. Even in other countries like the United States or Singapore, corruption exists.
What has changed, for me, is that at least we can say we have a President who is finally focusing on these problems.
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The Switzerland-based Institute of Management Development, in partnership with the Asian Institute of Management, found that the Philippines is perceived to be less competitive against other countries in all measures—economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure. We placed last among the five founding members of Asean.
Santa Banana, what happened that among Southeast Asian nations, the Philippines is now at the bottom of the totem pole? According to statistics, the gross national product of Singapore grew 15,353 percent, Thailand by 5,637 percent, Malaysia by 5,000 percent and Indonesia by 1,071 percent. Meanwhile, we have been struggling to grow at half of Indonesia’s pace—531 percent.
Per capita income is worse: Singapore’s grew 6,377 percent, Thailand’s 2,973 percent, and Indonesia’s by 415 percent. We made do with 119 percent.
What happened—is it poor leadership or something else?
Our economic managers see the issue as a matter of perception. That’s where the problem lies—they do not see it as reality. Perception matters most when investors decide where to place their money.
It may be said that the leaders of other Southeast Asian nations around us are mostly authoritarian. Here, we live in a democracy, So would it be better to have an authoritarian leader? Will this kind of rule enable us to catch up with our neighbors?
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There’s a finding by the Commission on Audit that most of the lawyers in the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel have been getting allowances to the tune of more than half their salaries.
The Office of the Ombudsman should look into this anomaly. It does seem like there are plenty of shenanigans happening at the agency.
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Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio has been castigated by minions and apologists of President Duterte for proposing that the Philippines and other countries should, together, oppose China’s increasingly aggressive actions in the South China Sea. This makes me think—why has China continued its militarization efforts? For instance, it recently built on three Philippine-claimed reefs in the Spratly archipelago—Panganiban (Mischief), Zamora (Subi) and Kagitingan (Fiery Cross).
Despite this, President Duterte and his minion, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, have preferred to keep silent. Mr. Duterte even said he would not go to war with China because it is certain we would lose.
He seems to have the impression—a wrong one, of course—that the only way to stop China’s bullying is to go to war.
The President and Cayetano prefer to keep quiet despite calls from many sectors that we should instead file a diplomatic protest against China for its actions.
I agree with Carpio in that the failure to formally protest means that the Philippines is acquiescing to the militarization and, worse, to the claim of China that all the islands, waters and resources within the nine-dash line form part of its territory.
A formal diplomatic protest is recognized by the United Nations as a peaceful and legitimate course of action in a territorial dispute.
With all claimants of islets and reefs of the South China Sea registering diplomatic protests, world opinion can be shaped against what China is doing. Keeping silent just emboldens it to keep acting like a bully.
Mr. Duterte should be asked: Are China’s promises of aid, loans and investments worth it? Not by any stretch of the imagination. I say!
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For many years, people have been urging the government to do something about the sorry condition of Manila Bay.
Environmentalist Antonio Oposa said during a Senate inquiry that bacteria levels in the bay have grown fivefold since 1990.
Indeed Manila Bay has been highly polluted. Squatters, because they do not have toilets in their homes, use the bay as their toilet instead. Worse, vessels entering the bay also dump their garbage there.
Rehabilitation of Manila Bay is a huge undertaking. Is the administration up to the challenge?