Charisma and Rodrigo Duterte
The public intellectual who coined Dutertismo strikes again. When Randy David writes about Rodrigo Duterte, you feel as if you’re transported into another Philippines which you’re not part of. It is similar to Maria Ressa’s combat zone, which by her account, is the whole country, even as one would think she would be referring to Marawi at the height of the siege.
David claims that Duterte’s Presidency is one that was marked by the grandest of promises and the most glaring of failures. The question is what is he referring to?
Infrastructure? The BBB has earned praise here and abroad as both the DOTr and the DPWH have accomplished their goals even if still lacking. You don’t build up capacity which was neglected for thirty years in five. Perhaps the singular achievement which stands out is the rehabilitation of the country’s rail system. Only the Malolos-Calamba commuter rail segment will be finished but we will soon have a rail system from north to south that is integrated with the existing light rail system in the National Capital Region. If this is a failure then David must be suffering from Alzheimer’s.
Corruption. Failed. Why? There’s still corruption in the bureaucracy. But think about it. Isn’t this the only administration where you’ve seen government departments and agencies sporting new equipment? The salaries of AFP, PNP and other government uniformed personnel have increased. You actually have a Philippine Coast Guard that has equipment and is conduction patrols and search and rescue. You have a disaster management system which actually works. This is about the only post-Marcos administration where you literally see where your taxes went to. The only way to minimize, if not eliminate corruption, is to reform the bureacracy and this requires both political structure reform and digitization.
Peace and order. Pass. Index crimes are down even before the pandemic. It’s not like during the Aquino administration when riding in-tandem shootings happened almost everyday. Why? The drug war. If you don’t think there’s any correlation between drug addiction and index crimes then you should go back to criminology school. The PNP needs more reform to bring it back to what Ping Lacson did during his time but at least, policemen now look like actual policemen and not the Keystone Kops.
The economy. Pass. If it weren’t for the pandemic, the 0 to 10 point socio-economic agenda of the administration would’ve been achieved. This is largely the work of Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez and NEDA Secretary-General Karl Chua. Dominguez has managed the country’s fiscal position like a bank President. We have incurred debt due to the deficit caused by the pandemic but it’s still within manageable levels, even when compared to other countries, whose debt-to-GDP ratios are in excess of 100%.
There is also the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program which has indexed tax rates to inflation. The CTRP has been tweaked at the last minute to adopt to the exigencies of the pandemic. Dominguez has been a proactive Finance Secretary who has worked closely with the Legislative to get the fiscal amendments contributing to sustained economic growth passed. Previous Finance Secretary’s were busy “buying” awards. Dominguez is the least awarded but by far the best peforming in all the post-Marcos administrations. The disruption caused by the pandemic has affected all aspects of the economy but the Finance Secretary has done a remarkable job managing through the crisis. His successor will thank him for what he was able to accomplish during his tenure.
The drug war. Pass. Controversial as it has been, the drug war can be considered a success because peace and order has improved drastically and the number of drug dependents has come down. Can it be totally won? The world’s largest economy also has the world’s largest and continuing drug problem. The response can still be improved but that’s on the next administration to tackle.
Social services. Excellent. The Duterte administration has registered the largest increase in government expenditure on social services among ALL the post-Marcos administrations with the passage of the free tertiary education bill, the universal healthcare bill and the continuation of the 4Ps program plus subsidies to the affected sectors of the increase in the fuel excise tax.
Institutions. What has been damaged as the opposition claims? The only wholesale solution is to strike at the root of the problem which is the political structure. The opposition was in power for thirty years but didn’t entertain proposals to amend their beloved 1987 Constitution. This is the same constitution they trash anytime it’s convenient like the time Erap was ousted and attempts were made to do the same with GMA. It’s not Duterte’s fault that legacy appointees of the Aquino administration have died in office such as Chito Gascon of the Commission on Human Rights. The same is true with the Supreme Court and the Commission on Elections which will majority, if not all of its appointments, made by Duterte by the time he steps down from office.
Leave it to the oppositiont to make false and outlandish claims. Up to this point, they continue to refuse to come down from their ivory towers and emerge from the recesses of their silos and echo chambers. This is why they continue to be politically tone-deaf and why Rodrigo Duterte remains popular.
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