For most Filipinos, today marks a new beginning, their hopes for real and meaningful change pinned on the leadership of Rodrigo Roa Duterte, the 16th president of the Republic of the Philippines. After 2,192 days under the administration of BS Aquino mostly marked by disappointment and a gradual realization that we have been taken for a ride by an underachiever whose greatest talent is to self-praise, expectations are high that “the punisher” will be able to whip this country into shape.
Many of our buddies who watched the inauguration of Duterte – the man who made history as the first president from Mindanao – said they felt goose bumps – uncharacteristic really from jaded cynics – as they listened to Duterte repeat his oath of office and deliver his speech. For the man exuded sincerity and strength, his words devoid of motherhood phrases and empty rhetoric that have become part and parcel of his predecessor’s “floral” pronouncements. And contrary to the expectations (and predictions) of some smart alecks, the speech was not peppered with expletives or kill, kill, kill orders.
While he ran true to his campaign pitch that some of our most urgent problems are criminality, illegal drugs and corruption, he also rightly assessed that the biggest problem is the loss of faith and confidence of the majority of Filipinos in their government and in their public servants. Listening to “PDiggy,” it became apparent that he is one smart and savvy hombre, telling everyone present that he knows the law – he is a lawyer after all – and the limits of the power and authority of the presidency. Whatever means his administration may use to go after criminals, all these would be in keeping with the law, he reiterated. “I know what is legal and what is not,” he said, which, when you read between the lines (something which the new president loves to say), actually means “I’m not stupid, you people.”
“You mind your work and I will mind mine,” was his message to his detractors and critics, among them the Commission of Human rights – and this was just really a polite way of saying “mind your own business.” And yes, he took a swipe at the just-ended administration when he declared that he was “elected to the presidency to serve the entire country” and not just one group or one party or class in society. This is actually good to hear since we had to endure six years of partisan politics under Aquino, whose insistence on sporting the yellow ribbon pin on his lapel is an in-your-face message that he cares only about his yellow army of supporters.
Foreign investors also liked his directive to Cabinet secretaries to honor contracts and agreements, clapping enthusiastically when Duterte said he does not approve of changing the rules while the game is ongoing. This was one of the complaints of businessmen particularly with the Department of Transportation and Communications under Joseph Emilio Aguinaldo Abaya. Remember the common station project that had been won by the SM Group with Neda approval, but for some reason was overturned by DOTC and awarded instead to the Ayala Group? Hopefully, this practice will soon become a thing of the past.
Personally, we like it that he quoted US President Franklin Roosevelt (although we seem to have heard him say “Teddy Roosevelt”) who said, “The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much, it is whether we provide enough for those who have little.” Hopefully, the “great” economic achievements that the previous administration loved to trumpet will soon be felt by those who have little in life, as we will see growth and progress that includes everyone, not just a privileged few.
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