President Rodrigo Roa Duterte (File presidential photo)
MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday said he thinks he does not deserve his popularity, saying the real stars in the country’s Covid-19 response are his Cabinet members.
This, after Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs Jacinto Paras bared that many local officials continue to have “full support” in the Duterte administration’s handling of the prevailing health crisis.
Political leaders, Paras said, wanted Duterte to continue serving as the country’s top official if not only constrained by the Constitution.
Duterte, however, said National Task Force (NTF) against Covid-19 chief implementer and vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr., Presidential adviser on Covid-19 response Vince Dizon, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, and Interior Secretary Eduardo Año deserved more credit for leading the country’s fight against Covid-19.
“I am not taking any credit without bringing in the entire entourage who has helped me in my work as President,” Duterte said in a pre-recorded public address.
He said he is “lucky” to have a “good team” who are committed to their jobs, despite the fact that the Philippines lacked resources at the beginning of the pandemic and relied on other countries for assistance.
“Ako (Me), I do not think that I deserve that popularity. I would rather share it with all of the department secretaries and the directors doing the job promptly and as fast and the number one exhibit thanks to Secretary Dizon, Secretary Galvez, Secretary Año, Secretary Lorenzana. Nakikita mo ang resulta ng trabaho (We can see the result of their work). And to think that we had nothing at the start,” he added.
Duterte admitted his administration is not perfect, but he wanted to end his term having tried his best to ensure transparency, accountability and good governance in government.
“Gusto ko talaga na malinis ang ano ko (I want us to be clean) even if we committed faults. I’m hoping that we could at least not erase but bring into light sa tao para wala tayong tinatago (to the people so we won’t be hiding anything). We want to go out, it’s just a matter of months a clean bill of health,” he added.
In the December 2021 survey of the Social Weather Stations, Duterte also obtained a "very good" level of +60 net satisfaction rating.
This was 8 percent higher than his rating in September 2021 but 19 percent lower than in November 2020.
Another survey conducted by Pulse Asia also in December 2021 showed Duterte's approval rating increased to 72 percent.
His approval went up by eight percentage points from the 64 percent he got in the survey conducted in September of the same year. (PNA)
