The stories behind 87% approval rating of Duterte

MONTREUX, Switzerland -- I was busy taking snapshots of the idyllic city by the lake and posting these on Facebook for my family group when I saw an item that bannered Pulse Asia last quarter approval rating of Pres. Rodrigo R. Duterte zooming to an all-time-high at 87%.

 

Three hours earlier I saw Kiko Pangilinan making dire posturing on the guilty verdict on the perpetrators of the gruesome Maguindanao massacre. The nation's verdict of Duterte's performance, however, argues against Kiko slant and in fact made him look like a stupid fool and the moribund opposition irrelevant and insecure.

 

Duterte and his administration are set to cap the year with grand achievements and in style. Justice which has been delayed for over a decade under the Gloria M. Arroyo and Benigno Simeon Aquino III is finally concluded with a conviction rendered that would place the conspirators behind bars for life. This is an eloquent demonstration that justice under the Détente regime is carried out quickly and justly. This, contrary to the claims of the political adversaries of Duterte, the paid hacks among journalists crusading as bearers of truths and pan-handling human rights activists.

 

Another feather in the cap of the Duterte government is the sterling performance of Filipino athletes in the just concluded and well-managed 30th SEAGames. Not only did the Philippines reign supreme in the games and ended up as the overall champion, the facilities of the games earned praises from the Olympics officials who had recommended the sports venues as sites of some competitions of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Already the sports complex in Clark had been eyed by some countries as training grounds for their Olympic athletes.

 

The Philippine economy remains resilient under the stewardship of Finance Sec. Sonny Dominguez resulting in further poverty reduction. There are quarters who are not happy with how President Duterte is treating Ayala and (Manny) Pangilinan over how they wangled a lopsided contract as concessionaires of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System. Until the arbitration court in Singapore ruled in favor of the two concessionaires did the Duterte government discovered how onerous was the agreement. An angry Duterte lost his cool when he learned of the multi-billion pesos of people's taxes be paid to compensate Maynilad and Manila water for their operations losses. It turned out too that the water consumers had been paying billions of pesos for ghost sewerage systems. Ayala for one offered to write off the multi-billion-peso claims the arbitration court award them and offered to pay the government the amount instead. The irate President moreover cannot be appeased and demanded that the contract be reviewed and renegotiated and for Ayala and Pangilinan should face him and not their subalterns. This should relieve Metro Manilans of obligations to make the rich richer.

 

Duterte has nothing against business but not at the expense of the people. ABS CBN is seeing the end of the rope in March. The only way to avert the non-renewal of its franchise is for the Lopez empire to settle its debt with DBP which was written off by the Aquino administration and to return the money he paid the network for his political advertisement which the Network giant never aired.

 

If Duterte has been cleansing the government bureaucracy of hungry detergents that had enriched themselves through corruption, that does not mean that private enterprises will be allowed to cheat on the people. The President had sent signals to the Court for just last week it hinted it will order Meralco to return billions of pesos for collections allegedly illegally collected. Did I hear Secretary Dominguez saying that his high school classmate is his best tax collector?

 

We expect billions of taxes will be collected from the likes of Ayala and Pangilinan and this will be infused to the treasury The government build, build, build program has resulted in the completion of many infrastructure programs contributing immensely to the movement of goods from production sites to domestic and international markets. Congress has approved the 2020 budget and government expenditures will further boost the economy.

 

We see no let-up in the war against drugs. On the other hand, while the Duterte has given a leeway for the resumption of peace talks with the New Peoples Army it is now prepared more than ever to deal with the insurgents with the new fighting machines it has acquired recently.

 

Given all these accomplishments and prospects, 87% is definitely well deserved.