 |
| Photo credits to philnews.ph |
Tomorrow, June 30, 2022, the six year reign of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte (PRRD) also tagged as "The Punisher" will wrap up.
Looking back, PRRD promised to put an end to illegal drugs and criminality within one year, increase the salaries of workers, put an end to contractualization, vowed to fight the country's claim to the West Philippine Sea and eliminate corruption in government among many others.
Following the series of tokhang and with 30, 000 deaths during the first few years of the war on drugs, Duterte later admitted it was impossible to counter the illegal drugs problem. Also, contrary to what has been promised contractualization in the private and government sector will remain to be an issue including the increase in the basic pay of the work forces.
The corruption issue in the government remains to be a problem including that of the PhilHealth Insurance even during the pandemic. And despite the whim of the President this did not stop the irregularity in the national office particularly in the Department of Health (DOH), Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) among many other state owned institutions. Therefore, addressing the predicament involving public trust and stealing public funds remains to be a challenge. This goes also in the fight on the West Philippine Seas wherein in 2016, PRRD on board a jet-ski with him holding a Philippine flag committed to contest China's repeated incursions.
Duterte has said so much about the welfare of the Filipinos yet his government failed to sincerely address the problem. Let me take the case of PhilHealth as an example. I don't know if the Filipino workers have already noticed this, but their monthly PhilHealth contributions have increased effective June 2022. I believe the adjustment is unnecessary since many Filipinos are still reeling from the effects of the pandemic. For the record, as of May 2022, the national government's total debt is P12.68 trillion. No wonder the Fitch Rating Philippines rating downgraded the country's credit from stable. Hence, Filipinos will be plunged into a deeper loan.
Meanwhile, by noon tomorrow, the administration will transition from Duterte's 'The Punisher' to one of his closest political ally–President-elect Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos 'authoritarianism? Whose only campaign promise was "unity".
Again, Filipino people will brace another six years with hope that this time the majority has voted for the right leaders. So along with the 31-million Filipinos who voted for the BBM-Sarah tandem, the rest of the Pinoys both here and abroad can only pray for the best amidst the issue of historical revisionism, coordinated social media misinformation campaign and the threat of constitutional monarchy among the many issues associated with the Marcoses.