Former Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has been recently sworn in as the 16th President of the Republic of the Philippines.
A Duterte presidency could very well bring hope to millions of marginalized Filipinos for a better life. Hopefully we will see a change in governance for the better and corruption in government offices to be minimal, if not total eradicated.
Duterte won the presidency by a landslide. Thanks to millions of Filipinos who have long been disappointed and dissatisfied with most of their elected officials who they view as either weak, corrupt or inefficient.
Most Filipinos, if not all of them, believe that President Duterte is the only elected public official right now who could clean up the corrupted system in government.
Filipinos all over the country are optimistic that President Duterte will be able to correct whatever mistakes the Aquino administration may have committed in the past six years for him to lift the lives of millions of Filipinos out of poverty.
This is a big and difficult task for President Duterte to tackle. He needs the full support of Congress to implement his economic policies and programs to help turn around the Philippine economy.
Some are saying that President Duterte will be spending more of his time in Southern part of the country for him to be able to improve and empower other provinces who have been left behind or neglected by the government in terms of public funding for their development.
If Duterte will transfer the seat of power from Manila to Southern Philippines, most probably in Davao city, traffic in Metro Manila will improve.
I hope some government offices like the Department of Agriculture, DENR, Agrarian Reforms and some other attached agencies be move in the Mindanao area to decongest Metro Manila.
The traffic situation in Metro Manila has become unmanageable. It has become a major problem for the government, just like flooding.
Narrow streets and the inability of the government to address the illegal squatters in the metropolis have contributed to the worsening traffic situation in Metro Manila.
Hopefully, the next MMDA chairman to be appointed by President Duterte will have the balls and political will to demolish illegal dwellers in Metro Manila to help improve the flow of traffic in the metropolis, particularly during rush hours.
I was recently in Metro Manila in April of this year. It took me almost three hours to commute by car from Antipolo city to Karuhatan in Valenzuela for me to see my dentist to fix my dentures.
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I expect more drug addicts and small time drug pushers to be “salvaged” by policemen and drug enforcement agents.
These policemen and drug enforcement agents are doing this for them not to be fingered by their “assets” or informants of coddling drug addicts and pushers for a “fee.”
The PEDEA, NBI and the police should not look to far if they seriously want to clean up Metro Manila of drug addicts and pushers and big time drug lords.
They should go to Taguig city where most drug addicts get their regular supply of illegal drugs such as “Shabu” and cocaine and other drug paraphernalia.
Taguig city has been known for years as the “tiange” of drugs by drug addicts. I wonder why Senator Alan Peter Cayetano and his mayor wife Lani, and his brother Congressman, never raised a howl about rampant drug activities in their turf for so many years.
It is well know that most corrupt politicians would prefer to dip their dirty fingers in the illegal drug business than “jueteng, “ because of the huge amount of money they receive from drug lords in exchange for protection.
The flourishing illegal drug business in the country is expected to end as soon as Duterte start to flex his “muscle” to rid the country of drug lords and addicts.
Since Duterte won the presidential election, hundreds of addicts are now voluntarily giving themselves up for fear that they might either be killed by the vigilante group from Davao city or by their former police protectors.
President Duterte, in his campaign speeches, promised to eradicate criminality in six months.
This is one hell of a tough job to accomplish. But I hope he will be able to do it. How he is going to do it, I do not know. But I am pretty sure that the people will back him up and support his administration in his effort to improve the peace and order in the country.
Good luck President Duterte.