EDITORIAL & ED CARTOONS: Manila – Uncharacteristic sense of feeling ‘useless’

 

When will President Duterte finish his series of speeches before newly elected barangay chairmen in Mindanao?

We are constrained to ask because while addressing this category of elected officials in the island of Mindanao, the President has increasingly been prone to issue extemporaneous statements that are particularly troubling for our national life and the morale of his presidency.

It was before such an audience of barangay captains that DU30 uttered the fateful words, “Who is this stupid god?” In a flash, he ignited a stormy controversy that refuses to die down.

On the night of June 26, while DU30 was addressing newly elected barangay officials in Zamboanga del Norte, he gratuitously declared: “I am useless.”

He placed his point within the context of evidence of still rampant crime incidence and heavy illegal drugs trade in the country.

He declared: “If this is the case, I am useless. I’ll ask you to join me. Let’s just resign.”

He then said he has asked (retired) Gen. Eduardo Año, the officer-in-charge of the Department of Interior and local Government (DILG), to make an audit of mayors whose towns and cities have high crime rates and illegal drug activities.

The DILG, in response, is planning a nationwide audit that will cover local government officials from governors to barangay chairmen to determine if they are performing their mandate as public servants and spending their funds properly.

The point that may be seen most intriguing is how and why the President made the leap from a humdrum speaking occasion to a confession of inutility in office and the precipitate suggestion of resignation.

Duterte appears to have been frustrated by a recent Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey, which showed that about 1.5 million families have at least one member who fell victim to common crimes in the first quarter of 2018. At least 6.6 percent of the survey respondents were themselves victims, or knew of a family member who had fallen victim to robbery, pickpocketing, break-ins, carnapping and physical violence at some point during the three-month period.

While the numbers were lower compared with the 1.7 million families (7.6 percent) recorded in a similar SWS survey conducted last December, the report bugged the President no end.

He reasoned: “There seems to be a semblance of a republic and a nation, but inside, it’s topsy-turvy. It’s crime-ridden.”

The President seems to be having a case of tunnel vision here. He seems to be measuring his success or effectiveness as President solely by his success in subduing crime and illegal drugs.

Yet the reality is that our national life is much, much more than crime and drugs. They are not even our biggest problem. The challenges facing the nation and the presidency are infinitely more complex, and the measures of success are greater. In this sense, the President ought to study and evaluate our national life in tandem with experts and professionals in social science and public administration.

If one also needs to look back and find a sign of success for this administration two years down the road, one will find the President himself igniting a new brand of reform that has sparked wider political dynamism in a collective effort toward nation-build /  BY THE MANILA TIMES ON JUNE 29, 2018

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