A great deal remains to be done even after the Duterte administration has made accomplishments in the last five years.
According to Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar, the administration intends to "accomplish more" as it focuses on efforts to respond to the coronavirus pandemic as well as jumpstart economic growth in the final year in office.
The pandemic has upended the lives and wellbeing of Filipinos since last year, from causing job losses and hunger to weakening business and economic growth in the past year. At present, the country has recorded more than 1.4 million cases of coronavirus with over 24,000 deaths.
President Duterte, whose leadership mettle has been tested by the challenges posed by the debilitating pandemic, will end his six-year term next year. The President is constitutionally prohibited from seeking reelection but has offered to run for vice president in next year's polls instead.
"We have accomplished so much from when President Rodrigo Roa Duterte started his term, and we will accomplish more in his last year in office," Andanar said when asked by the Manila Bulletin about the administration's priorities as it winds down its term.
"As we continue addressing and responding to a multitude of societal problems amid the COVID-19 pandemic, we will use our remaining year in office by focusing heavily by continuing to respond to COVID-19 and restarting our economy through continued infrastructure project implementations and socio-economic reforms," he added.
The campaign against illegal drugs and corruption would also be sustained in the final year of the President's six-year term, Andanar said.
"Simultaneously, we will further cement our election promise of making efforts to end criminality, illegal drugs, and corruption, while ensuring that peace, security, and order are being upheld and promoted," he said.
When he ran for president in 2016, Duterte, then a tough-talking mayor of Davao City, promised to eliminate drugs and corruption in first three to six months in office. Duterte later realized that he was wrong to put the deadline given the magnitude of the drug problem, including the involvement of some public officials in the illegal activity.
The President's war on drug has left many people arrested but also killed, with some critics suspecting some abuses were committed by state forces. An International Criminal Court has been asked to start a probe into the alleged crimes against humanity linked to the Philippines' drug war.
Duterte, however, declared he would rather stand on trial in the Philippines than face the "white people" in the foreign court, believing he won't get justice abroad.
With the lingering threat of the virus, Andanar meantime has appealed for public cooperation especially in observing health regulations as well as receiving their coronavirus vaccines.
More than 2.5 million people have been fully vaccinated since the government started the free inoculation drive last March.
The country has so far obtained over 17 million doses of coronavirus vaccines with additional jabs expected to arrive in the coming months. Health workers, seniors, people with comorbidity and essential workers have been given priority for vaccination for now.
"As we promote our over-all development and progress, we ask for the support of all Filipinos’ and their adherence to our call of observing health protocols and getting vaccinated," Andanar said.
"It is only when all of us are doing our part that we see us recovering as one nation," he added.