CHAFF FROM THE GRAIN
Hector RR Villanueva
“The race is to the swift; the battle to the strong.” – John Davidson
The next president must not take off where President Rodrigo Roa Duterte had left off in his obsessive war against drug trafficking and drug addiction, anti-corruption fixation, and eradication of criminality which noteworthy crusades are unfortunately controversial, unwinnable, and interminable.Without abandoning those objectives, what is urgent today is the reopening of the economy, checkmating the spread of the coronavirus by vaccination, generating jobs, and democratizing wealth.
With general elections around the corner and time running out, it will mean that the same political system will remain, popularity and money politics will determine the outcome of the elections, and the oligarchy will continue to rule the nation.
With his supermajority in both Houses of Congress and authoritarian clout, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte can devote his remaining time on laying down the groundwork for the continuity of administration which is necessary for long-term sustainability, policy consistency, healthy respect for the sanctity of contracts, judicial reforms, and leadership by example by his successor.
First, President Digong Duterte should revamp his cabinet by infusing new energy and new blood into it.
Moreover, the laid-back undersecretaries, agency heads, and ex- generals should be reshuffled or retired again in the exigency of the Service.
In many countries even without existence of crises, Cabinets are routinely revamped to energize their departments. Underlings are ruthlessly reshuffled or axed to make way for new recruits.
From where we are perched, ex-mayor turned President Rodrigo Roa Duterte cast a narrow and small net based on familiarity, past reputation, or acquaintance.
Second, while previously here was gross mismanagement by law enforcement agencies and LGUs in the conduct of lockdowns, community quarantine, and curfew violations, there is currently confusion and misinformation on the selection and availability and cost of various brands of vaccines.
Thanks to the advocacies of the WHO, DOH, and IATF, there are now new oligarchs and millionaires, courtesy of the numerous DOH-IATF money making anti-COVID19 requirements which are mainly prejudicial to the disadvantaged classes.
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte should revise his management style and course of action in the light of the coronavirus pandemic, economic recession, rising tension in the South China Sea, mounting unemployment, and deepening poverty.
As the sun sets, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte should not contemplate or ruminate on extending his term of office.
He has accomplished enough.
You be the judge.
* * *