The country’s next president, who will be chosen this coming May in the national and local polls, will inherit a lot of good things from the Duterte administration.
Thus, said Cabinet Secretary and Acting Presidential Spokesperson Karlo Nograles in a virtual press conference Friday, Jan. 21 wherein he enumerated the more significant achievements of incumbent President Duterte.
"The next President will be inheriting an administration kung saan iyong predecessor niya, ibig sabihin si (where the predecessor, meaning) Pangulong Rodrigo Roa Duterte, is the highest most trusted official in terms of Pulse Asia Survey showing he’s the most approved national leader in the Philippines with score of 72 percent," Nograles bragged.
"Ang ii-inherit din po ay isang bansa kung saan ang GDP (gross domestic product) growth natin ay 7.1 percent noong third quarter of 2021 and ang prediction po ng mga respected institutions tulad ng Asian Development Bank (ADB) ay 5.1 percent ang magiging growth rate ng Pilipinas for 2021 (He or she will also inherit a country which posted a GDP growth of 7.1 percent during the third quarter of 2021, along with a 5.1 Philippine growth rate prediction for 2021 by respected institutions like the ADB)," he added.
On top of this, Nograles said the ADB also hailed the Philippines’ economy for "shown impressive resilience" amid the ongoing coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
However, the Palace official didn't highlight these achievements out of the blue; he was actually reacting to a rather scathing statement from University of the Philippines School of Economics (UPSE) Professor Emeritus Solita Monsod, who reportedly said that the next Philippine president will inherit a country that has "lost its moral compass".
Monsod also said that the country is currently grappling with different crises in the realms of education, the economy, and health--problems that would befall the next person to reside in Malacañang.
Nograles said the next president "will take over a country kung saan (where) we hope and expect sa pagtutulungan ng lahat na (through the cooperation of everyone that) 90 million Filipinos would have been fully vaccinated by the end of the term of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte."
He said the employment situation is also improving, with unemployment rate down to just 6.5 percent as of last November based on numbers from the Philippines Statistics Authority (PSA).
Nograles said that despite the pandemic, the Department of Education (DepEd) recorded a higher number of enrolments this year compared to the previous school year.
"Our hunger rates have declined," the Cabinet Secretary said, underscoring another Duterte administration accomplishment.
"In fact the global hunger index has put the Philippines in a... with the score of 16.8 ang global hunger index natin (based on our global hunger index) compared to 25 in year 2000; 20.4 in 2006; and 20.5 in 2012. So previously based on the global hunger index, we were suffering from severe hunger index," he noted.
Nograles said the 16.8 score places the country at moderate level in terms of the global hunger index.
The next elections will take place on May 9, 2022.