Rody: I fulfilled my vows

President Rodrigo Duterte yesterday said he is within target of meeting his campaign vows three years into his six-year term.

He said he also had to deal with corruption issues involving government officials

Facing a full-packed audience at the Alonte Sports Arena in Biñan, Laguna on Saturday night to support the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino senatorial ticket, Mr. Duterte enumerated his successful projects which he said should be backed by a supportive legislature.

The Chief Executive said the only campaign vow he considers himself a failure was his promise to unclog EDSA. He said he had asked for emergency powers to alleviate the daily traffic experience of commuters in the 23.8-km stretch but got nixed by Congress.

That, the President said, contributed to the still worsening daily grind of Filipinos traversing the short but antiquated highway.

“I have fulfilled all my promises, except one. And that is EDSA,” the President said.

“I vowed to support free education, we now have a law on free tuition,” Mr. Duterte said. “I promised free health care, we now have the UHC (Universal Health Care) law. I just signed that law.”

“And what else is needed? I said I will continue with the Pantawid Pamilya Program and I did.

Where to get funds for that, we have the TRAIN law supporting our poor,” the Chief Executive added.

But he pointed at Congress for not giving him a chance to fix EDSA traffic.

“I asked for emergency powers. Congress did not give it to me,” he said.

Duterte cited former Presidents Cory Aquino and Fidel Ramos who were given extra legal push in dealing with electricity woes.

He said he also had to deal with corruption issues involving government officials.

“Several congressmen said ‘let us give Duterte extraordinary power to solve the EDSA chaos.’ It did not come from me. I never said that. I never said there will be no bidding (for projects). But I said we would need money to rehabilitate or do away with the present situation,” Mr. Duterte said.

“So, it’s what we have now. EDSA remains as it is until now,” he added. “But I never asked for money. I never said there should be no bidding. I did not.”

The President’s declaration came after he asked his countrymen to continue supporting his war on drugs.

Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. yesterday twitted the Washington Post over an article calling Mr. Duterte’s war on illegal drugs as a “strongman’s rule” when it is merely a straightforward campaign against substance abuse.

Locsin’s response to the Washington Post article on 22 February entitled “This is Manila” about a suspected drug personality recovered in Tondo was also curt, saying: “It is not strongman rule; it is democratic but serious government.”

As was his usual, Locsin aired his reply through his social media account.

Locsin branded the report as “fairly well-written” and “nonjudgmental,” however.

But the Department of Foreign Affairs chief stressed that the Duterte administration’s war against illegal drugs is not indicative of strongman’s rule.

“The vast majority of voters and an even bigger public want an end to the drug problem and they are getting it,” Locsin said.

Police data showed more or fewer than 5,000 drug personalities had been killed since 2016 when Mr. Duterte launched the government’s all-out campaign against illegal drugs.

Last week, the President warned that his anti-illegal drugs campaign will be “harsher” in the coming days.

The Chief Executive also emphasized his frustration over the persistent drug menace despite the all-out efforts by government to stamp its spread.

On Saturday, the President made a strong appeal for help from the public to fulfill his promise to end the narcotics scourge while vowing no let-up on what he called his personal battle.

Mr. Duterte also urged the public to elect into office candidates who will genuinely serve the country and put the people’s best interest first when they cast their votes in the May midterm polls.

He cited the possibility of drug money being used to prop up candidates in the elections, like it was in 2016.

Critics of Mr. Duterte claimed about 20,000 deaths were attributed to the government’s

campaign against illegal drugs, even branding these alleged cases as extrajudicial killings.

The alleged killings are now the subject of complaints against the President.

In another development, 34 bricks of suspected cocaine were recovered by elements of the Police Regional Office (PRO) 13 yesterday in Surigao del Sur.

Chief Supt. Gilberto Cruz, PRO 13 director, said the suspected cocaine was accidentally hauled by fishermen Ronnie Navales and Ryan Apelo.

The bricks were found floating along the waters off Purok Santan, Barangay Bungtod in Tandag City at around 6:30 a.m. on Saturday.

The two fishermen subsequently turned over the suspected cocaine to the Surigao del Sur Provincial Police Office.

Cruz led the inventory of the recovered chemicals, along with the Surigao del Sur Crime Laboratory with Tandag City Mayor Alexander Pimentel in attendance.