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Opinion

Duterte to bury Marcos, to release GMA

SHOOTING STRAIGHT - Bobit S. Avila - The Freeman

Monday night, ABS-CBN's Cable channel ANC held a lengthy coverage of nearly two hours with the media and presumptive President Mayor Rodrigo "Digong" Duterte, which was quite revealing in the sense that during the election campaign, he made promises to the Filipino people and he intends to honor this commitment.

Duterte came up with a very stern warning to Police Generals, especially the corrupt ones, those who have beautiful houses and fancy cars, to resign already because they may not pass the lifestyle check. I'm sure that these corrupt police officers must be thinking hard on what to do before Duterte takes over the reins of the Philippine government. He also warned all the City and Municipal Mayors who may be involved in the illegal drug trade to cut their ties with the drug lords before it's too late.

Then on the case of former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Mayor Duterte was adamant that the former president had spend too long a time under hospital arrest on a case of an alleged misuse of the intelligence fund of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office. In short, Mayor Duterte has apparently studied the case filed against the former president and as a former prosecutor. He seriously believes that the case filed against her wouldn't stick. So the first thing he would do is free her when he takes his oath as president. Change is indeed coming for La Gloria!

When asked whether he would pardon the former president. Mayor Duterte said that this was not necessary, as she has not yet been convicted by any courts of the crime that was filed against her.

I heard from a close friend who recently visited the former president     that she was in good spirits awaiting her impending release from the bullying of president Benigno "PNoy" Aquino III who has shown her no mercy.

Now while Duterte has declared that he would not personally go against PNoy or Vice President Jejomar Binay because running the affairs of the government will certainly take a lot of his time, however we expect that on July 1, 2016 when PNoy Aquino returns to civilian life, he would face a deluge of cases that will be filed by people who believe that he should be answerable to the misuse of the Disbursement Acceleration Program and the Priority Development Assistance Fund, while VP Binay should answer the allegations of corruption that was hurled against him even before the election campaign.

Finally, Mayor Duterte will fulfill his campaign promise to allow the mortal remains of the late president Ferdinand E. Marcos to be buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani. Mayor Duterte pointed out that this issue has remained unresolved for too long and he intends to put this issue behind us so the nation can move forward to more pressing issues. Well, this is certainly one issue that will be buried into the pages of our history books under the Duterte presidency.

Just imagine that Mayor Duterte hasn't even entered Malacañang yet, and change is already in the air.

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Did you know that President PNoy Aquino has created a new Department of Information and Communications Technology that would replace the Department of Transportation and Communications? From henceforth DOTC will now be called Department of Transportation. But it just makes you wonder why PNoy is doing this now when his term is about to expire? Perhaps the outgoing president is hurrying these things up so that he can say that he has done something in his six years in office and brag about it when he is out of office.

But if you ask me, he should leave these things to the new government under Duterte, which has promised to do major changes in the Philippine government especially our system of governance. Incidentally, whether we like it or not, we are still living in the dying age of Daang Matuwid, where incompetence is a byword. While the PNoy regime still has a month and a few days left, they apparently want to go with a bang when it was discovered that some 91,000 sacks of rice donated by the Algerian government for victims of super typhoon "Yolanda" were found inside container vans at the Cebu International Port.

Wow! It's been three long years since super typhoon Yolanda struck the Philippines and this shipment of rice from Alegria could not be released because the Department of Social Welfare and Development needed P14 million to pay for storage fees and transportation? This was one issue that the Office of the President could have solved in a few minutes so that the food reaches the beneficiaries who needed them after the typhoon struck Leyte. Frankly speaking, I'm ashamed for the Aquino regime

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For email responses to this article, write to [email protected] or [email protected]. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com

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