Pragmatism

One message that comes out strongly as you watch President Duterte deliver speeches and answer questions on television is his strong streak of pragmatism. This is not surprising because his many years as a mayor trained him to spot solutions to the problems presented to him.

A mayor does not have the luxury of time, unlike policy wonks who write papers or memos on how to approach national problems in the privacy of an office. There is always someone waiting for him to deliver a solution as soon as he is presented with a problem.

Duterte may not have Solomon’s wisdom, but he has developed a problem solving orientation. His solutions may be knee jerk at times and somewhat simplistic, but they are always pragmatic approaches to solving problems for the moment.

Duterte does not worry too much about the long term because he is more concerned about the here and now, as is typical of local officials. He does not think about bad precedents his decisions may make because he does not want to complicate problems by over thinking.

All that may be alright at the local level. But President Duterte is trying to scale up his local problem solving skills to the national level. National problems are more complicated and simple solutions don’t always work on a grander scale.

Take the President’s approach to China. He isn’t as learned in the nuances of international law as someone like Justice Tony Carpio. All he knows is that he cannot risk a war with China. Even before he can use diplomacy, he has to charm China enough to be considered its friend.

That’s why he seems to be bending over backwards not to antagonize China. He has figured that he can get more positive results by saving China’s face in the light of the adverse arbitration court ruling against China.

That explains why the President said he gave permission to China to do research in Benham Rise. He gave no such permission or his secretaries of defense or foreign affairs would have known. He didn’t even know where Benham Rise was when he answered the question. He instinctively wanted to save China’s face, for friendship sake.

Of paramount importance to him now is preventing a total loss of face that makes negotiations impossible and a shooting war inevitable. He knows we cannot afford a war.

Given his strong sense of nationalism, we can be sure the President is not enjoying having to kowtow to China. But he is pragmatic enough to swallow his pride as he buys time. He is hoping to keep the peace until it is possible to talk to a China that is more amenable to listen to reason.

One might say President Duterte’s invitation to VP Leni Robredo and her daughters to have dinner in Malacañang with his children is his way of cooling the political temperature arising from the impeachment demands. He also wants to send the message that he considers a political ceasefire with the VP a desirable outcome, contrary to the demands of his raging mob of supporters. This too, is pragmatism.

President Duterte’s pragmatism showed up again when he insisted a compromise on the tax obligations of cigarette maker Mighty Corp. is better than going to court. He wants to get his hands on P3 billion right away rather than wait for P10 billion or more through a court judgment that he knows will take a long time.

However, his offer of a compromise came before a final computation of Mighty’s obligations. Indeed, even the partial accounting by the DOF produced close to P10 billion in tax liabilities claimed in a suit filed with the DOJ.

Allowing a small amount as compromise will set a bad precedent. Businesses will knowingly evade taxes because even if discovered later on, they can pay a compromise way below what they would have paid if they had been honest.

Pragmatism is also at the root of Duterte’s approach to the anti-drug war. That pragmatism arises from his deep cynicism in the ability of our judicial system to make drug lords and drug pushers pay their debt to society. It is far easier to kill off the bastards because every death reduces the magnitude of his problem forever… no motions for reconsideration or appeals.

This approach worked well, it seems, in Davao City. It is a more or less contained area and it is relatively easy to strike fear in the hearts of those in the drug trade. Trying to use the same tactic on a nationwide scale is immensely more difficult… if not impossible.

But, yes, Mr. Duterte’s bloody approach is very pragmatic. Those who chose to engage in the drug trade must be physically taken out as a surgeon would take out a malignant tumor that will otherwise kill the body. The government does not have to pay for litigation costs, the upkeep of those thrown in jail as well as for the cost of rehabilitation.

I can see his point. He has a six year presidential term and he is in his 70s already. There is extreme time pressure to deliver results in his most important key results area. He may want to follow all the rules, but based on his years as a public prosecutor, he knows how ineffective the judicial route can be.

Those who voted for Duterte saw his pragmatism as an attractive alternative to more gridlock in government. The end justifies the means! Results matter!

As I see it, Duterte must realize some problems need more attention to nuances… as in the more complex ones like China and drugs.

I have noticed by watching his public speeches that Mr. Duterte passionately loves this country and its people. He is just in a hurry to see positive changes happen.

The short cuts he thought were pragmatic approaches have become problems as well. He is also intelligent enough to see that some tweaking is necessary, if only because the Philippines is not Davao City… and it is just more complicated than he could have imagined.

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco