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Commentary: The Duterte administration's biggest hurdle

July 18, 2016 | 4:24pm

The first few weeks of the Duterte presidency has created a lot of hype especially from “concerned parties” who are directly or indirectly affected by his no-nonsense drive against criminality.

Never in one’s wild imagination would it occur that a president, no matter how broad the powers he has, would have the guts to reveal in public, and in a casual manner, the five generals implicated in drug-related activities.

Although recently installed to the highest office in the land, President Rodrigo Duterte’s leadership style sends a strong message to criminal offenders that he means business and is serious about fulfilling his covenant to the people — to rid the nation of corrupt and criminal offenders.

His no-nonsense drive against criminality can be likened to how Lee Kuan Yew has molded Singapore from the rubbish of Southeast Asia to the tiger economy it is now. Lee was the former prime minister of Singapore (1959-1990). His objective of transforming Singapore into an economic tiger was anchored on efficient government structures, the continuous fight against graft and corruption and overall political and economic stability.

With due deference to the former Singapore prime minister, Duterte’s leadership seem to augur well. The first thing Lee did was to clean his own backyard, getting rid of “rusty structures” that destroy the stability of the house.

(Lee Kuan Yew's) objective of transforming Singapore into an economic tiger was anchored on efficient government structures, the continuous fight against graft and corruption and overall political and economic stability. With due deference to the former Singapore prime minister, Duterte’s leadership seem to augur well.

Just like Lee's campaign in Singapore, the fight against graft and corruption should be the topmost priority of any administration struggling to achieve a level-up economic development. First things first, the pathways toward achieving economic sustainability and growth should be anchored on an orderly and stable political institution.

'Mind your job and I will mind mine'

Prior to assuming his post, Duterte seemed to have already made his presence felt with his pronouncement of a much tolerable society and a more livable environment where lawlessness would be a thing of the past.

His campaign promise of eliminating the menace of drugs and graft and corruption in the public sector catapulted him to the presidency. Despite the lack of resources and political machinery, he made history with an overwhelming mandate of more than 16 million votes — 6.5 million votes ahead of his closest rival, administration bet Mar Roxas.

It was crystal clear from the very start that Duterte had an awesome mandate because of a campaign promise properly defined and devoid of rhetoric. His campaign promise should be the barometer of his performance for the next 100 days until the next six years. In his desire to fulfill his covenant, less than two weeks in his term, the president already made some pronouncements that would change the face of criminal prosecution in this country.

It was crystal clear right from the very start that Duterte had an awesome mandate because of the campaign promise that was properly defined and devoid of rhetorics. His campaign promise should be the barometer of his performance for the next 100 days until the next six years.

Even before his official takeover as the country’s highest official, Duterte's mere pronouncements and statements caused law violators to tremble in fear as shown by a great number of them who voluntarily gave themselves up to proper authorities. If authorities see the pronouncements as a sign that the killing spree is condoned by the president is another issue which needs to be resolved.

Duterte's mere pronouncements and statements caused law violators to tremble in fear as shown by a great number of them who voluntarily gave themselves up to proper authorities.

As long as the responsibility of police authorities is carried out within the bounds of the law, then according to the president, he would protect the authorities who carried out the rightful mandate as an implementer of the law.

Primarily, these are the dissipations and grime needed to be cleansed — the biggest hurdle this government must overcome to achieve a societal turnaround from the ruthless state of our decaying society, ruined by felonious tolerance by many amongst us.

Primarily, these are the dissipations and grime that needs to be cleansed — the biggest hurdle this government will need to overcome to achieve a societal turnaround from the ruthless state of our decaying society, ruined by felonious tolerance by many amongst us.

A decaying society built through years of flawed government forbearance. A government with wrong priorities misled by an achievement of exclusive growth but has overlooked what real growth should be about.

Authorities who were in the position before to address this problem are now coming out of their shell criticizing the government’s approach and means of addressing the problem which blew out of proportion during their watch.

As peace loving citizens, we should give authorities a chance to fulfill their mandate. Political stability is inevitable to economic stability while economic stability is a prerequisite to being an economic tiger, a status that has long evaded us because of the neglect of rule.

Emmanuel J. Lopez, Ph.D. is an associate professor at the University of Santo Tomas and the chair of its Department of Economics. Views reflected in this article are his own. For comments email: [email protected]