What makes Rody angry, happy

With his administration nearing two-years old already, President Rodrigo Duterte admits he still could not shed off his “temperament of a small-town mayor.” So it should be no wonder why President Duterte – more often than not – gets into a lot of unintended troubles and politics-driven controversies.

Aside from his being foul-mouthed at times, President Duterte’s wisecracks in many of his extemporaneous speeches make him all the more colorful to report about in media. Thus, the opposition and President Duterte’s worst critics get tractions to attack him at every turn and opportunity.

Since he took office at Malacañang Palace in June 2016, the President prefers to be addressed as “Mayor,” a word more familiar for him to hear, having served Davao City as mayor for 22 years.

“My problem is I never shifted my paradigm from small town mayor to President,” he conceded. “I never left my character into the presidency, including my temperament of a small-town mayor,” the President told us in the freewheeling talks we had with him during a “meet the press” interaction with select columnists from the mainstream media last Tuesday night at Malacañang.

Thus, he continued with his governance style of delegating control and authority down to his Cabinet members. But while they enjoy full autonomy to run their respective departments, President Duterte made it clear to each of them from day one of his administration, he or she must answer and be accountable to him for anything that goes wrong or remains undone.

As The STAR first reported last week, the Chief Executive admitted he is not satisfied with the performance of his Cabinet: “Not happy (with present Cabinet), yes.” Thus, the President disclosed, he may let go some more Cabinet officials soon. He fired last year one after the other Interior Secretary Ismael Sueno and Information Technology Secretary Rodolfo Salalima.

Currently on the carpet is Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II for bungling the illegal drugs case against druglords Kerwin Espinosa and Peter Lim, citing the alleged weak evidence as filed by the Philippine National Police (PNP). Aguirre said he told the President about his suspicions that DOJ personnel identified with former Justice secretary and now detained Sen. Leila De Lima “leaked” the recommendation of the DOJ’s National Prosecution Service to dismiss the case of Espinosa and Lim. Aguirre insisted the case is still subject to automatic review by the office of the Justice Secretary.

This was not the first time a big drug case was dismissed by the DOJ. They previously dismissed the case against former Customs commissioner Nicanor Faeldon and three other Customs commissioner implicated in the botched seizure of the P6.4-billion shabu smuggling also due allegedly to weak evidence filed against by the Philippine Drugs Enforcement Agency (PDEA).

Aguirre’s explanations apparently failed to appease President Duterte. The infuriated Chief Executive castigated Aguirre over the phone that Tuesday night at the Palace after his “meet the press” with us. While standing near him, I heard the President instructed Aguirre to secure the Senate transcripts – if need be – to pin down Espinosa who testified under oath his illegal drugs trade before the public hearing last year.  

Speaking of the same case, PNP Director-General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa told media last Friday that President Duterte supposedly “punched the wall at Malacañang” in anger when he learned about the dismissal of the latest drugs case. Bato regaled the PNP reporters with his own first-person account of that supposed incident and told them to take a look at the President’s “swollen” fist.

Before holding his “meet the press” with us that night, the Commander-in-chief met with the PNP chief along with several other top police and military officials in a command conference at the Palace. If the supposed incident that Bato witnessed took place that night, I bare witness to the contrary that none of the President Duterte’s fists was swollen or had any mark when he joined us after the command conference.

What I noticed was not a swollen fist but a reddish lipstick smear at the right collar of the President’s barong.

I teased the President that he may get into trouble with his partner Honeylet Avanceña for the lipstick smear. “Ma’m, it might have been one of the congresswomen I met earlier tonight who kissed and hugged me during the photo-op,” the President explained as he tried to look at the lipstick-smeared spot on his collar.

But indeed President Duterte was enraged to learn about the dismissal of the drugs case. Himself a prosecutor for nine years before he entered politics, the President cited to us his having able to secure three of his cases convicted and sentenced by courts to death penalty.    

Thus, Aguirre’s tenure at the DOJ has become untenable for President Duterte who confirmed to The STAR he may let go off his ex-classmate at San Beda College of Law to pursue a senatorial bid in the coming May 2019 elections.

The political opposition leaders, including administration allies have demanded Aguirre’s resignation for the dismissal of the drugs case. Calls for resignation of Aguirre hit fever pitch last week after the DOJ accepted “pork-barrel scam” ringleader Janet Napoles into the government’s Witness Protection Program. But that’s another story all together.

Turning 73 years old on March 28, President Duterte is “happy” to note that his first two years in office are now bearing fruits benefitting many Filipinos, especially from his administration’s campaign promises to fight illegal drugs and corruption in government.

On a scale of 1 to 10, with ten as the highest, President Duterte rated his anti-drugs campaign having achieved 6. On corruption, the Chief Executive pointed to his having fired erring Cabinet officials and his other presidential appointees even if he or she helped him during the presidential campaign.

The renewed confidence on the Philippines is best manifested, he cited, by the reported more than $10 billion in foreign direct investments in 2017. “I am happy they (investors) trust me,” President Duterte said.