Politics aside

“Our new leaders will either be jerks or doers like President Duterte.”

 

We do not wish to engage in politicking just like President Duterte’s critics have shamelessly been doing amidst the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.

No less than Vice President Leni Robredo has already practically conceded defeat on behalf of the opposition in next year’s national elections.

Supposedly the opposition’s presumptive standard bearer, Robredo rallied the anti-Duterte minions to support just one common presidential  bet, be it herself or someone else.

She echoed former Supreme Court justice Antonio Carpio’s call for a united front, thus the founding of “1Sambayan” coalition,  which I initially misread as “1 Sampayan,” a clothesline for trapos (traditional politicians).

They have taken issue with and politicized just about everything under the sun despite the unabated  COVID crisis, exploiting controversies about community pantry, the government vaccination program, the problem of Chinese incursion in our West Philippine Sea (WPS) territories, and the bloody  war versus drugs.

All the while, President Duterte and his inter-agency task force (IATF)  have been addressing the recent surge in COVID-19 cases, which has reportedly slowed down in the past few days.

We are hoping for a breakthrough in the country’s economic rehabilitation and recovery of various industries devastated by over a year of repeated lockdowns, particularly in the National Capital Region (NCR) and nearby provinces.

But I can understand why the different opposition camps led by Robredo and Carpio are throwing in the towel at the opening bell and engaging in sour grapes.

They are frustrated and desperate over the lack of compelling issues against Duterte’s leadership, as well as the dearth of presidentiables among the wannabes in the opposition’s not-so united front.

If rejected by 1Sambayan, jilted ex-Senator Antonio Trillanes for one might end up running solo again or, God forbid, in tandem with Jim Paredes.

Just over 11 months from now, we will choose new leaders —they will be either jerks or doers like President Duterte.

Now while the government rolls out the COVID-19  immunization program with the arrival of more vaccines, the Duterte leadership’s five-year accomplishments speak for themselves. These include massive public works projects in partnership with the private sector under the Build, Build, Build program.

Duterte’s anti-drug and anti-crime drives remain as popular as ever, especially with General Guillermo Eleazar, the charismatic Chief of Philippine National Police (PNP).

The administration’s environmental protection program has achieved unbelievable feats, highlighted by the rehabilitation of the world-renowned Boracay Island and the Manila Bay.

Meanwhile, much-anticipated legislation proposed by Senator Bong Go creating the Department of Overseas Filipino Workers bodes well for displaced OFWs in hopes to recoup lost jobs and livelihood of Filipinos abroad.

Some half a million OFWs from across the globe have returned home or been repatriated since the COVID pandemic originated in Wuhan City, China late December 2019.

Last but not least, Duterte’s no-nonsense war against government graft and corruption will continue to the last day in office as promised.