BIOGRAPHY

Rodrigo Duterte, also called Digong, (born March 28, 1945, Maasin, Philippines)
- Elected president of the Philippines in June 30, 2016. His term is expected to end on June 30,
2022.
- 16th President of the Philippines
- First president from Mindanao, and the oldest person to be elected president of the
Philippines.
-

OBJECTIVES/MAIN AGENDA:
10-POINT SOCIOECONOMIC AGENDA OF THE DUTERTE ADMINISTRATION
 
1.    Continue and maintain current macroeconomic policies, including fiscal, monetary, and
trade policies.
2.    Institute progressive tax reform and more effective tax collection, indexing taxes to inflation.
       A tax reform package will be submitted to Congress by September 2016.
3.    Increase competitiveness and the ease of doing business. This effort will draw upon
successful models used to attract business to local cities
       (e.g., Davao) and pursue the relaxation of the Constitutional restrictions on foreign
ownership, except as regards land ownership,
       in order to attract foreign direct investment.
4.    Accelerate annual infrastructure spending to account for 5% of GDP, with Public-Private
Partnerships playing a key role.
5.    Promote rural and value chain development toward increasing agricultural and rural
enterprise productivity and rural tourism.
6.    Ensure security of land tenure to encourage investments, and address bottlenecks in land
management and titling agencies.
7.    Invest in human capital development, including health and education systems, and match
skills and training to meet the demand
       of businesses and the private sector.
8.    Promote science, technology, and the creative arts to enhance innovation and creative
capacity towards
       self-sustaining, inclusive development.
9.    Improve social protection programs, including the government’s Conditional Cash Transfer
program, to protect the poor
       against instability and economic shocks.
10.  Strengthen implementation of the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Law to
enable especially poor couples
       to make informed choices on financial and family planning.

As presented during the 'Sulong Hakbang Tungo sa Kaunlaran' consultative workshop held on June 20-
21, 2016. (Department of Health)

Duterte Promise Checklist: Major accomplishments, failures

JUL 22, 2019 9:53 AM PHT
PIA RANADA

Bloody war on drugs

The Duterte government has lived up to the President’s promise of a “relentless” anti-drugs
campaign. While the campaign has been modified and reorganized thrice, Duterte’s marching
orders have been to arrest drug suspects and kill them if they “fight back.” Here are the
numbers as of June 30 (as reported by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency):

5,526 drug suspects killed in operations

7,054 "high value targets" and 681 government workers arrested
2,367 cops dismissed

But human rights groups dispute the government statistics. The Commission on Human Rights
has said as many as 27,000 may have been killed in the name of the drug war. The Philippine
Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA), has cited at least 12,000 deaths – including
those allegedly killed by vigilantes.
Human rights groups and international bodies, however, have raised alarm over the lack of
transparency from law enforcement agencies and lack of action over similar mysterious murders
of drug suspects outside of police operations.

Numerous witnesses have claimed that police shoot suspects even if they aren’t resisting arrest.
It doesn’t help that Duterte himself frequently calls on the police to “massacre” drug suspects
and not to worry if they are accused of abuses since he will pardon them.

Tax reform law

The first tax reform law (Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion or TRAIN law) was signed in
December 2017, Duterte’s 2nd year in office. It’s primarily a revenue-generating measure to
fund the administration’s infrastructure program, health, education, and social services
programs. But it also allowed Filipinos to keep more of their salary while imposing higher taxes
on sugar-sweetened drinks, cigarettes, cars, and fuel – a burden on poor Filipinos. The
government is trying to ease that burden with cash assistance. Duterte wants Congress to pass
a second tax reform law.

Bangsamoro autonomous region and government

The signing then ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law is a major achievement for both
the Mindanaoan President and Congress.

It built on the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro, signed during the Aquino
administration. Duterte has appointed officials to lead the new Bangsamoro government and
continues to be involved in shepherding the region.

Universal health care

Beginning with a campaign promise to give the poorest Filipinos access to hospitals and
medicines, Duterte ended up pushing for and signing the Universal Health Care law, with the
help of Congress. Now it’s a major measure that was often used in the 2016 campaign as
brownie points for voters.

Free college education

Although it was never a campaign promise, Duterte pushed for the enactment of the free tertiary
education law, against the advice of his economic managers. The government’s fiscalizers now
face the challenge of finding funding for this expensive law every year but it’s a welcome
development for Filipino families everywhere.

Cutting red tape

Duterte’s simple promise to reduce processing of government permits to 3 days has branched
into various presidential actions meant to cut red tape. He signed the Ease of Doing Business
Act, issued an executive order for faster anti-poverty services, put up the 8888 hotline for citizen
complaints, and constantly reminds Cabinet members to streamline processes in their
departments.

Aggressive infrastructure plan

Promising to build “legacy” railways during his term, Duterte has thrown his support for his
economic managers’ Build, Build, Build program. The government secured a loan from Japan
and the Asian Development Bank for the North-South Railway.

It also got a loan from Japan for the rehabilitation of the rotting Metro Rail Transit Line 3
(MRT3). But it’s Duterte’s promised Mindanao Railway that still lacks funding. Despite talks with
China for this project, there is still no signed deal.

Environmental policies
Some of Duterte’s most decisive policies were on the environment. In fell verbal swoops, he
closed world-famous Boracay for rehabilitation, jump-started efforts to clean Manila Bay and
Laguna Lake, and got Canada to take back its illegal garbage stranded in the Philippines for 6
years. He’s threatened mining companies and local government officials who don’t follow
environmental regulations.
EDSA traffic problem
Duterte himself admitted he has been unable to untangle EDSA from its perennial traffic mess.
Commuters still endure long hours on the road, a result of congestion, bad urban planning,
inefficient public transportation, and unharmonious or unenforced traffic rules. Many times,
Duterte has laid the blame on Congress for not giving his Cabinet emergency powers to deal
with the problem. Lawmakers, however, have said the Duterte government hasn’t presented an
adequate plan.

Assert Hague ruling during his term

More than halfway into his term, Duterte is yet to assert the Philippines’ victory over China’s
claim to the West Philippine Sea. He has reminded Chinese President Xi Jinping once, to which
Xi repeated China’s non-recognition of the ruling. Maritime law experts have called on Duterte to
gather international support for the ruling, as a way to pressure China into respecting it. But
Duterte refuses to do this, saying he prefers to preserve warm ties with Beijing.

Hardline stance vs corruption

Though Duterte almost regularly makes announcements that he’s fired top officials or even
dozens of personnel at a time due to corruption, he has not been transparent about these
decisions. Many times, officials he’s fired claim to be fighting corruption themselves.

The public is left to wonder about the real reasons for their axing. Most of these officials are also
yet to face criminal or administrative charges. Add to that Duterte’s penchant for reappointing
officials who have been accused of misdeeds and you get mixed assessments of Duterte’s so-
called “one whiff, you’re out” policy.

Respect for rule of law, human rights

In his first SONA, Duterte promised his administration “shall be sensitive to the State’s
obligations to promote, and protect, fulfill the human rights of our citizens, especially the poor,
the marginalized and the vulnerable and social justice will be pursued, even as the rule of law
shall at all times prevail.”

But in his presidency, he has belittled human rights and threatened to harm human rights
activists. He has told cops to “massacre” drug addicts and to plant guns on drug suspects so
they would be justified in shooting them. Though he swore to protect the Constitution, Duterte
has repudiated it several times, like when he threatened to declare a revolutionary government
or when he said the constitutional provision that he should reserve resources in Philippine
waters for Filipinos is for the “thoughtless and senseless.”

There were also many times he stretched the law just to crack down on critics, convincing many
of his dictator-like tendencies.

Shift to federalism
He claimed to launch his presidential bid with federalism as his main advocacy. His national
party, PDP-Laban, fielded him because of his support for this form of government. But halfway
into his term, Duterte has given up on the idea. Instead, he has told Congress to make other
changes to the Constitution.

Return coco levy fund to farmers

In 2016, Duterte and his then-running-mate Alan Peter Cayetano promised poor coconut
farmers they would benefit from the coco levy fund in their “first 100 days” in office. Three years
have passed and this is yet to happen.

Fifty months and two weeks into his presidency, people must remember 10 things about the
ailing Rodrigo Roa Duterte—his five major achievements and his five major failures. The
achievements gave the Filipino strongman a dizzying public approval rating of more than 81% in
most of 2019 (2020 tells a different story).

His five major achievements:

1) Significant poverty reduction and economic inclusion

Significant or a 6.8-percentage-point reduction in poverty from 23.5% of the population when

Duterte began his presidency to 16.7% by the end of 2019—equivalent to 6.1 million Filipinos
rescued from poverty, defined as earning just $2 a day, thanks to three major policy reforms –
the Rice Tariffication Law (which removed rice monopolies and allowed importations that
brought down rice prices; rice is 15% of the consumer basket); the TRAIN or Tax Reform for
Acceleration and Inclusion Law of January 2018 (which exempted from hefty income taxes
those earning no more than P250,000 a year, the bulk of low income earners, thus freeing
billions for consumption or savings); and the Universal Health Care Act, a socialist act copied by
countries like Thailand but which is being undermined by massive corruption at the state health
insurance agency, PhilHealth.

2) The campaign against illegal drugs

Hugely popular, with almost two of every three Filipinos believing the number of drug users in
their area has been reduced since Duterte came to power in 2016, Tokhang (a slang meaning
knocking at your doors in search of criminals) has resulted in some 7,000 drug lords and addicts
eliminated from the face of the earth in just two years (twice the number the late Ferdinand
Marcos was accused of killing in 20 years of strongman rule; human rights watchers insist
Duterte killed more than 27,000 but give no proof).

Crime likewise came down. The campaign invested Duterte with the gravitas of a strongman, a
leader who can get things done by the sheer power of his will – and that of his police and armed
forces.

3) Sanctioning of abusive utilities

The President went hammer and tongs against the utilities like water and telcos. He sought to
scrap the long-term contracts, secured in 1997, of the two major water concessionaires serving
16 million customers in the Metro Manila and nearby provinces—the Maynilad Water of the First
Pacific Ltd group of Antoni Salim of Indonesia and Filipino CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan, and the
Manila Water Co. of the old-time Ayala family and the Singapore government—unless they
accepted new contract with better terms to the Philippine government. Stung, the two water
companies gave up P11 billion in arbitral awards –refund from unapproved rate increases.
Ayala’s Manila Water sold 25% of its equity to ports tycoon Enrique Razon for P10 billion with
the latter eventually taking control of the utility.

4) Breakup of some oligarchies

Oligarchy - Mga makapangyarihang pamilya na gumagamit ang impluwensiya at kapangyarihan

sa halalan at politika.According to Philippines Star, ito ay ang mga mayayamang negosyante na
may malakas na impluwensiya sa mga pulitiko o gobyerno na ginagamit upang lalong
yumaman.

Isang halimbawa ay ang mga negosyanteng madalas na nagpopondo sa mga kandidato tuwing
eleksiyon. Kapag nanalo ang sinuportahang pulitiko, namamayagpag sila at magpapayaman
nang husto na ang publiko ang talo o dehado.

The closure on May 5, 2020 of broadcast behemoth ABS-CBN Corp. of the old Lopez oligarchy
is not a retribution against a pesky media institution nor intended to intimidate if not silence
critics in media. It is, if you believe government, an attempt to break up oligarchies. The
Lopezes are the original Philippine oligarchy, with their power and influence dating back to the
1800s, or seven generations.

"Without declaring martial law, sinira ko ‘yung mga tao na humahawak sa

ekonomiya at umiipit at hindi nagbabayad... Every election noon o sa ngayon
o bukas sabihin nila sa isang kuwarto lang ‘yan, ‘O adre, sinong kandidato
natin ngayon? O ikaw diyan, ikaw ang bahala sa ano ha, you raise the funds...
Lima ata lang ang tao. Isang pamilya lang ang nag-uusap diyan. Ganun nilaro
nila ang bayan ko. Kaya ako mamatay, mahulog ‘yung eroplano, p***** i**, I
am very happy. Alam mo bakit? Sabi ko without declaring martial law, I
dismantled the oligarchy that controlled the economy of the Filipino people,"
ani Duterte.

Sinabi ito ng Pangulo ilang araw lamang matapos patayin sa Kongreso ang
aplikasyon para sa bagong prangkisa ng ABS-CBN.
The House of Representatives, where radio-tv franchises originate, rejected on July 10, 2020,
nine bills seeking to renew for another 25 years, the franchise of ABS-CBN, which expired on
May 4, 2020. In one year, listed ABS-CBN’s market value dropped by 56% from P13.54 billion
in May 2019 to P6 billion today. The company had to lay off nearly all its 11,000 workers.

In the first three years of his six-year presidency, Duterte had lashed out at so-called oligarchs,
among them self-made property tycoon Roberto V. Ongpin (who is actually related to Duterte on
his mother side, Roa), Manuel V. Pangilinan of the telco behemoth PLDT and its Indonesian
First Pacific companies, and the Ayala family, owners of the Philippines’ oldest conglomerate.
Later, in the wake of the pandemic, Duterte apologized to Pangilinan and the Ayala family for
the hurting words.

Ongpin divested from one of his listed companies and was not bothered by Duterte ever since.
Pangilinan’s Maynilad Water and the Ayala family’s Manila Water waived claims to arbitral
award of more than P11 billion in water fees due from the government and promised to remedy
allegedly “onerous” provisions in their long-term concession contracts. Relatedly, the
government managed to collect P6 billion in overdue aviation fees from Philippine Airlines
owned by Lucio Tan, once reckoned as the country’s second richest Filipino. After a warning
from Duterte, the Consunji family which built the quake-damaged Ecoland condos in Davao was
forced to refund unit owners at 125% to 150% of acquisition cost.

Martial law not needed to run after oligarchs

Four days after the House rejection, Duterte addressed troops in battle-weary Jolo, Sulu. The
President enthused in Pilipino and English: “I can die, fall from a plane. I am very happy. You
know why? Without declaring martial law, I dismantled the oligarchy that controlled the economy
of the Filipino people.”

“The rich,” he said, “milk the government and the people. Without declaring martial law, I
destroyed the people who strangle our economy and do not pay (taxes). They take advantage
of their political power.”

The emphasis on “without declaring martial law” is meant to convey that Duterte was more
powerful (or probably smarter) than the late Ferdinand Marcos who had to declare martial law in
1972 and proceeded to breakup the various oligarchic families starting with the Lopezes whose
ABS-CBN radio-tv network was seized as part of the strongman’s effort to reform society.

5) Savvy fiscal management

Under Duterte, the Philippines achieved its highest ever credit rating—BBB+ in April 2020,
despite COVID-19. In June 2020, Japan Credit Rating Agency even upgraded the Philippine
rating to A-, with a stable outlook.

Japan’s top debt watcher, JCR is smaller than the top three credit rating agencies Fitch Ratings,
Moody’s Investors Service, and S&P Global Ratings.

But the JCR upgrade came at a time when the Philippines was deep in the deepest recession in
its history as result of the world’s longest and most severe lockdown that shut down the
economy for seven months, eviscerating 73% of GDP, closing 70% of businesses, laying off
some 20 million workers, and impoverishing half of the population in an instant.

The five major failures of President Duterte are:

1) The Philippines’ Greatest Depression

In the second quarter 2020, the Philippine economy slumped to its lowest ever in the country’s
history, a 16.5% contraction in economic production. On top of the 0.2% contraction in the first
quarter 2020, the 16.5% GDP growth drop means the country is now in recession with first half
contraction of 9%. It is the worst recession in our history.

For the whole of 2020, the economy is expected to decline by 10%. BizNewsAsia estimates the
GDP contraction for the whole could be as large as 30% — assuming a loss of P1.5 trillion for
each month of lockdown and the lockdown – the longest and severest in the world – has run for
seven months—meaning half of economic production is gone.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez explains that “no matter how much money countries
pump into their economies, their GDP would have shrunk massively, anyway. It is not the sheer
size of the stimulus package that matters now but also whether it is actually saving the
productive parts of the economy. This is because the problem is not a systemic contraction or a
cyclical bust. Simply, necessary mobility restrictions hamper aggregate demand.”

No recovery in 2021

Government economists had earlier projected a recovery of 7% to 8% in GDP growth rate in

2021. That is now overly optimistic. Without a vaccine for general use, contraction could
continue well into 2021.

When the President came to power in July 2016, he stumbled into the greatest and longest
economic expansion in the country’s history—70 consecutive quarters of growth. Duterte
himself added 14 quarters of growth before it went negative in the first quarter of 2020.

Begun in 1999, the expansion meant a 4.2-fold increase in the size of Philippine economy (from
$72.2 billion in 1998 to $304.9 billion in 2016), a dramatic reduction in poverty, and middle
income status for Filipinos, with their per capita income exceeding $3,000.

Worst economic performance

Today, Duterte presides over the worst economic performance of the Philippines ever. It is also
the worst in ASEAN. The economic collapse also makes him the worst president ever in terms
of economic performance.

And that is all due to the second biggest failure.

2) Pandemic mismanagement

Duterte imposed one of the earliest lockdowns in the world. The longest and most strict
lockdown in the world failed to contain the pandemic. When the President imposed the
lockdown on March 15, 2020, there were only two confirmed cases 10 days before that. At this
writing, the Philippines is the pandemic epicenter in the 11-nation ASEAN with a total of 248,947
cases. It is No. 22 in the world in number cases, only 9,000 cases below No. 21, Germany.

Still, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez says “the decisive (lockdown) helped us avert an
estimated 1.3 to 3.5 million infections according to researchers from our universities. The
lockdown enabled us to reinforce our health system and build up our capacity to do widespread
testing in our communities. From just around 1,282 actual PCR tests per day conducted in the
last week of March, our capacity has grown to about 32,000 average daily tests this (August).”

Infections worse without lockdown

Adds Dominguez: “Without the lockdown, the rate of infections and deaths could have been
much worse. The latest data suggest that a little over 1% of all COVID-19 cases in the country
are severe or critical. Our mortality ratio, on the other hand, is at 2.5 people per a hundred
thousand. We are deeply concerned about the mortality ratios we are seeing in some countries.
Based on recent data, the EU member states average 31 deaths per hundred thousand, the UK
is at 70, Spain at 61, Sweden at 57, and the US at 52 people per hundred thousand.”

3) Unprecedented human rights violations

What has made Duterte a strong president, the vicious illegal drugs campaign, has also given
him one of his major failures—massive human rights violations. Critics say he killed more than
27,000 in the guise of eliminating the pervasive illegal drugs curse.

Human Rights Watch says many of the 27,000 are “vigilante-style killings perpetrated by police
officers themselves or by killers linked to the authorities.”

Authorities admit to 7,000 deaths during the campaign. Any numbers above that are classified
as “homicides under investigation”.
Aside from the drugs war killings, the Human Rights Watch has also noted the politically
motivated detention of his most prominent critic, Senator Leila de Lima, the removal in May
2018 of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, the revocation of amnesty given Senator (now
retired) Antonio Trillanes IV who led mutinies in 2002 and 2007, and the passage of a new Anti-
Terror Act (ATA).

Recently, there had been sensational killings of known political activists, human rights
defenders, and alleged New People’s Army commanders.

Reporting on events in 2019, the Human Rights Watch noted wryly that “State security forces
and government-backed paramilitaries continue to harass, threaten, arbitrarily arrest, and in
some instances attack and kill political activists, environmentalists, community leaders, and
journalists.”

Relentless war on drugs

Duterte has vowed to continue his “war on drugs” which will be “as relentless and chilling on the
day it began.” He wants death penalty, banned under the Constitution for most crimes, to be
reimposed for drug crimes.

But the people love the President for the “drugs war”. In May 2019, two top allies made it
handily into the Senate elections which solidified Duterte’s power base. Longtime aide,
Christopher Go, and Davao’s former police chief, Ronaldo dela Rosa, who initially spearheaded
the “drug war,” were elected to the Senate. Dela Rosa was named to head the Senate
committee charged with investigating police matters and the “drug war.”

4) Failure to contain the communist insurgency and the Muslim separatist movement

The killings of political activists and alleged NPA leaders have failed to dent the 52-year old
communist insurgency. Muslim terrorists are on the warpath marked by a new phenomenon –
suicide bombers.

5) Coddling of the police and the military

Duterte has employed more generals, from the military and the police, than any other president
before him. More than 45 star-rank officers occupy cabinet and civilian positions in the
government.

Despite the overwhelming dominance of generals, the Duterte administration has not proved
itself any more competent nor any less corrupt than past administrations.

When the chief of the national capital’s police force was caught on social media having a
breakfast birthday party with more than 50 guests (despite strict lockdown prohibiting gatherings
of 10 or more people in one place at the same time), Duterte refused to fire the erring general.