HILARIO, MICHAELA RUTH U.

HUMSS 12 – JACINTO

The Philippine Republic is currently headed by President Rodrigo Duterte. His

supervision became controversial because of the ways he administrating the country. Under his
presidency, there were issues and problems reported which left unsolved. However, despite all
these downsides he managed to done projects and implement laws for further development of the
country.

One of the most remarkable contributions that Duterte’s administration had was the reduction in
terms of poverty rate in the Philippines. It was reported that approximately 6.1 million Filipinos
experienced a rather comforting life away from indigence compared to the past. This caused a
markdown in the poverty rate from 23.5% before Duterte’s term to 16.7% of Filipinos in his
current governance experiencing poverty. These improvements were mostly the effect of tax
reform implementations.

In addition, he pushed the enactment of the free tertiary education law, that is not even in his
campaign promises. It was signed on August 3, 2017, the law promotes free tuition and
exemption from other school fees. It is institutionalized at state universities and colleges,
municipal universities and colleges in the Philippines. The act also envisages subsidies for
private higher education institutions. Now, it is beneficial among college students in universities
and colleges who can’t afford or have difficulties with their tuition and other school fees.

Furthermore, his administration contributes to environmental policies which includes the

cleaning in Manila Bay and Laguna Lake. In 2018, due to lack of proper sewage, he closed the
Boracay for 6 months to rehabilitate. He also got Canada to take back their illegal garbage that
was stuck in Philippines for 6 years.

The Build! Build! Build! (BBB) Program is also one of the highlights of Duterte's
administration. It seeks to usher the "Golden age of Infrastructure" in the Philippines. Build!
Build! Build! Program aims to develop the public expenditure from an average of 2.9 percent of
gross domestic product (GDP) during the Aquino regime to about 7.3 percent at the end of the
current administration. This will cost around P8 trillion to P9 trillion starting from 2016 to 2022
to address the immense infrastructure backlog in the country.
On the other hand, the current administration has faced a great dilemma upon the coming of
COVID-19 pandemic. The actions of the government in responding to people's need has been
tested and became controversial. Many people have said that his handling of the continuing
coronavirus pandemic has exposed his lack of serious policy. His decisiveness wasn't seen
despite the surging presence of COVID-19. On the latter part of January, some health experts
advised Duterte to implement travel ban from visitors coming from Wuhan China where the
infection was first reported. However, Duterte resisted and said that it could damage the
diplomatic ties with Beijing and added a joke that he would slap the coronavirus in the face. This
certain notion gained lots of disagreement among the people and other government officials
knowing the fact that we're battling on a serious health crisis.

His "war on drugs" campaign also became controversial due to its lack of proper due process.
“Find them all and arrest them. If they resist, kill them all.” (Duterte, n.d). In this quotation, we
could clearly see his lack of better and efficient ways to lessen the huge number of drug users
and pushers across the country. His morally unjustifiable actions killed huge number of
blameless people.

Likewise, his promise on defending our rights to own Spratly Island is still questionable. He only
left words saying he would go to the island himself while riding a jet ski then raise the Philippine
flag. But ironically, China's reigning their flag over their artificial land. It is saddening that the
lack and absence of action of his leadership only results false hope for the whole countrymen.
His words are all product of his boastful side personality which is not a good character of a
leader, he might as well don't engage in serious matter if he couldn't take his words seriously.

Despite having several loopholes in current administration, as a youth, we are still seeking for a
fine change, it's also good to note that we're not against government but against bad governance.
With this, if we are to ask more of them, it is on the aspect of integrity and empathy. On the
previous year, we witnessed how cruel our society is under Duterte's presidency. The use of guns
has been normalized to justify someone's illegal action without knowing the real root of the
problem. The emerging massive corruption, still, wasn't solved. It is our cry that someday,
someone will see the situation of unprivileged people, someone will see the real state and the
genuine needs of our country—an administration who will disregard their personal agenda for
the betterment of the state. After all, a leader is someone who is willing to do.

Despite having several loopholes in current administration, as a youth, we are still seeking for a
fine change, it's also good to note that we're not against government but against bad governance.
With this, if we are to ask for more of them, it is on the aspect of integrity and empathy. In the
previous year, we witnessed how cruel our society is under Duterte's presidency. The use of guns
have been normalized to justify someone's illegal action without knowing the real root of the
problem. The emerging massive corruption, still, wasn't solved. It is our cry that someday,
someone will see the situation of unprivileged people, someone will see the real state and the
genuine needs of our country—an administration who will disregard their personal agenda for
the betterment of the state. After all, a leader is someone who is willing to do his/her best even if
it means less for him/herself.