Filipinos urged: Be positive as new administration assumes office

Filipinos must maintain an optimistic mindset as the country transitions from one administration to another after the conduct of presidential election this month, a Palace official said on Saturday. 

In a radio interview, Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. was asked if the Palace worries about the country losing economic momentum as the Aquino administration hands over the leadership to the incoming administration.

Coloma said that in the last six years, the government had strived hard to maintain investors’ confidence for the Philippines.

“Kaya nga sa nakaraang anim na taon ay masigasig nating itinatag ang matibay na pundasyon, matibay na imprastraktura sa pamamagitan ng good governance o sa mabuting pamamahala,” Coloma told dzRB Radyo ng Bayan. “Paulit-ulit ngang pinupunto ni Pangulong Aquino: Good governance translates to good economics. At panatag naman tayo na ang pundasyon na inilatag ay matibay, hindi ito mabubuway dahil lang sa hangin.”

Staying positive will be good for the country, Coloma said.

“Mahalaga dito ay ang pagkakaroon ng positibong mindset. Hindi na dapat tayo mag-inject pa ng mga negatibong ideya sa ngayong panahon,” Coloma said.

“Mas importante ang pagiging positibo, ang pagiging optimistiko, at ang pagkakaroon ng matatag na paniniwala natin sa ating sarili na tayo ay mabubuting tao at kaya natin lumikha ng maaliwalas na kinabukasan para sa ating bansa.”

On the plan of presumptive President Duterte to retain some members of the Aquino administration, Coloma said it was up to the newly elected president to decide.

Duterte must be given a free-hand in choosing the composition of his Cabinet for him to get the best and the brightest, Coloma said.

“At sa aking personal na opinyon, makakatulong din ‘yung mayroong karanasan sa nakaraang administrasyon kumbaga ay mababawasan ang learning curve, ‘yung paghahanda, ‘yung pagiging maalam dahil meron ng nakaraang karanasan na pagbabatayan,” he added.

Meanwhile, it was learned that the incoming administration plans to launch a two-pronged strategy against illegal drugs nationwide.

Former Justice Undersecretary Jose Calida, a Duterte ally, said such strategy targeted reducing demand for and supply of illegal drugs in the country.

“Illegal drug’s permeation is already horrible—it’s almost 100 percent,” Calida said, explaining rationale behind the planned strategy.

He said he was optimistic the strategy would help reduce criminality in the country.

This week, Duterte’s camp also bared the economic agenda his government plans to pursue in the next six years. An inside source said the new leader believes the program will help further move the country forward and better address poverty.

Illegal drugs and poverty are the root causes of crime, Calida noted.

Known as the mayor who improved peace and order Davao City, Duterte campaigned on a platform giving priority action against corruption, lawlessness and the spread of illegal drugs nationwide.

“I’ll clean up this country,” he assured his audience during his ‘miting de avance’ last week in Metro Manila.

Calida said the government under Duterte would pursue an education campaign aimed at informing people—particularly the youth—about the dangers of illegal drugs.

“Knowledge of such dangers will help reduce demand for illegal drugs,” Calida said.

He also said Duterte’s administration would mount a nationwide crackdown against suppliers of illegal drugs in the country.

Among the crackdown’s interventions would be hunting down and arresting drug lords, bringing them to justice and dismantling their illicit laboratories, said Calida.

He cited plans to imprison drug lords and other hardened criminals in a high-security island-fortress like the United States’s former Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary.

Separating drug lords from the national penitentiary’s general population aims to curb their influence on prisoners and their reported involvement in illegal drug-related activities inside prison, he noted.

As a further precaution against proliferation of illegal drugs, Calida said Duterte’s administration plans to introduce reforms at Bureau of Customs.

He noted such reforms were needed since the Philippines was already a transshipment point for illegal drugs, as the government already scrapped the death penalty.

Unofficial election results from Commission on Elections-accredited poll watchdog Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting reported as of 10:45 a.m. Saturday (May 14) that Duterte leading the presidential race with 15.95 million votes.

Liberal Party standard-bearer and former Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas II trailed him at second place with 9.70 million votes followed by independent candidate Sen. Grace Poe (8.93 million votes), United Nationalist Alliance bet Vice President Jejomar Binay (5.31 million votes), People’s Reform Party candidate Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago (1.42 million votes) and the late Party-list Rep. Roy Señeres (25,145 million votes).

Señeres died in February this year; his name had already been printed on the ballot at the time of his death. Roxas, Poe and Binay have already conceded defeat and congratulated Duterte. PNA