AS we welcome the New Year 2019, we ponder on the direction the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte will take, considering the midterm election on May 13. The President still has a high satisfaction rating based on results of surveys by polling firms, the same as the previous Benigno Aquino III administration. This high satisfaction rating is a reflection of people’s satisfaction with his anti-drug policies despite criticisms from the international community and those with the local political opposition, like Sens. Leila de Lima and Antonio Trillanes IV.
The question that we are asking these days is whether the President’s popularity is transferable to his endorsed senatorial candidates in the coming midterm elections. Philippine electoral history shows that there is no such thing as a “12-0” win in the senatorial race in a midterm election. This historical pattern should be the warning for our President that opposition to his policies is well alive and that he has to give concessions to his opponents after the midterm election.
With regard to his other program--federalism--the Duterte administration should be cautious at crafting the proposed federal constitution, especially on the realignment of responsibilities from the national to local governments. The Duterte administration should realize that based on surveys from the Social Weather Station and Pulse Asia, people are reluctant to support his federalism agenda because of his preferred mode of revising the 1987 constitution: through a Constituent Assembly. That is not acceptable to the public.
If the President wants to leave fruitful legacies by the time his term ends in 2022, he has to negotiate with the political opposition instead of lambasting them with some silly quotes, in particular his tirades against the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy. Also, he has to back off from policies that cannot be realistically achieved any time soon, like a “drug-free” Philippines in 2022.--Joseph Solis Alcayde