“An epic failure.”
This was how Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, an opposition member, described on Thursday President Rodrigo Duterte’s first year in office.
“Lagapak (Miserable failure). Talagang (Truly a) massive failure, epic failure itong administration ni Duterte on all fronts ha,” Trillanes said at a regular forum in the Senate.
The senator noted how the Duterte administration failed to improve the traffic situation in the country, address the peace and order situation, and create more jobs as he promised the people during the campaign.
“Nag-improve ba yung traffic? Hindi, di ba lumala? Yung MRT nag-improve ba? Hindi, lumala. Ito yung mga ipinangako nila ha at in fact, maraming nalinlang na mga kababayan natin na ito daw si Duterte may political will, ito yung mag-aayos ng basic na problema. Hindi, pinalala nya,” he said.
(Did the traffic situation improve? No, it worsened, right? The MRT did it improve? No, became worse. These are their promises, in fact a lot of our countrymen were fooled that this Duterte has political will, that he’s the one who’s going to fix basic problems. No, he just made it worse.)
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“Sabi nila noon yung magre-restore sya ng peace and order. Ngayon ba ay peaceful ba sa bansa? Sabi nga ni (Foreign Affairs) Secretary (Alan Peter) Cayetano, para na tayong Singapore. Para na ba tayong Singapore?” Trillanes asked.
(They said it before that he’ll restore peace and order. Is it peaceful now in the country? As Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said we’re now like Singapore. Are we now like Singapore?)
“So ginulo nya e, ginulo nya yung bansa e. Lahat ng aspeto ngayon, yung NPA (New People’s Army), at will nag ri-raid lang tapos meron silang protection sa gobyerno because of the peace talks? So saan sya nag deliver, sa presyo ng bilihin? Nagtaasan na lahat. Trabaho? Hindi, nabawasan yung trabaho, marami ngayon ang unemployed so saan sya nag nag succeed?” Trillanes further asked.
(Actually he messed up, he made a mess out of the country. In all aspects today, the NPA is at will conducting raids and then seek protection from the government because of the peace talks? So where did he deliver, in the prices of commodities? Everything went up. Jobs? No, jobs are declining, a lot of people now are unemployed, so where do we see him succeed?)
Instead of protecting the citizenry, the senator lamented that the President’s first order when he assumed office was to kill drug suspects.
“Simula ng nagpapatay sya ng mga Pilipino, doon pa lang zero na sya. Hindi pwede yun e. Presidente ka ng bansa e dapat pinoproteksyunan mo sila. Kung nalihis man sila sa landas ikaw ang nagtutuwid e. Aalagan mo sila dapat e, hindi mo sila papatayin,” he said.
(Since he started the killings of Filipinos, right there he got zero. That is not acceptable. You’re the president of the country you should protect them. Their life may become wayward, you should be the one to correct them. Take good care of them, not murder them.)
Trillanes said Malacañang did not do anything to improve the lives of Filipinos. JPV/rga