Pubdate: Mon, 02 Jan 2017 Source: Philippine Star (Philippines) Copyright: PhilSTAR Daily Inc. 2017 Contact: http://www.philstar.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/622 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) Author: Marichu A. Villanueva DUTERTE'S NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION No matter how the questions were rephrased, the President stuck to his guns in his replies on his much criticized campaign against illegal drugs. For a man who made a campaign vow to bring genuine change in the country, it may come strange. For his new year's resolution, President Rodrigo Duterte promises no change in his administration's offensive campaign against illegal drugs. President Duterte though already publicly declared "sorry for the unintended" killing of innocent by-standers in his administration's deadly war against illegal drugs. But President Duterte vows to continue the anti-drug campaign despite the alleged extra-judicial killing controversies that hounded him in his first six months into office. The presidential new year's resolutions were echoed repeatedly in marathon television interviews one after the other at Malacanang Palace last Thursday. Six TV networks were given one hour each to do exclusive sit-down interview with President Duterte. Yes, President Duterte had a total of six hours sit-down interviews starting at 4 p.m. spread out in half day. For someone who could only sleep by 2 a.m., the President was still in his best elements up to the last interview that ended past 11:30 p.m. The 72-year-old President had to woke up very early the next morning last Friday to lead the traditional flag-raising rites to mark the death anniversary of our country's national hero Dr. Jose Rizal. Whether he was able to sleep at all, we did not see it from President Duterte who strode very crisp in the early morning flag-raising rites in front of the Rizal Monument in Luneta. Wearing barong tagalog with his signature rolled up sleeves, President Duterte charmed everyone who attended the early morning commemorative rites at Luneta. After his meet-and-greet with the guests who included members of the diplomatic corps present, the President crossed the street and went to the crowd. It caught off guard his Presidential Security Group (PSG) close-in escorts when he suddenly walked all the way to the crowd who were restrained by the barriers. Instead of directly riding back to his vehicle, the President took his sweet time to shake hands with his horde of well-wishers. The only worry that President Duterte had in mind was the thought of being pulled up into air when he leads the raising of the gigantic Philippine flag. Actually, uniformed military guards were actually the ones pulling up the flag from behind the President and other government officials who by tradition helped raise the tricolor. This was the first time President Duterte did this in his 40 years in the public service. The former Davao City Mayor will have to do the same thing over and over again for the remaining five years and six months of his term. That is, if it will be his destiny to finish and complete his term without being ousted from his office, or dies due to either sickness or assassination. President Duterte repeatedly stressed during all these TV interviews. During these six interviews, he was asked the same question of alleged ouster plot. It is non-issue because he has been vocal even in his public speeches on his fatalist views about life. The ouster plot gained was revived following supposed "blueprint" on how to remove President Duterte from office crafted supposedly by former US ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg. The US Embassy already thrashed the so-called "blueprint" ouster plot. It was obviously cashing in on President Duterte's running feud with the former American ambassador. The President much earlier admitted he has not forgotten how Goldberg commented on a human rights issue raised against him during the presidential campaign. President Duterte though did not show any signs of fatigue, not even inconsistency in his replies during each and every interview. Sadly, many questions were practically repeated over and over. I just don't know if these separate sit-down TV interview running one after the other was the idea of President Duterte. Or perhaps, former TV broadcaster Presidential Communications Office Secretary Martin Andanar became too accommodating to please every network. It started with Pinky Webb for the CNN-Philippines; then Linda Jumilla for ABS-CBN/ANC; Jessica Soho sat for GMA-7; Maria Reza of Rappler took over; TV5 news anchor Luchie Valdez came in; and Rocky Ignacio with a newcomer news reader of PTV 4 were the last ones. Just how the order of interviews were arranged in that order was beyond me. But we must give credit to the sheer stamina of the Chief Executive. He kept cool answering to all questions, no matter how repetitive. As we say in our street language, he sounded like a broken record, though in a positive way. No matter how the questions were rephrased, the President stuck to his guns in his replies on his much criticized campaign against illegal drugs. The President vows to observe "no compassion" for those engaged in illegal drugs. The only change that will certainly happen this new year, the President disclosed, is the scheduled changing of the guard at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). But this change will come only by the middle of 2017 when his losing vice presidential runningmate, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano takes over from outgoing DFA Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. The Chief Executive reiterated Yasay merely acceded to his request to join his Cabinet and help him in the formative months of his administration. A boarding mate while they were still both law students, the former Davao City Mayor is only thankful that Yasay heeded his request. Under the country's laws, Cayetano and others like him who run but lost in the last May 9 national and local elections are covered by the one-year ban on appointive office. As per their gentlemen's agreement, Cayetano will take over as DFA Secretary after the lapse of this one-year ban. In fact, Cayetano has tagged along as official member of the Philippine delegation in all state and official visits done by President Duterte in the past six months. And the Senator has been practically attending the Duterte Cabinet meetings that take him to Malacanang almost up to the wee hours of the day. This should explain why Cayetano has been out and missing action at the Senate because he is already doing an on-the-job training as DFA Secretary-designate. With Cayetano joining him later on full-time basis in his Cabinet, President Duterte's new year's resolution for 2017 is to expect no change in the war against illegal drugs, crime and corruption. - --- MAP posted-by: