Duterte camp to critics: Dialogue instead of ‘black propaganda’

MANILA, Philippines -- The spokesman for presumptive president and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte called on critics to hold a dialogue with the mayor instead of resorting to what he called black propaganda.

“Here is an unsolicited advice to them - dialogue with the incoming government instead of mounting black propaganda to be heard. And listen to your units in Mindanao. Otherwise, you will be proving to be yet another bunch of trapos,” Duterte’s spokesperson Peter Laviña said on his Facebook account.

Laviña was reacting to groups criticizing the incoming administration after it announced its eight-point economic agenda last Thursday.

Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) Secretary General Renato Reyes and Ibon Foundation earlier pointed out that the Duterte administration seems poised for a “continuation of the neoliberal economic policies” of past administrations. Ibon Foundation said Duterte is no different from other candidates.

“Many believe that Duterte’s win is an affirmation of the people’s disenchantment with 'daang matuwid', the embodiment of the Aquino government’s neoliberal policies – that it is best to move forward rather than look back. But a second look at Duterte’s economic plans reveals that the failed 'daang matuwid' of the past will remain a significant part of the country’s future,” a report from Ibon Foundation stated.

“The proposed Duterte eight-point economic agenda is a continuation of the neoliberal poison imposed on the people by the Aquino regime,” Reyes said in a statement.

Broadly, neoliberalism emphasizes free trade and free markets, cutting public spending on social services, deregulation and privatization. 

On the other hand, Laviña said the Leftist group failed to recognize the friendship and cooperation extended by the incoming Duterte administration. He said these critics made a “patented error in reading the national situation and made a grave one in pulsing the mood of our people.”

The Makabayan bloc of party-list groups affiliated with Bayan declared support for Sen. Grace Poe in the 2016 elections. She conceded defeat hours after the elections as it became clear that Duterte's lead had become insurmountable.

“Leftist groups have rejected the hands of friendship and cooperation by the incoming Duterte administration by mouthing their usual criticism of others but not undertaking their own criticism, self-criticism,” Laviña said.

“I am truly sorry for these Leftist groups which will be left out in the march of history with their dogma and belligerent styles and methods of work. They need to right their wrongs and stop becoming roadblocks to genuine change. They should bring down their utopian dreams closer to reality,” he added.

Laviña said that Leftist groups in Mindanao were more grounded and that the national leaderships of those groups should follow suit.

On Thursday, Duterte’s transition team announced the eight-point economic agenda of the incoming administration which include plans on taxes, infrastructures, social services and rural development and ending contractualization.

Carlos Dominguez, a member of the transmission committee, mentioned public private partnership as well as welcoming foreign investment and continuation and widening of conditional cash transfer as part of these agenda. These drew ire from some groups as it is a continuation of the Aquino administration’s economic policies.

Reyes proposed a different eight-point economic program he claimed is “anchored to real change.” These include ending the neoliberal economic policies of the Aquino regime,pursuit of national industrialization, economic sovereignty, strengthening domestic economy, and ending the import-dependent, export-oriented, pre-industrial economic set-up among others.

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