President Duterte should not waste his last 3 years

It was the first time in ages that I was out of the country during the mid-term elections as my plane left on May 11 for our family vacation in Europe. So when the results of the elections came I got the news in my Facebook page that the poll surveys showed the opposition Otso Deretso would not make it to the Magic 12 came true. I got back home last Friday and I reviewed all the local and national newspapers and realized that we did not just have a Mid-Term elections, but we had a historic elections that most of the old guard politicians lost their election bids.

A case in point is in Cebu where all the infamous Osmeña’s lost their bids. Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña lost, Senatoriable Serge Osmeña lost and Toledo City Mayor, John “Sonny” Osmeña lost his Congressional bid. Only Jun Jun Osmeña, the son of the late Vice-Mayor Renato Osmeña won his re-election bid. In the 5th District, Rep. Red Durano lost to Duke Frasco, the first time that the Durano’s lost its Congressional bid in 70 years.

In Manila, former President now Manila Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada lost to Vice-Mayor Isko Moreno. I had dinner with then Vice-Mayor Moreno in Manila and supported his Mayoralty bid. In Bohol, former Cabinet member Leoncio Evasco, Jr. lost to Arthur Yap. Evasco’s hand was raised by Pres. Duterte. So if there was cheating in the polls, how could one supported by Pres. Duterte lose? There’s more!

In Davao, all candidates allied with former House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, who was ousted as House speaker reportedly at the instigation of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, won the local polls in the province. So in a way, the vaunted “magic” of President Duterte and his daughter Sara failed to work in their own turf in the Davao provinces. So was there cheating in the last elections?

So when he was in Japan last week, Pres. Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte made a speech calling for the Commission on Elections to ban Smartmatic from the automated polls. Finally it has happened from the mouth of the President. However, Malacañang maintained that there was no fraud in the May 13 elections. So if you ask me… the President should have made that speech way back after the 2016 Presidential polls. Sure, the President may have won his bid, but what was surprising and disturbing was that the polling surveys showed then Liberal Party (LP) Presidential bet Manuel “Mar” Roxas tailing behind, Vice-Pres. Binay and Sen. Grace Poe. But at the end of the day, he ended up second only to DU-30. How could this have happened?

But then in 2016 Pres. Duterte did not make a speech questioning Smartmatic when he should done so. But our proof came out three months later when Trish Bautista, the estranged wife of Comelec Chief Andres Bautista accused her husband of making so much money it became a national headline. That was the time for a thorough investigation, but alas no one cared and today the former Comelec Chairman Bautista has disappeared, enjoying the money he made as Comelec Chairman. If this was not graft and corruption, I don’t know what it is! This for me was a major question that Filipinos should have demanded as their right to know.

In a media forum Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said they could not just blacklist any supplier from public bidding. “We need legal basis to do that. We have to study this thoroughly... But I think it is clear here that the President still wants automated elections. Maybe he just wants a new supplier,” he noted. Wait-a-minute! Why should the Comelec investigate itself? Jimenez probably thinks that Filipinos are so stupid they would accept anything decision that the Comelec makes. If you ask me… there should be an Independent investigative body to investigate the Comelec and Smartmatic and Jimenez should not be a part of this investigation.

At this point, I would like to suggest to Pres. Duterte that he should use the last three years of his Presidential reign to come up with changes that would make a better Philippines. For instance he just said that he wanted the Philippines to be like Japan… this means that we should shift into a parliamentary form of government. Yes, I dare say that it is high time for us to change the 1987 Constitution because it has been 30 years old already and it need changes and that time has really come.

If you ask me, there should be a way to change the Constitution every ten years to ensure a proper political and economic growth of our nation. We know too well that the Liberal Party (LP) refused to amend to change the 1987 Constitution because they were beholden to the Aquino Family who refused to have it changed. There should be no provision where a political family can have a stranglehold of our constitution, which only benefits their family… but not the Filipino people. So Pres. Duterte should not waste his last three years as President or his very high popularity and do the changes now!

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