“I am thinking of stepping down because I’m tired." Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. AP photo

hilippine President Rodrigo Duterte should stop all this talk about quitting or stepping down before his term is up. It just makes him appear disingenuous. Does he really expect the Filipino people to believe that he is willing to give up everything: the pomp, the pageantry, the authority, and the power he now has, and go back to Davao to live the rest of his life in solitude? Unlikely!

Even those with humble ambitions will find it difficult to do such a thing. For someone like Duterte, who displays autocratic tendencies, it would seem next to impossible. In addition, given the parochial mindset of Filipino politicians, they step down only after their wife, husband, son, or daughter is ready to take over.

Duterte’s complaint that he is tired of all the corruption going on at every level of government only displays his inability to analyze problems correctly. If he studied the problem, he should have gotten a fairly good idea of its extent, and the effort required to fix it. Instead, it appears Duterte had no idea what he was up against, and probably realizes now that he seriously underestimated the problem.

During the 2016 elections, candidate Duterte also told voters he would put an end to the drug problem in 3 months. Again, it appears that his 3-month timetable was based on nothing more than candidate Duterte’s wishful thinking.

Since it is safe to assume that the country will have Duterte in Malacañang for the next 4 years, it behooves him to start acting more circumspect, and less erratic. Statements about stepping down only create unnecessary anxiety for Filipinos. The Philippines needs a leader with a steady hand to guide it through to 2022.
 
This requires that Duterte have greater respect for the office he holds. Shooting from the hip and making rash decisions should be a thing of the past. The president must realize that every decision he makes costs money. And the Philippines can ill-afford to waste its limited resources on half-baked programs, or projects not properly thought through.
 
There are a lot of topnotch people the president can tap to help him through the next 4 years. But first Duterte must accept the fact that he does not have all the answers. He must then reach out to the best and the brightest to help him move the country forward. The President owes the people, who entrusted him with their hopes and aspirations, as much. Published 8/16/2018