Law and order, eradicating corruption keys to prosperity — Duterte

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines — Even if a president is given five successive 10-year terms in office, the Philippines cannot hope to achieve prosperity if problems on law and order and corruption in government persist.

Speaking during the first leg of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Laban ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) grand rally for Mindanao late Sunday night, President Duterte aired the sentiment and warned that Filipinos would need to look seriously into those concerns.

“One, if we do not have law and order for the entire country, and second, if we cannot stop corruption in government, I will tell and I will guarantee that this country can never hope to rise. Even if you give a president five 10-year terms it will always be the same for as long as we have trouble in this country and we are into the criminal war,” he said.

Duterte, who endorsed the PDP-Laban senatorial slate and the administration guest candidates as well as local bets led by mayoralty aspirant Celso Lobregat, also apologized for arriving late at the city’s Vitaliano Agan coliseum, saying he took the time to listen to a briefing by the Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom).

“Now, I was late and I ask for your apology. But summarizing, I was looking for what will really give peace to Filipinos,” he added.

The President also talked for more than two hours about his war on drugs, corruption in government and abuses by some priests. His speech ended at about 2 a.m. yesterday.

He said the country had already been forewarned by the US Drug Enforcement Agency, as early as the Ramos administration, to be careful as the Philippines is moving slowly towards a narco state just like Mexico and Medellin in Colombia. 

Duterte described countries affected by illegal drugs as “vague” or those that have a semblance of government and an army being controlled and run downstream by drug cartels.

“I have a problem because these eight million Filipinos are addicted to a deadly drug called shabu which will shrink your brain and render you inutile and, at the end, it will be just like Alzheimer,” he stressed as he appealed to all local government units to do something to stop the drug menace.

He pointed out that this has to be addressed or the country would risk having millions of Filipinos addicted to the drug and are likely to commit crimes when they run out of money to buy the drug or when under its influence.