(Eagle News) – “I am here. Why? Because I am ready to start my work for the nation.”
These were the words of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, the 16th president of the Philippines, before he ended his 14-minute inaugural address that stressed what he intended to do as the country’s leader.
His speech was punctuated by his favorite quotes about good governance which he said he intended to do to address what he claimed was the country’s real problem – the “erosion of faith and trust in the government.”
“Erosion of faith and trust in government – that is the real problem that confronts us. Resulting therefrom, I see the erosion of the people’s trust in our country’s leaders; the erosion of faith in our judicial system; the erosion of confidence in the capacity of our public servants to make the people’s lives better, safer and healthier,” the President said in a speech that was well-applauded inside Malacanang’s Rizal Hall.
“Indeed ours is a problem that dampens the human spirit. But all is not lost,” he said.
President Duterte also addressed the questions and concerns of his critics – about his method of fighting criminality which was the main battlecry during his campaign.
“I know that there are those who do not approve of my methods of fighting criminality, the sale and use of illegal drugs and corruption. They say that my methods are unorthodox and verge on the illegal,” he said in his speech Thursday in Malacanang shortly after his oath-taking.
“In response let me say this: I have seen how corruption bled the government of funds, which were allocated for the use in uplifting the poor from the mire that they are in. I have seen how illegal drugs destroyed individuals and ruined family relationships.
I have seen how criminality, by means all foul, snatched from the innocent and the unsuspecting, the years and years of accumulated savings. Years of toil and then, suddenly, they are back to where they started.
Look at this from that perspective and tell me that I am wrong,” President Duterte said.
He said that “as a lawyer and a former prosecutor, I know the limits of the power and authority of the president. I know what is legal and what is not.”
“My adherence to due process and the rule of law is uncompromising. You mind your work and I will mind mine,” Duterte said.
The President mentioned two favorite quotes in his inaugural speech, which he said, would serve as the “foundation” of his administration.
Quoting the 32nd US President and statesman Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Duterte said “The test of government is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide for those who have little.”
He also quoted the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, when he said: “You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong; You cannot help the poor by discouraging the rich; You cannot help the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer; You cannot further the brotherhood by inciting class hatred among men.”
Duterte, who won by a landslide over his closest rival, Liberal Party’s Manuel “Mar” Roxas, said his “economic and financial, political policies are contained in those quotations.”
He promised to abide by completed contracts, and also warned his cabinet secretaries and officials of government not to bend rules in the middle of the game.
“I order all department secretaries and heads of agencies to refrain from changing and bending the rules government contracts, transactions and projects already approved and awaiting implementation. Changing the rules when the game is on-going is wrong,” Duterte said.
“I abhor secrecy and instead advocate transparency in all government contracts, projects and business transactions from submission of proposals to negotiation to perfection and finally, to consummation,” he added.
Duterte said his government would also respect international treaties already signed by the Philippines, as well peace agreements which had already been signed and which conform to the constitution.
He challenged the public to help his government succeed in fighting crime and corruption, including the illegal drug problem.
According to the President, for real change to happen and be made permanent and significant, that “change should start with us and in us.”
“To borrow the language of F. Sionil Jose, ‘We have become our own worst enemies. And we must have the courage and the will to change ourselves’,” Duterte said.
The President also promised to “listen to the murmurings of the people, feel their pulse, supply their needs, and fortify their faith and trust in us whom they elected to public office.”
He also reminded the public that he was elected to the presidency to serve the entire country, and thus would not be serving just one particular group.
“I serve every one and not only one. That is why I have adapted as an article of faith, the following lines written by someone whose name I could no longer recall. He said: ‘I have no friends to serve, I have no enemies to harm.’”
Former Presidents Fidel V. Ramos and Joseph Estrada attended Duterte’s inaugural ceremony, aside from other top government officials including Senate President Franklin Drilon, House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., and Supreme Court Chief Justice Lourdes Sereno.
Also in attendance were the members of his new cabinet, and the members of the diplomatic corps, as well as his family, friends, and supporters.
He also thanked those who came to his inaugural.
After his speech, President Duterte was given full military honors by the presidential security guards.
(Eagle News Service)
