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[av_heading heading=’‘DIGONG FAILED!’ | Militants rate president 74; Iloilo guv disagrees’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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Sunday, July 2, 2017
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Bagong Alyansang Makabayan – Panay members hold up placards condemning extrajudicial killings and the martial law in Mindanao, among other issues, during a rally outside the Iloilo provincial capitol. GLENDA SOLOGASTOA/PN
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ILOILO City – Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr. of Iloilo province and a militant group have contrasting assessments of the first year of the Duterte administration.
While Defensor lauded President Rodrigo Duterte for showing promise in his antidrug campaign, the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) Panay expressed discontent, saying the change Duterte vowed “has not come.”
Duterte took his oath as president on June 30 last year.
Bayan-Panay gave Duterte a failing grade of 74 out of 100.
“Medyo dismayado kita kay bangod ang mga pronouncements niya sang una — ang independent foreign policy, ang kalinong, ang contractualization, ang pangabuhian sang pumoluyo kag iban pa — nakita naton nga waay katumanan tubtub subong,” Secretary-General Elmer Forro told Panay News.
The organization staged rallies outside the Iloilo provincial capitol on Bonifacio Drive and at the Plazoleta Gay on Friday, June 30.
“Ang ‘Change is coming’ nga nabatian ta sa iya, sa tuod lang, wala naagom ukon nabatyagan sang pumoluyo,” said Forro.
Defensor believes otherwise. “I think napakita niya that he is capable magpamatuod sang iya promisa nga may change and reform parte sa kampanya sa ilegal nga droga,” said the governor.
He also commended Duterte for leading a “drastic shift” in foreign policy, something that he said previous presidents had not done.
“Sang una gasalig lang kita sa America. Te subong gintilawan niya nga mas bintahuso nga mangita pa gid kita sang dugang nga amigo kag salaligan. I think the President should be given a chance on that,” Defensor said.
And as far as he is concerned, the governor said the Philippines is doing well economically.
Defensor reiterated that he supports the proclamation of martial law in Mindanao.
Had the President not declared a military rule in the south, the clashes between state troops and the Islamic State-linked Maute terrorist group “could have gone worse,” he said.
The foreign policy of the administration is not as “independent” as Duterte promised, Bayan-Panay insisted.
“Nakita naton nga naglala pa gid subong kay may China na kag Russia nga naga-supply sang armas sa Pilipinas subong para ipatay man mismo sa mga Pilipino naton nga kautoran,” said Forro.
Duterte’s advisers were also implementing the same economic policies carried out in previous administrations, Forro claimed.
He also noted that extrajudicial killings continue, especially with the administration’s war on drugs, and that the peace negotiations between the government and the communist rebels are moving slow.
Defensor was one with the militants in criticizing the killings attributed to the war on drugs. “May mga incidents nga nagapakita nga may paglapas sang kinamatarong sang tawo,” said the governor.
Duterte also needs to work on his fight against graft and corruption, said Defensor. “I’m not very sure whether he (Duterte) made substantial progress insofar as the campaign against corruption [is concerned].”
Duterte appointees themselves were tagged in corruption issues, the governor said as he acknowledged that no government is perfect. “Dishonesty in a democratic form of government will always be there.”
“But isa pa man lang ni ka tuig,” said Defensor. “Let us give him (Duterte) more time to prove that he is very serious [against corruption, too].”
Bayan-Panay is also giving Duterte a chance to do better in the remaining years of his presidency as long as he listens to his constituents.
“Failed gid [in his first year] pero may tsansa pa nga makabawi sa masunod nga bulan kon mangin maayo ang iya performance kag kon pamatian ya ang demanda sang pumoluyo,” Forro said./PN
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