In 2016, then Mayor Rodrigo RoaDuterte ran for president with promises to make the country better. Was he able to fulfill these promises in his one year at the presidency?
Yes, he did according to a study by the University of Mindanao’s Institute of Popular Opinion. The survey conducted May 17-26 in fact revealed that 89.38 percent of Dabaweños are satisfied by the performance of the President in keeping his campaign promises.
This high percentage translates into an excellent mark for President Duterte, according to Prof. Adrian Tamayo of UM-IPO.
This survey is about the performance measure on the promises made by the President during the election, Prof. Tamayo told the KapehansaDabaw.
In the performance indicators, Duterte was rated highest at 96.21 in his promise to decentralize the Philippines by pushing for a federal form of government, particularly in Mindanao. But in contrast, he got a failing grade of 72.15 in so far as internet connectivity and access is concerned.
The performance indicator that really pulled the ratings of the President is theDecentralized of Phil by pushing the federal form of government particularly in Mindanao with the rating of 96.21 percent.
In the perception of Dabaweños this is the most impressive initiative, said Tamayo. Second is Kill big time drug lord and suppress drug trade with the rating of 90.11 percent and coming in third is Stop corruption in governmentcomes third with a rating of 88.14.
On Economic performance measures, the promotion of family planning to stop over population obtained a rating of 87.31 percent. He explained that it is not really about health because the intention is for economic consideration. Dismantle the cartel of alleged rice smuggler got a rating of 85.85 percent; and amendment of the constitution to lift the law restricting foreign investment with 84.41 percent as seventh, tenth and twelfth respectively.
As for Anti- poverty measures like the distribution of coco levy funds to farmers obtained a rating of 82.71 percent; discontinuing the previous land reform program law attained a rating of 82.62 percent.
Increasing the infrastructure spending to 7% of GDP obtained a rating of 85.19 percent. In the survey, the Dabaweños were also asked about the traffic in Manila, though it is far issue from Davao but still it was one of the promises he made,it got 76.15 percent. Ranking last is the Improvement of internet connectivity and access which obtained 72.15 percent. “Well you may also observe that there are already initiatives to improve access point. But access point is different from the speed.” Tamayo said. Compare to our neighboring countries our internet connection is laggard. “So we are getting our internet from outside which is still in control of few firm. The distribution perhaps really differ, noh, it’s a competition when it’s distributed, but the source of it is still in completion. So there’s really a need to improve perhaps arrest the market condition for the internet.” he added.
Aside from the promises Pres. Duterte mentioned, the study also included the significant drivers of performance that greatly affected the ratings of the President. These are rolling-out of local laws to become national, massive anti- corruption campaign in the government, improvement of internet speed and accessibility, final solution to drug problem, family planning, wages and equipment of police and military, suspension of the previous land reform, the solution to Manila traffic and lastly end of labor contractualization.
The Dabaweñoswere also asked about their opinion with regard to the destabilization against the current administration. 80 percent of the Dabaweños believe that Duterte can withstand threats of destabilization, 2 percent believes otherwise, while 14 percent indicated that it is too early to speculate.
The study also included the important and relevant issue on peace. It is noted that five in twenty Dabaweños are positive that peace agreement is possible with the NPAs and eight believes that it is impossible. Their perceptions perhaps are affected by the activity of the said group. “Looking through some mga data before and some further analysis, it’s because there are less engagement, encounters happening with Moro insurgents than with NPAs” Tamayo said. It was also observed that there are more Dabaweños who witholdconviction on the peace initiatives with the Moro than with NPAs.
The respondents of the survey revealed their opinion about the contribution of the Duterte administration to the country as a whole. It was noted that 78 percent believes that this administration can support massive development for the country, 4 percent believes other wise and 17 percent refused to give their opinions.
