EDITORIAL: Fresh start

As we usher in the year 2018, we typically start the year from scratch–fresh beginnings, new goals set, and resolutions made. That’s always the promise of the new year and we look forward to making up for the missed opportunities of the past year.

2018 will be no different. However, with the mid-term elections set in 2019, it is expected that this year will be eventful especially in politics.

The Duterte government will enter its second year and the President’s election promise of eradicating illegal drugs in six months, initially, has fizzled out. After a year’s extension, still the worrisome drug problem has not been extinguished completely and the President himself has aked for yet another extension. How the ilegal drugs war, bloody as it has been, will move on this year should be crucial in determining whether the massive support to the Duterte leadership will continue to be rock solid or begin to weaken.

There is also the Federalism movement that has yet to inch further into its voyage towards a new political system. Its fate, for sure, will weigh much on the allies of the administration come elections next year as this is expected to be the political base anew for which the PDP stronghold will be anchored on.

And then there’s the peace process. The blow hot blow cold talks with the Communist rebels is another determinant to how 2018 will go.

How the economy will fare will likewise depend on how the infrastructure development and the new tax innovations will work to the country’s advantage, but if the optimism expressed by government ecconomic planners would be relied upon, there should be something to be excited about.

At the end of the day, the year’s fresh start will only work to motivate us to better our performance in the previous year. A whole lot of factors will interplay in the coming months. Let’s brace for the exciting and challenging times ahead.

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