Lagman on Andanar’s claim that Duterte has fulfilled 4 campaign promises: ‘Pure fantasy’

Albay Representative Edcel Lagman on Monday lambasted Communications Secretary Martin Andanar's statement that President Rodrigo Duterte has already accomplished "four out of five" of his campaign promises, saying that this is "pure fantasy."

"It is utter miscommunication and disconnect for Andanar to assert that that the problems on poverty, the drug menace, corruption and peace and order have been solved," Lagman said in a statement.

Andanar said over the weekend that aside from the shift to federalism, Duterte has already fulfilled four of his campaign promises: solving the problems of crime and illegal drugs, corruption, poverty, and peace and order.

"Apat na po sa mga pangako ng Pangulo ay naipatupad niya. Isa na lang ang hindi. Iyong federalism," he said over radio dzRB.

But what Andanar failed to disclose, Lagman said, was any data showing that the annual nationwide incidence of poverty, which was at 21.6 percent in 2015, has been reduced to a "tolerable" level so far in Duterte's term.

"In Lanao del Sur alone, from 44 percent in 2006, 74.3 percent of residents lived below the poverty threshold in 2015 as reported by the Family Income Expenditure Survey," Lagman said.

"The poverty incidence in Lanao del Sur has increased from 44.2 percent in 2006, 59.4 percent in 2009, 74.4 percent in 2012 and to 74.3 percent in 2015, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority. The Marawi armed conflict, which devastated Marawi City and displaced hundreds of thousands of residents, exacerbated and continues to aggravate the poverty situation," he added.

Lagman also cited the results of the latest Social Weather Station (SWS) survey which shows that the number of Filipino families who consider themselves poor increased in the third quarter of 2017.

"SWS found the ranks of self-rated poor families rising by 3 percent in the July to September 2017 period to 47 percent from the preceding quarter’s 44 percent," he said.

Lagman also noted that unemployment has been very much present.

"Unemployment rate as of 2017 is 5.7 percent or equivalent to 2.4 million unemployed Filipinos, not considering a 16.1 percent underemployment rate, which translates to 6.5 million underemployed workers," he said.

Duterte's repeated request for an extension to address the drug menace also only shows that that problem persists, Lagman said.

The peace and order problem, he added, likewise continues, given the extension of martial law in Mindanao for another year. This, he said, is "an admission of the continuing problem of terrorist threats."

"The commitment of the President to forge separate peace settlements with leftist groups and with the Muslim separatist forces has faltered and appears to have been abandoned," he added.

Corruption and the traffic problems have not been resolved as well, Lagman said.

"Serious corruption has not been eliminated with only executives with 'excessive foreign travels' being axed, but high profile graft cases, except vendetta prosecution, remain in perpetual investigations," he said.

Lagman also said that despite Duterte's promise to solve traffic woes, "the problem has worsened in Metro Manila, Metro Cebu and Metro Davao, among other places."

Duterte, however, continues to enjoy high trust and approval ratings, as per the results of the December 2017 Pulse Asia survey.

Duterte received an approval rating of 80 percent and trust rating of 82 percent in an "Ulat ng Bayan" survey conducted by Pulse Asia from December 10 to 15 and 17 in 2017. — BM, GMA News