'Professor' Roque gives Duterte admin a 1.5, 'imperfect but not mediocre'

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, a former professor at the UP College of Law, said he would give the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte a grade of 1.5 on a scale of one to five with one being the highest.

Roque made the remark on "The Mangahas Interviews" with only 15 months to go in the term of the Chief Executive. 

“Karamihan po ng barangays, drug free. Hindi pa 100% pero may isang taon pa naman. Iyong corruption, nariyan pa pero andun ang takot sa isip at damdamin ng mga kurakot. Sa mas kumportableng buhay, nariyan ang Build, Build, Build," Roque said in an interview with GMA News’ “The Mangahas Interviews”.

[Most of barangays are drug-free and we have one year to go to make it 100%. There is still corruption, but there is fear in the minds and hearts of corrupt people. For a comfortable life, there is Build, Build, Build]

“Halos lahat po ay nagawa na niya [He accomplished almost everything]. I’ll give it a 1.5. Not 1 which is the perfect but not 2 which is mediocre,” he added.

Roque said Duterte was a transformational President and brushed aside criticisms that his administration had been marred by deaths of thousands of drug suspects.

“It is political will, and that is the kind of President we need,” Roque said.

The United Nations (UN), however, has not been impressed with the Duterte government so far and said it was appalled by the apparent arbitrary killing of nine activists in the Philippines by security forces targeting alleged communist insurgents.

The UN was referring to the nine activists who were killed during police operations last March 7.

"We are appalled by the apparently arbitrary killing of nine activists," Ravina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, told reporters in Geneva.

"We are deeply worried that these latest killings indicate an escalation in violence, intimidation, harassment and 'red-tagging' of human rights defenders," said Shamdasani.

The killings happened in simultaneous police and military operations in the Batangas, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal provinces surrounding Manila. -NB, GMA News