Drug war, free tertiary education, UHC Law top achievements of Duterte admin, says Velasco

If he will be asked, House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco thinks that the war against illegal drugs, the free college education, and the Universal Health Care law are the top three achievements of the Duterte administration.

Velasco said Thursday the government's campaign against illegal drugs helped in reducing the number of heinous crimes by 50%.

"One 'yung fight against drugs po niya, 'yung campaign against drugs mainly because hindi natin masyadong napapansin but during the time if you look at the statistics, 83-84% of all heinous crimes were because of drugs eh but because of this dedication in the fight against illegal drugs, na-cut na po ito by 50%," Velasco said in an interview with CNN Philippines.

(The fight against illegal drugs is among the top achievements because we usually don't notice but most heinous crimes were caused by illegal drugs. But because of the dedication in the fight against illegal drugs, these crimes were reduced by 50%.)

President Rodrigo Duterte's controversial drug campaign has seized P49 billion worth of illegal drugs, rescued 3,736 children from being involved in the drug trade, and arrested over 12,000 high value targets, according to Duterte's spokesperson Harry Roque.

It also resulted in the death of at least 6,000 drug suspects, government records showed. Local and international critics of the drug war have claimed that more than 20,000 individuals were killed amid the bloody campaign.

Aside from the drug campaign, Velasco also lauded the Free Tertiary Education and the Universal Health Care law of the government.

"Second po 'yung pagbibigay niyang pahalaga sa free tertiary education, napakaganda... akala po natin hindi natin magagawa ito but during his administration, binigay nga po natin 'yung tertiary education sa mga estudyante," he said.

(Second was the free tertiary education. We thought we cannot implement this but this was enforced under the Duterte administration.)

"Lastly po 'yung kanyang Universal Health Care. Napakaganda po, kala natin hindi natin magagawa na halos wala ng bayaran sa ospital ang ating mga kababayan but because of ating Universal Health Care... napakaganda, malaking tulong sa ating mga kababayan," he added.

(Lastly was the Universal Health Care law. We thought we could not make hospital fees free for the public but we did. This was a big help to all Filipinos.)

Republic Act 10931 or the "Universal Access to Quality Education Act" took effect in the academic year 2018-2019.

All Filipino students enrolled in state universities and colleges, local universities and colleges, and technical-vocational schools will be exempted from paying tuition and other school fees such as miscellaneous fees.

Meanwhile, the UHC law, which automatically enrolls all Filipino citizens to the National Health Insurance Program, was enacted in February 2019.

Velasco's achievement

Asked about his achievement during his during his term as Speaker of the House of Representatives, Velasco said it was being able to unite members of the chamber amid issues before that divided lawmakers, such as the term-sharing agreement between him and former Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano.

"I'm proud of, in all humility, na I was able to unite ang mga members natin sa Congress," Velasco said.

"Being able to handle all the other members of Congress, I think that will be the biggest achievement of my stint of less than a year as Speaker," he added.—AOL, GMA News