Palace says ‘drastic change’ marked Duterte's first 6 months in office

Malacañang on Friday underlined the changes that President Rodrigo Duterte introduced in government after he won a campaign promising "tunay na pagbabago." 

 

"Six months has passed since his (Duterte's) inauguration as the 16th President, the nation has already witnessed drastic changes in public governance characterized by courageous and compassionate leadership and constant performance," Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said in statement on Duterte's yearend accomplishment, which also coincided with his first six months in office. 

 

Palace highlights "drastic changes in public governance" to mark PDuterte's sixth month in office pic.twitter.com/uPbsEpcXfq

— Trisha Macas (@trishamacas) December 30, 2016

 

Other Duterte-accomplishments Andanar pointed to were the gains made in the so-called war on drugs, the push for an independent foreign policy, and the peace process with communist and Moro rebels. 

 

He also claimed that the Duterte government had turned the country's economy into the "fastest among emerging Asian economies" and brought unemployment to its lowest level in over a decade. 

 

Andanar also reiterated the Duterte administration's commitment to spend more on infrastructure "to usher in the golden age of infrastructure and bring forth the promise of real change in the country." 

 

The government also prioritized the poorest by implementing and improving basic services, with an emphasis on free education, free hospitalization and medicine, and free irrigation. 

 

"The President hit the ground running in the first six months and we expect much more will be done in the succeeding months and years," Andanar predicted.

 

"After all, the President’s heart is in the right place, and he has only the interests of the Filipino people and the nation in his mind first and foremost." — DVM, GMA News