PRESIDENT Rody Duterte?s rise to the Philippine presidency is truly unprecedented.
A reluctant candidate with no definite campaign apparatus in place, he was up against the formidable political machinery of the previous administration.
Not only that, he only had a couple of months to get his campaign rolling but when he did, boy did he steamroll over everybody.
HOPE. Nelson Mandela once said, ?Let your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears? and I could not think of a better adage that would be truly emblematic at this particular time in our nation?s history.
Yes, I have my fears.
I fear that the relentless no-nonsense campaign against drugs and criminality will take its share of innocent casualties.
I fear that the people close to him may not have the nation?s best interests at heart.I fear that the plan to bury former President Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani may cause more divisiveness.I fear these and many more.
Yet we must remember that our hopes should be greater than even the sum of all our fears. If we let ourselves be conquered by our fears then we might as well give up.
So I have hope that we can finally end this undulating ribbon of corruption that besets our government.
I hope that we can finally win the war against criminality and the drug menace, take back our streets and our children and make families whole again.
So I choose to be hopeful rather than fearful. I choose inspiration over dissuasion.
And with that hope for a better tomorrow, comes the challenge each and every one of us faces.
How can we help? Should we help? Yes of course. The new needs help. The new needs friends.
So instead of criticizing him by saying he can?t solve the drug problem in six months why don?t you put down your yellow-tinted glasses and say you?ll help him do it in five?
I know the last part was probably a bit exaggerated, but hey, you get the point. We all want the drug menace and criminality eradicated.
So stop whining and acting like a bigot. Move on and man up.
So what if your candidate lost? Let us build upon the gains that the Pnoy administration has bequeathed us, and supplement and supply where it became deficient. Stop the backstabbing and instead let?s get each others backs.
SPORTS. President Duterte?s take- no- prisoners approach towards the drug problem will certainly have far-reaching implications.
I leave the law enforcement aspect to the police, but I will delve on the rehabilitation aspect of the drug user.
This early hundreds of drug addicts have already voluntarily turned themselves in. Expect more to come in the coming months.
What to do with them? Do we have enough rehabilitation facilities to accommodate them? If we don?t , do we just turn them away to become a feckless herd, hoping against hope that the drug urge will magically disappear by itself?
I say no, because we are losing a golden opportunity to help them stay clean and become productive members of our society.
Their parents will be grateful for any help that can be extended their way.
The strong iron hand of the law should be tempered with an alternative.We punish but we should also encourage. We enforce but we also help.
And by that, I propose a comprehensive boxing program put in place especially for drug dependents.
But why boxing? ( to be concluded on Wednesday)
LAST ROUNDS. Are on Vivian Tero and BTAA?s Yvette Yntig Dapat who recently celebrated their birthdays. Cheers!
