Crime, traffic: Tirades aside, what Duterte has done in 100 days

MANILA — Mr Rodrigo Duterte’s promise of radical change helped win him power in one of Asia’s oldest democracies. Since taking office in the Philippines, he’s certainly shaken things up.

But while his profanity-littered tirades capture headlines, alongside a war on drugs that has seen more than 3,000 people killed, what about his key campaign pledges?

“He is like a stereo. On one channel, he is shock and awe — a lot of pronouncements, a lot of revelations,” said Mr Segundo Romero, a professorial lecturer in development studies at the Ateneo de Manila University. “When you look at the actual management in government work, which is planning what to do, making decisions and making things happen, that has really not moved so much.”

The former Davao mayor, 71, inherited one of Asia’s strongest economies with growth around seven per cent. But his challenges are complex and long-running, ranging from terrible traffic jams in the capital to creaking infrastructure to high crime rates. And while polls show Mr Duterte’s trust rating is over 90 per cent, he needs to deliver on the economy to reassure investors who have pulled money out of local markets in recent weeks.

“The older you get the more impatient you become,” Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said at a recent briefing. “That’s the hallmark of the president. He’s very impatient. That means we’re going to get things done faster.” Nearly three months in, here’s where Mr Duterte stands:

DRUGS AND CRIME

Mr Duterte has repeatedly vowed to make ordinary Filipinos feel safer by tackling illegal drugs and crime.”I have long warned them to stop using drugs. Now, they still have not stopped. They asked for their own death, not me,” he said in June.

His campaign has seen over 22,000 drug suspects arrested and about 731,000 people turn themselves in. Half the deaths have been at the hands of the police.

Human rights groups argue that innocent people or those who are simply addicts risk being killed, and that the campaign won’t halt drug use. Mr Duterte has publicly attacked leaders from US President Barack Obama to United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon for questioning his actions.

For now Duterte is undeterred. “Our next move is to go after the high-value targets. My goal is to see every village free from drugs,”National Police Chief Ronald Dela Rosa said by phone, adding the volume of crime has fallen 49 percent.

CURBING CORRUPTION

Mr Duterte has pledged to crack down on graft, urging senior officials to shun sports cars while banning the use of honorifics like “your excellency” for himself and his cabinet.

Since taking office he has accused senior police officials of being on the take and oligarchs of using their influence to promote business interests. “I would hate to read your names in public and maybe authorise your arrest,” he said in August, referring to big tax evaders.

Mr Duterte is seeking to simplify government transactions to minimise opportunities for graft. At the Bureau of Customs, an office was created to centralise collections. He’s asked local governments to cut the time for new business registrations to two days from several weeks and automate some transactions. As of late September, more than 70 per cent of 1,389 local governments surveyed were in compliance, according to Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez.

POLLUTING MINERS

Mr Duterte and Environment Secretary Gina Lopez have targeted miners, ordering them to comply with environmental rules or shut down. The country is the world’s biggest supplier of nickel ore used in China’s stainless steel industry.

After an initial audit, 10 miners were suspended and 20 were told “to get their act together”. They also face suspension unless they can respond to shortcomings within days.

Still, miners on the warning list say they are confident of staying open. And Mr Duterte’s actions could rebound: Chamber of Mines President Philip Romualdez has said that US$25 billion (S$34.2 billion) of investments are on hold and three quarters of a million people could lose their jobs.

TRAFFIC JAMS

Filipinos have long bemoaned snarling traffic jams and creaking mass transport. Transport agency chief Arthur Tugade pledged to capitalise on “euphoria” after Mr Duterte’s win to get things moving.

Mr Duterte has settled a longstanding dispute so two of three elevated railway lines in Manila can now be interconnected. He has sought emergency powers so he can put roads through private subdivisions, ban provincial buses on a major highway and increase the capacity of metro lines, according to officials. But he’s made little tangible progress.

In the longer term, Mr Duterte has signalled he’s willing to take Chinese money for infrastructure, something his predecessor was loathe to do given territorial tensions in the South China Sea.

ECONOMIC REFORMS

For Mr Pantaleon Alvarez — leader of the majority bloc supporting Mr Duterte in the lower house — economic growth is “meaningless” unless it benefits the poor. He’s pushing to pass by mid-2017 a package to cut personal income tax and adjust excise taxes on petroleum products.

The Finance Department has submitted its first package of tax reforms. “Without reforming our tax system — so that it becomes fairer, simpler and more efficient — the government cannot undertake the volume of spending required to achieve our goals,” Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said at the time.

Mr Duterte aims to reduce poverty to 17 per cent in six years from 26 per cent now, and make the Philippines a high-income country in one generation. “This is not a pipe dream,” Mr Dominguez told a recent business gathering. But to do that, growth must stay at 7 per cent for the next generation, he said.

CREATING JOBS

The economy is underpinned by remittances from Filipinos working overseas. While growth is helping keep a lid on unemployment — the jobless rate is 5.4 per cent — Mr Duterte has pledged to improve both the quality of work available and pay.

His administration is studying a nationwide minimum wage. “The difference in salary encourages migration, causing an explosion of the population in Manila and leading to other problems,” Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello said by phone.

The government is moving to halve the number of workers on short-term contracts before the end of the year, Mr Bello said. “His endgame is to see to it that our countrymen will no longer have to go abroad to look for employment,” Mr Bello said of Mr Duterte. “It’s a long-term goal, but he’s starting to create the climate for local and foreign investment.”

PEACE IN MINDANAO

Decades of conflict in Muslim-dominated Mindanao have left the southern island with the highest poverty rate in the country.

“We want an inclusive approach to the peace process,” Presidential Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza said by phone. A second round of talks in Oslo with Maoist groups starts Thursday (Oct 6).

Still, achieving peace is a big ask, and Mr Duterte has said he doesn’t want to deal with the Islamic Abu Sayyaf group. “Even during our time, we can achieve only milestones,” Mr Dureza said. “Peace building is a lifetime.” BLOOMBERG