THE central theme of President Duterte’s inaugural speech is how to restore and fortify the people’s faith and trust in the government.
The widespread problems of corruption, criminality in the streets, and rampant sale of illegal drugs are mere symptoms of a virulent social disease—the erosion of faith and trust in the government and its key institutions. It’s a virus that “dampens the human spirit” and “cuts into the moral fiber of Philippine society.”
It has become a serious grievance issue. As suggested by the first Philippine Trust Index (PTI) of Eon Stakeholders Relations, in the four times the PTI was released since 2011, the government consistently rated among the least trusted institutions in Philippine society.
The phenomenon, of course, is not unique here. It appears like a global trend. Erosion of trust in the government and public institutions is behind many of the political upheavals seen all over the world today—including the ascent of Donald Trump in the United States. Established governments are replaced by voters with outsiders.
Perhaps, the election of President Duterte is also an example. Despite key reforms and gains made under President Benigno S. Aquino III and his consistently high approval ratings, very little was achieved toward restoring faith and trust in the government as a whole.
Unlike traditional inaugurals, President Duterte did not get into the details of his broad policy goals. What he did, though, was to order all department secretaries and heads of agencies to reduce the processing time of all the people’s applications or requests with them—in short, unburden the ordinary Filipino of an unhelpful, sometimes oppressive, bureaucracy. That could very well be the first decisive step to restoring the people’s faith and trust in their government.
E-mail: angara.ed@gmail.com.
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