The long road ahead PRESIDENT DUTERTE TAKES OVER A PAINED AND SUFFERING NATION

By Manny Piñol

It has been months since I last mounted my bike and so yesterday I asked my brother, Pat, a very athletic retired police colonel, to take me on an easy 27-kilometer ride from Kidapawan City to our hometown M’lang in North Cotabato.

I was not actually prepared for the ride. My helmet strap was broken so I had to wear a Duterte cap, my cycling shoes were left in the family house in Davao City so I had to make do with a pair of running shoes and the bike’s tires were deflated because of months of inactivity.

The ride which I hoped would stretch my legs and induce sweating, however, turned out to be an eye-opener for me on what the new President, Rody Duterte, faces down the road of his 6-year term.

All the way, the scenery was a field of brown grass, dying trees and parched earth.

It’s been months since the El Niño ravaged the farm lands of most provinces in the country and farming families have virtually nothing to eat.

Duterte’s first problem is how to feed the millions of rural families who depend on the land starting on his first day in office and the next harvest time which would be about four months later.

Our officials do not realise this but the effects of the El Niño on the lives of rural families could be comparable to the devastation of Typhoon Yolanda, minus the thousands of bodies.

Many children will not be able to go to school this year because their parents barely have enough money to buy food.

The tragic Kidapawan Farmers Rally where three farmers were killed was not a Communist-inspired mass action as some people in government claimed it to be.

People are really hungry and desperate.

In the weeks prior to the elections when I had the chance of moving around the countryside, I saw first-hand the suffering of the people.

It is worse in the island of Samar where people are really neglected by their political leaders and where the votes are bought for as much as P3,000 each.

Along the highway, I actually saw people queueing up for their drinking water flowing from a single faucet and thatch-roofed huts sprout by the side of the road.

There is a need for President Duterte to declare a State of Calamity nation-wide so that the national government’s resources could be used to extend food aid to millions of families in the countryside who are hungry.

Actually, he has already made a commitment to undertake this immediate action starting Day One during the launching of the book “Feeding Millions” on April 21.

I agree with him that this should be the first order of the day.

While the media have given so much attention to President-elect Duterte’s pronouncement that he would issue an Executive Order to implement the Freedom of Information on Day One, feeding the hungry families should take precedence.

After all, Rody Duterte, during the campaign, has promised the nation that his governance will be focued on the well-being of his people.

“My governance will be very simple. It will be all out about the people. I will ask them: Have you eaten today? Are your children in school? Are they safe? Are you able to go to the hospital when you’re sick?,” he told the participants of the Food Security Forum we held in Davao City on April 21.

People should not expect miracles. Rome was not built in one day, the cliche goes.

The Philippines would be a more difficult problem because there would be dismantling, reshaping and rebuilding both of the systems in government and the mindset of people.

President Duterte is taking over a pained and suffering nation.

It is going to be a long road ahead for President Rody Duterte and the road is strewn with gargantuan problems which must be addressed and handled one at a time.

I’m sure President Duterte will be able to do the task and nobody could stand in the way.

After all, he does not owe any big interest group any favor neither did he buy votes en route to the Presidency.

All that we, his supporters, need to do is to give him a clear picture of what we see down the road as we travel in the countryside everyday.

(Photos of yesterday’s bike ride taken by Mark Piñol)