Duterte describes first year as ‘rollercoaster’ ride

Pia Ranada

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Duterte describes first year as ‘rollercoaster’ ride

PCOO-MALACANANG

But the President declines to give a detailed assessment of his first year in power, saying he can only do that if he is still alive at the end of his term

MANILA, Philippines – Declining to rate his first year performance as the country’s Chief Executive, Rodrigo Duterte instead described his presidency so far as a “rollercoaster ride.” 

“I do not make any assessment. I [will] only make [an] assessment after my term. Kasi (Because), I’m going—It’s a rollercoaster actually,” he said on Wednesday, June 28, during a chance interview at the Clark Air Base in Pampanga.

Duterte, who will be Philippine President for one year on Friday, June 30, said it’s only at the end of his term that he can weigh in on his successes and failures. (READ: The good, the bad: Analysts assess #DuterteYear1)

“While you are there, it’s a rollercoaster. So, it should be at the end of the ride,” he said.

He turned morbid when he said that if he is still alive in 2022, he will make public his self-rating.

“If I get to live, then I’ll tell you. If I don’t exist anymore by that time, you make your own assessment. Just be fair,” said the President.

The ongoing Marawi crisis and Duterte’s declaration of martial law in Mindanao has been his major cause of worry for the past few weeks, as he himself admitted in recent speeches.

He even said his growing bald patch is proof of the crisis taking its toll on him.

“Wala namang kalbo sa pamilya namin pero (No one is balding in my family but) I began to lose my hair at the back. Ang laki na ng patch dito (The patch here is so big),” he said on Wednesday during the anniversary of the Presidential Security Group (PSG).

Duterte supposedly can’t help but scratch his head in frustration, especially after reading the growing list of dead among soldiers and police in Marawi.

“In my scratching, because I can’t scratch in front, I lose hair in the back. At night, I grapple, especially when I read the briefer and how many soldiers I have lost for the day,” he said in a mix of English and Filipino.

“More than anybody else, ako ‘yung naghihinakit (I am the one hurting). I really wallow in sorrow because ako ang nag-utos na pumunta diyan at makipag-away kayo (I was the one who ordered that they go there and fight). That is the moral burden that I carry all day and all night, sa totoo lang (truth be told),” he said. 

In the past weeks, Duterte has busied himself visiting military camps to boost the morale of soldiers. Last June 20, he dropped by an evacuation center in Iligan City to talk to displaced Marawi residents. 

Duterte said he plans to go to Marawi himself on Friday, incidentally the day he marks his first year in power. – Rappler.com

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Pia Ranada

Pia Ranada is Rappler’s Community Lead, in charge of linking our journalism with communities for impact.