PH needs a full-time President

WITH the country’s economy sound and improving as President Marcos Jr. said in his SONA , and I may say, stable and on the verge of recovery, BBM has now to face challenges and threats up ahead as I stated in my last column.

As agriculture secretary, BBM has laid the groundwork for an assurance of food security at affordable prices, Santa Banana, for food on the table for the poor.

In the same way, the President has laid the groundwork for producers and farmers to be assured of good and sustainable production, like the availability of fertilizers and much-needed irrigation.

In short, President Marcos has made the Department of Agriculture ensure food security and at affordable prices and producers to be able to continue producing more.

The assurance of affordable prices, which was difficult because of the continuous smuggling and manipulation of prices because of hoarding, was also targeted by BBM as he cracked down on cartels and syndicates.

The promise by BBM to build more roads from farm to table for the producers and farmers has come.

At this point, it may be asked: Isn’t it time for President Marcos Jr. to hand over the DA to a full time secretary?

Shouldn’t BBM have more time to meet all the challenges and threats yet to come during the rest of his six-year administration?

For sure, there are challenges and threats up like the need to ensure the country has sufficient energy.

He talked about the need for nuclear energy,

To achieve his dream that all Filipinos also dream of, we need a President that can devote his time 24 hours a day in the fight against poverty isn’t it time the country gets energized by nuclear power?

There is also the need to make all Filipinos avail themselves of healthcare, especially among the poor in remote areas.

This will need more healthcare centers where they are most needed.

Likewise, there is also a need to ensure everybody has water, especially here in the National Capital Region which suffers from water allocation and rationing when dams like Angat Dam are affected by El Nino.

In his SONA, the President ordered Congress to create the Department of Water Resources Management, and about time, too, my gulay!

Yes, we need a full-time secretary of agriculture, just as we also need a President who must and can attend to the country’s needs.

BBM spoke of our country being sound and improving.

To achieve his dream that all Filipinos also dream of, we need a President that can devote his time 24 hours a day in the fight against poverty.

Mr. President, I have been a journalist for over four decades, and indeed you promised to fulfill the dreams of all Filipinos until the end of your term, I believe you can. And with enough prayers, I also think you can do it.

A new face

The acceptance of the resignation of 18 ranking officials of the Philippine National Police, who include three generals and 15 colonels found to have links and issues with illegal drugs, should not end there.

They should be charged criminally and administratively.

And above all, the move to cleanse the police of scalawags should continue.

There are no less than 943 PNP officials called to resign for their links and ties with illegal drugs.

The President had promised a “new face” in the war on drugs, clearly to distance himself from Duterte’s “kill, kill, kill” campaign against illegal drugs that produced so many extrajudicial killings.

The “new face” BBM speaks of is communitybased prevention of the proliferation of illegal drugs, and rehabilitation.

But, when we speak of rehabilitation, I can think of nothing less than the building of community-based rehabilitation centers which are properly staffed with doctors and nurses that are capable of the rehabilitation of drug users and drug addicts.

We must take note the proliferation of illegal drugs which is now a menace can hit the poor and the rich alike.

And where there is a need for illegal drugs, syndicates and cartels are always there to meet the demand.

It is well to note a holistic approach to end illegal drugs is first, prevention, second, law enforcement, third, prosecution and fourth, rehabilitation, with rehabilitation as the best remedy to fight illegal drugs.

It is simply a matter of supply and demand.

When there is no demand for illegal drugs, syndicates and cartels won’t exist.

It’s the poor who are the easiest victims of illegal drugs. They need drugs to assuage their hunger and when they are addicted to illegal drugs like shabu, they become pushers to earn more money to continue their addiction.

Thus, when there is no supply, there’s no demand.

On top again

Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte maintains her top-ranking as chief executive not only in Metro Manila, but in the National Capital Region insofar as approval and trust ratings are concerned from her constituencies based on the latest evaluation conducted by an independent and non-commissioned survey research firm, RP Mission and Development Foundation Inc. (RPMD). The survey was part of the national “RPMD’s