Known to be President Rodrigo Duterte’s supporter, most of the people were surprised to read about former President Fidel V. Ramos’ column, where he assessed the first 100 days of the Duterte administration as the Philippines “losing badly.”
Ramos further expounds on Tuesday, October 11, in his interview with ANC’s Beyond Politics, that there is a need for Duterte to lay down a strategic plan for the Philippines for the long-term.
As the president’s “teammate,” Ramos clarifies that he will continue to give advice to Duterte, during which he will not leave out constructive criticisms.
“I mean well. That must be the first assumption you must make with me. I consider myself a teammate of President Duterte, and a teammate of the bigger team, the more important team, of 101 million Filipinos,” the former President stated.
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According to Duterte himself, Ramos personally visited him in Davao City a few times to convince him to run for the presidency.
He goes on to say that although the war on drugs by the administration is praiseworthy in reducing the crime rate, the President still needs to address the other concerns of the Filipino people because “we are a multi-cultural society” and we have “a multitude of issues and concerns.”
Ramos is expecting Duterte to present a long-term strategic plan that is “targeted towards our children and his grandchildren.”
“First of all, [there is] the lack of, or small presence, call it, of long term strategic vision which in my own modest words, I say should be our purpose of whatever age we might be – that is, simply, a better future for the Philippines and all Filipinos. Strategic in the sense that you don’t accomplish that in six years, but targeted towards your children and my grandchildren,” Ramos said.
Ramos said that the war on drugs is a solution to the country’s problem, it is only a part of the whole as there are other issues the Philippines is facing that need to be resolved, particularly providing a better quality of life to the Filipinos.
He saw that there is “uncertainty” in the people because there are no results that can be provided by the current administration to show any improvements, adding that he wished for Duterte to articulate his ideas for the Philippines.
Source: (news.abs-cbn.com)
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