'Imperfect but not mediocre': For 'Professor' Roque, Duterte admin deserves a grade of 1.5
By Deighton Acuin and Archie Villaflores
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| PHOTO: GMA News |
On the scale of one to five in which one is the highest, Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said he would give the administration under President Rodrigo Duterte a 1.5 rating.
Roque made the remark with 15 months to go before Duterte’s end of his presidential term.
“Karamihan po ng barangays, drug free. Hindi pa 100% pero may isang taon pa naman. Iyong corruption, nariyan pa pero andun ang takot sa isip at damdamin ng mga kurakot. Sa mas kumportableng buhay, nariyan ang Build, Build, Build," Roque said in an interview with GMA News’ “The Mangahas Interviews”.
“Halos lahat po ay nagawa na niya [He accomplished almost everything]. I’ll give it a 1.5. Not 1 which is the perfect but not 2 which is mediocre,” he added.
Roque said Duterte was a transformational President and brushed aside criticisms being received over thousands of dead individuals due to anti-drug campaign.
“It is political will, and that is the kind of President we need,” Roque said.
However, the United Nations has not been impressed with the government so far and said it was appalled by apparent killing of nine activists by uniformed personnel threatening alleged communist members.
The killings happened in simultaneous operations conducted by police and military in Batangas, Cavite, Rizal, and Laguna.
"We are appalled by the apparently arbitrary killing of nine activists," Ravina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, told reporters in Geneva.
"We are deeply worried that these latest killings indicate an escalation in violence, intimidation, harassment and 'red-tagging' of human rights defenders," Shamdasani added.
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