MANILA – The Philippine economy and its institutions have been destroyed by the Duterte administration since it took over the country’s leadership in 2016, Albay 1st District representative Edcel Lagman claimed.
For the lawmaker, the situation has worsened in the last two years or so.
“The devastation wrought on the country’s economy and its institutions by the Duterte administration could be worse than the combined disasters caused by ‘Ondoy,’ ‘Yolanda,’ ‘Ompong’ and other typhoons and calamites,” Lagman alleged in a statement.
“When Duterte took over the presidency in July 2016, inflation was only 1.3 percent, now it is a crippling 6.4 percent due to no small measure to culpable government neglect and errant policies,” the lawmaker claimed.
“The exchange rate in July 2016 was P46.86 to $1.00, now it is a whopping P54.01 to $1.00 or a P7.15 deterioration in two years,” he said.
Apart from inflation and the exchange rate, the lawmaker is also blaming the Duterte administration for the worsening traffic situation, the rice crisis, and the higher poverty incidence, as well as destroying the judicial system.
“The present rice crisis of spiraling prices and shortage, whether actual or contrived, besetting the Duterte administration was absent when he assumed the presidency,” Lagman noted.
On the human rights front, the Philippines supposedly lost its regional standing because of Duterte.
Before the Duterte presidency, the Philippines was the acknowledged leader in the Asian Region in human rights protection and promotion, but the country has lost that premier status when Duterte campaigned for the restoration of the death penalty and violated human rights with impunity,” Lagman claimed. (GMA News)
