Andronico Del Rosario
Has President Rodrigo Duterte given up on his campaign promise to get rid of corruption in the government? His latest speech seems to say he has.
On Monday, September 28, Duterte once again expressed his intent to “resign as President of the Philippines” because of rampant corruption in the country.
“In my many years in government, wala nang katapusan itong corruption. Mahirap talaga pigilin,” the President said. He said that in his many years of public service, no one has been successful in removing corrupt officials and practices.
He appealed to Congress to enact laws to help him fight corruption because he “cannot fight corruption alone.”
He also mentioned the advantage of having a parliamentary system—one of his many campaign promises, saying it is the only solution he sees. “It’s only done in parliamentary countries.”
After hearing this, social media blew up with the hashtag #PaalamDuterte, with reactions ranging from those supporting the President’s resignation…
#PaalamDuterte is trending.
God, I hope so. I hope he really retires or resigns from politics for good.
LET LENI LEAD, PLEASE.
One can only take so much of all the stupidity, shenanigans, & shillyshallying for the past 4 shitshow yrs.
Let #PaalamDuterte be a reality already.
— Francis Baraan IV (@MrFrankBaraan) September 29, 2020
Why is #PaalamDuterte a top trending topic?
You guys should focus on doing something more productive. Don’t waste your time tweeting #PaalamDuterte.
He’s not going anywhere. Yet. So let’s stop posting #PaalamDuterte stuff. Not funny. #PaalamDuterte is NOT funny.
— The Professional Heckler™️ (@hecklerforever8) September 28, 2020
We keep on shouting our demands but we are lack of having the sense of doing our role as a citizen. Ok, I rest my case coz nobody will ever understand how fucked up our country because of our endless clash of who should rule our country. #PaalamDuterte
— BobTheCat (@MrNobadieBoby) September 29, 2020
You started with good intentions.
You did the wrong things, for the right reasons.
You gained the habit of announcing your next move to the public. Granting opportunity for your enemies to prepare.We have even more snakes to behead now.
But, you did your best. pic.twitter.com/aWADpPhcgQ— Ken (@TsujigiriK) September 29, 2020
Filipinos: "We need to end the pandemic."
Government: "Here's a prenup venue."#PaalamDuterte https://t.co/jVX93PrORh
— HIDILYN KLUM (@Punongbayan_) September 29, 2020
https://twitter.com/godryn/status/1310652463364452352
#PaalamDuterte #DuterteResign #LetLeniLead srsly!!! we're all asking him to step down for months now, what is he even waiting for??? if this is a sincere statement, he should've done it the moment the public started calling him out. otherwise, this is all just a political stunt. pic.twitter.com/i4VewzaSTa
— ᴮᴱathena⁷ (@athenaminyoongi) September 29, 2020
Hindi disrespectful ang #PaalamDuterte dahil siya na mismo ang nag-offer na mag-resign, to get out of government and ask somebody else to takeover. pic.twitter.com/meC6v3BkpV
— Roentgen (@ronaldgem) September 28, 2020
… to those demanding “respect for the President”, even as the pronouncement came from the Duterte himself. Most of these “respect the President” reactions, however, seem to come from Twitter accounts either created fairly recently or having very few interactions and tweets.
https://twitter.com/legendofdaryl/status/1310609162414379008
https://twitter.com/maxnodalo/status/1310629811950252033
Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto, III has told people to dismiss the President’s offer to resign, saying it should be “corrupt officials who should think of resigning, not the President.”
Senate President @sotto_tito on PRRD’s “offer” to resign due to too much corruption in the country:Dapat yun mga corrupt sa gobyerno makaisip nuon, hindi sya. He was elected by the country, he cannot turn his back on the specified task by the Filipinos! I don't think he means it.
— sherrie ann torres (@sherieanntorres) September 29, 2020
Malacañang has echoed Sotto’s sentiment, with Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque saying Duterte “will use his last 2 years to clean up government agencies [of corrupt officials].”
Pres. Spox. Roque: Zero tolerance po talaga ang Presidente laban sa korupsyon. Hindi natuloy ang resignation ni Presidente. Tingin ko hindi po siya magre-resign ngayon dahil 2 taon na lamang ang natitira sa kaniyang termino, pero igugugol niya para linisin ang ahensya sa gobyerno
— PTVph (@PTVph) September 29, 2020
Duterte’s threats to resign? Not the first time
This is not the first time Duterte has offered to resign from his post. In 2019 alone, he has expressed his intent to resign if the military asks him to or if his son, Davao City 1st District Representative Paolo Duterte, wins the house speakership.
2018 would prove to have the most number of times Duterte expressed his “willingness” to resign.
August saw him saying he will only resign if Bongbong Marcos or Alan Peter Cayetano will succeed him as president, bypassing the constitutional succession of power when the President is forced to step down from his position before his 6-year term ends.
In May, he said he would resign if anyone can prove he was behind the ouster of former Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno. A month prior, he said he would resign if Congress fails to pass the Bangsamoro Basic Law.
February would see him telling the Filipino people he would resign if he failed to increase the salaries of soldiers and police officers.
He also joked about resigning in the same year if he sees a selfie of someone with God (July 2018) or if enough women signed a petition asking him to step down after kissing a woman during his visit to Seoul, South Korea (June 2018).
The biggest—and most likely serious—attempts of Duterte to resign were if Congress was to pass a new constitution or shift to federalism and if his son Paolo was indeed a corrupt official during his time in Davao.
His longest-standing promise so far: in November 2017, he said he will resign if he fails to eradicate the drug problem in the country. He previously promised to do away with the country’s drug problems in 3 to 6 months. He would then ask for a 6-month extension on his self-imposed deadline.
Duterte would later say it is impossible to end the drug problem in his first year as president, and said his war on drugs would persist until he steps down from the presidency in June 2022.
