‘Duterte Legacy’ brags about govt’s ‘fruitful’ years: Andanar

DUTERTE LEGACY. Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Martin Andanar, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, and other Cabinet officials lead the launch of the “Duterte Legacy” at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) on Friday (Jan. 17, 2020). The campaign seeks to highlight the successes and sacrifices made by President Rodrigo Duterte and his administration to bring progress to the country. (PNA photo by Avito C. Dalan)

MANILA – The “Duterte Legacy” campaign seeks to highlight the successes and sacrifices made by President Rodrigo Duterte and his administration to bring progress to the country, Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar said on Friday.

During the launch of the “Duterte Legacy” campaign, Andanar noted that the President has fulfilled his promises “with great resolve and confidence.”

He added that Duterte, during his “fruitful” years in office as the highest official of the land, has carried out his mandate as a “father to our nation.”

“He (Duterte) is the face, the voice, and the spirit of a nation that has been revived from lethargy and indifference, towards a horizon of positive and meaningful change,” Andanar said in his keynote speech.

“Through the ‘Duterte Legacy’ Campaign, we are grateful and privileged to showcase through print and digital media, the honest summaries of successes and sacrifices of public servants in order to achieve our national goal of development,” he added.

The PCOO-initiated campaign intends to promote the government’s efforts and accomplishments in living up to its promise of bringing “real change” to the lives of all Filipinos.

The communication drive focuses on the three key pillars of the Duterte administration’s legacy — peace and order, infrastructure development, and poverty alleviation.

In his opening remarks, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea expressed elation that the public appreciates the President’s efforts to bring “positive” and “real” changes to the country.

“The Duterte administration is driven by radical change, marked with multiple milestones in progress and development,” Medialdea said. “The real change we have all yearned for so long is now happening.”

Cabinet execs’ efforts lauded

Andanar acknowledged Duterte’s significant strides with the help of his Cabinet secretaries.

He hailed his fellow Cabinet secretaries’ determination and hard work to ensure that Duterte’s policies and programs have fully and effectively been implemented.

“Government is not simply a collective official endeavor. A more noble vision has early on been set by the President as the objective of every government activity,” Andanar said. “The functioning of the government, aligned with the imperatives determined by the head of the state, is not solely credited to the leader but also to his entire Cabinet – the women and men whose culture of work magnifies the President’s policies and programs.”

The “Duterte Legacy” campaign launch featured a photo exhibit of the government’s key achievements, testimonies from beneficiaries of various government programs and projects, and presentations from other Cabinet secretaries.

Several communications collaterals under the “Duterte Legacy” campaign, which include a magazine, a podcast, and a series of documentaries, were also launched.

The magazine’s first issue features different perspectives and stories from beneficiaries of the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act.

The maiden podcast episode tackles the public housing program for the victims of Typhoon Yolanda, while the first episode of the documentary features the beneficiaries of the Tagoloan Flood Control Project in Misamis Oriental.

Fight vs. ‘deeper, more serious’ crises

Despite the current administration’s significant achievements, Andanar ensured that the President and his administration would continue to work harder to fight the “deeper and more serious” problems besetting the country.

He said the government is ready to face all the challenges with “great intensity”.

“Amidst all these, the President emphasized the deeper, more serious crises before us — the evil that he has seen face to face, the evil that surrounds us, and the evil that is within us. He pledged to change all that, at the expense of his life, in the war he declared against illegal drugs, corruption, and criminality,” Andanar said. “On the third year of his administration, his battle-cry continues to confront these evils with great intensity, and no other leader has yet approximated his conquests. This is his legacy unfolding.”