Quo vadis, 2017?

Depending on which side of the debates you stand for, the coming year will likely be filled with more enthusiasm or hopelessness compared to the passing one.

The forecasts are ambivalent. Next year will be more exciting for some but gloomy for others. This is the confusing prospect for the country in the coming year. Nobody is certain what shall it look like.

One thing is sure though. Now that Congress is hurrying up the debates on death penalty, courts will be filled with cases involving capital punishment soon. Killings will finally become an open policy. With the President’s promise to have 5 to 6 executions every day, public executions of drug convicts will take over the headlines, pushing reports on extra-judicial killings to the back page of your favorite broadsheets.  

With 6,000 deaths attributed to the anti-drug campaign after only about six months from the time the administration took over, dead bodies are expected to pile up doubly higher than this year’s figures. Killing criminals will then appear more clearly as permissible means of social and political ordering in the Philippines.

Meanwhile, the expected exodus of American and European investors from the Philippines will have negative impact primarily on young and middle aged income earners. Service and commodity exports will also decline because of the continuing friction in the relationship between the Philippines and the United States of America. In addition, investments from US based companies will also lessen because of the incoming Trump administration’s protectionist tendency. Furthermore, the decline in the economies of Middle-East countries will lead to the loss of employment of many Filipino working in these countries.   

It will appear then that the Philippines has no other choice but to continue shunning the United States of America while moving closer to China. President Rodrigo R. Duterte can be expected to lambast US officials more and portray China as a better viable ally. If so, then, the Philippines will have to confront squarely the dilemma of allowing more Chinese intrusions into its territory or articulating its legal claims over the latter.

            Meanwhile, the administration’s pronouncements against graft and corruption have been sending dreadful chills to corrupt employees and officials. Surely, heads will soon roll, figuratively, and literally.

However, it is unlikely that President Rodrigo R. Duterte can eradicate the practice completely. He will have gain but will also suffer defeat in his campaign because of the politicians in his administration. As most of them have been part of the previous administrations, they have embedded their political and business interests deeply in the government bureaucracy. Among them also are members of big political clans whose only interest is to protect their dynastic hold in local and national governments. Time has proved that these politicians are not capable of transcending their narrow interest in favor of greater public interest.

             In spite of these, there are always reasons to keep hoping. Undoubtedly, much of the headaches that we have today are the results of our improvident and reckless choices. It is right then for us to believe that our pain and depression can teach us achieve our dreams. The future may appear bleak from where we stand now but since we are known for the talent of finding places to stand for a better view, we need not despair. There is always hope for us. It is always possible that we will realize the wrong choices that we made and the alternatives needed to correct them.

With hope, anything is possible.