A POPULAR PRESIDENT

By Jose Alejandrino

After SWS came out with its survey giving the president a trust rating of 78 percent, I wrote on my timeline it will rise to the 80s. The Pulse Asia survey just released shows it now at 82 percent.

The trick, I had said, was to continue to produce achievements.

As the president's popularity rises, that of the Opposition will fall. His critics are being marginalized because they have no credibility.

The president obtained 39 percent of the electoral votes at the May 2016 presidential election. With a 82 percent rating, he undoubtedly has the vast majority of the Filipinos behind him. To talk of a consensus is superfluous. The vast majority agree with his program of change.

I had also said the AFP and the PNP are behind their commander-in-chief. Abroad, Duterte enjoys the support of America's Trump, Russia's Putin, China's Jinping, Japan's Abe, Saudi Arabia's King Salman, and the ASEAN countries. French president Macron admitted Duterte has guts in fighting drugs and terrorism.

No Philippine president has been able to match Duterte's achievements in his first year in office. The tougher his stance against corruption, criminality and terrorism, the more his image gets better abroad. In South America, I am told the people look to him as some kind of folk hero. My Spanish friends wish they had a Duterte.

As BBC's Stephen Sackur told that idiot Trillanes, you're banging your head against a brick wall. As I said before, the Opposition picked the wrong issues to fight Duterte. When the final boom is lowered, Duterte's oppositors will wish they were confined to a mental asylum where they belong.

Examine the record of the Opposition. What have they achieved with their exaggerated charges of EJKs? Where did their impeachment plans go? Were they able to get the UN to condemn Duterte? Did their complaint to the ICC prosper? Were they able to stop the war on drugs? Were they able to get the Supreme Court to reverse martial law? Were they able to oust Duterte and replace him with Robredo?

On each count they failed. Instead they lost credibility, enhanced Duterte's popularity, and marginalized themselves. I'm continuously amazed by their stupidity. But as the saying goes, the loss by one is the gain of the other.

Thank the Lord.