President Duterte hopes that the next president of the country will be more competent than he is, saying he will gladly support him or her if that would be the case.
President Rodrigo Duterte (File photo/Malacaang) Duterte made the statement as he pointed out that the country lacked the resources to make the Philippines at least at par with other nations.
In his pre-recorded public address on Monday, July 12, the President said he does not mind if his successor will be better than him.
“I hope that the next administration will be more competent than us now, more bright than us now, and more productive than us now,” he said.
“Hindi ako nag-aano kung may mataas pa sa akin in performance (I would not mind if he can perform better than me). If it is true, well, I would encourage them. I would cheer them up and I would be on the sidelines, giving inputs on what I can provide for as advice,” he added.
According to Duterte, the only thing standing in the Philippines’ way to improve was lack of money.
“We are a third-world country, classified as one. Ang mahirap sa atin (What’s unfortunate for us) is always the constraint of money. Kung may pera lang sana talaga tayo, kung maganda lang ang ating ekonomiya (If only we had the money and our economy was good)… we could have improved on the governance of all departments, all facets of governance,” he said.
“Ang problema nito wala tayo masyado pera (The problem is we don’t have enough money) but what we have is enough to what you see now. That is the only thing that money can afford, nakikita ninyo ngayon (that is what you are seeing now),” he added.
Duterte said having more funds would allow the government to make the Philippines be at least at par with powerful nations.
“Kung may pera sana na marami (If only we had a lot of money), then we could have upgraded everything to compete or reach in parity with the other first-class countries,” he said.
“But we have not been able, really, to work on our economy. Maganda sana umaakyat na tayo (It was good that we were improving), not really a cause for celebration, but it could sometimes give us the optimism that we will, and one day, improve on everything,” he added.
Despite this, the President vowed to make the most out of what funds the country has in its coffers.
“Well, anyway, we will just work on it,” he said.