New Philippine president will seek to mend ties with China

New Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has said that mending relations with China will be a top foreign policy priority of his government.

Duterte said the biggest problem of the Philippines is the people’s erosion of faith and trust in government.

Mendoza, 17, a second year student of BS in Entrepreneurship at the Ateneo de Davao Unviersity (ADDU), is optimistic that Duterte will be successful in his fight against crime, corruption, and poverty. I have seen how illegal drugs destroyed individuals and ruined family relationships.

Mr Labang, who had criticised Duterte past year for running in the election after previously saying he wouldn’t stand, added that he had changed his mind about the new president despite the cost to his business.

“There are those who do not approve of my methods of fighting criminality, the sale and use of illegal drugs and corruption”.

“Changing the rules when the game is ongoing is wrong”, Duterte said.

“Erosion of faith and trust in government – that is the real problem that confronts us”, he said. Other people would say that he is tough but for me I feel that he is not because he is only doing his job, to make the country better for the Filipino people. Since then, she has been charged with vote fraud and corruption and was detained at a government-run hospital.

He said his fight against drugs and criminality “will be relentless and it will be sustained” but within the bounds of the law. “My adherence to the due process and the rule of law is uncompromising”, he said to loud applause.

“I know what is legal and what is not”, he said. “You mind your work and I will mind mine”, he said.

Instead of peppering his speech with his usual expletives, Duterte laced his inaugural address with famous quotations of long-ago USA presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.

The Chief Executive likewise instructed all government offices to refrain from changing and bending the rules of government contracts, transactions and projects already approved and awaiting implementation.

“I abhor secrecy and instead advocate transparency in all government contracts, projects and business transactions from submission of proposals to negotiation to perfection and finally, to consummation”, Duterte said.

Outgoing Philippine President Benigno Aquino in 2014 took the matter to a United Nations arbitration court over China’s protests but did not talk with Chinese leaders directly.

In a nation where roughly a quarter of the population live below the poverty line – barely changed despite six years of stellar economic growth under outgoing leader Benigno Aquino – his disdain for the wealthy proved a huge vote victor.

He said his group believes that the deaths could be part of an effort by police officials to burnish their accomplishments in the face of Duterte’s plans to revamp the police force.

He added: “As a lawyer and a former prosecutor, I know the limits of the power and authority of the president”.

“I look forward to the participation of all other stakeholders, particularly our indigenous peoples, to ensure inclusivity in the peace process”, he said.

In fact, the founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CCP) was Duterte’s mentor in the Lyceum of the Philippines University (LPU) where he finished his undergraduate studies.