QUIT TERRORIZING, START GOVERNING
Statement of Akbayan Senator Risa Hontiveros

Two years into the Presidency and we bear witness to this government running a series of blame-games for its mishaps and incompetence.

It is time to tell the President: quit terrorizing, start governing! By words and deeds, he terrorizes the public, highlighted in the recent week by a political vendetta gone shamefully wrong to divert the public's attention from issues that really matter: soaring consumer prices, unemployment, extrajudicial killings, rice shortage and many others. The most recent one is the spread of fake news of a so-called "October revolution" plot borne out of paranoia.

Duterte's callous governance does not serve the national interest. May kalyo ang pag-go-gobyerno ng Pangulo - imbes na lutasin ang mga tunay problema ng mamamayan, mas binibigyang pansin pa ang pamumulitika laban sa oposisyon. Tough talker, pero weak leader.

Imbes na mag-isip ng mga solusyon, ibinaling pa sa iba ang sisi. Ang pagtaas ng presyo ng mga bilihin, isinisi kay Trump. Palpak na war-on-drugs, isinisi sa mga human rights advocates. Sa lumalalang kahirapan, kasalanan ng nakaraang administrasyon. The President has a growing list of people and things to blame, except himself. Tough talker, pero weak leader.

I call on our citizens: it is our moral duty to speak out. Sa pambabastos sa mga kababaihan, ang ilan ay tahimik. Nung sinabi ng Pangulo na siya ay papatay ng mga drug addict, ang ilan ay tahimik. Nung may mga pinaslang na mga miyembro ng kaparian, ang ilan ay tahimik. Nung unti-unti nang ibinenta sa Tsina ang ating mga isla, ang ilan ay tahimik. The harassment against Sen. Trillanes using state powers exhibits not only the President's allergy to dissent and oppositional politics, but to democracy as a whole.

We can no longer be idle and silent. Ang katumbas ng pananahimik ay kahirapan at kamatayan para sa iba. Our people need to come together and muster the moral courage to stand against what is wrong and abusive.