Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III defended President Rodrigo Duterte’s Oplan Tokhang after Vice President Leni Robredo called it a failure.
On a tweet, Sotto said that the popularity of the President and the stories from the people about how the Oplan Tokhang made their place safer is “incompatible” with the accusations of Robredo who gave a grade of 1 over 100 to the administration during the revelation of her ICAD findings last Monday.
The Senate President also believes that the users and pushers lost their confidence to roam along the streets because of Duterte’s Oplan Tokhang.
“The President’s high approval ratings after 3 years, is incompatible with a grand failure accusation. The truth is found in the stories of families at home and the changes in their neighborhood. Dati takot ang mga tao sa adik; ngayon ang adik ang takot,” said Sotto.
The President's high approval ratings after 3 years, is incompatible with a grand failure accusation. The truth is found in the stories of families at home and the changes in their neighborhood. Dati takot ang mga tao sa adik; ngayon ang adik ang takot.
— Tito Sotto (@sotto_tito) January 8, 2020
Sotto added that “numbers alone” will not explain the problem.
“It is deeper than mere arithmetic,” Sotto said.
Some of Sotto’s followers also shared how their place became safer because of Oplan Tokhang.
“Madami pong adik sa lugar namen, mga namamayat noon. Ngayon po, they are all in good shapes now. I really felt and see some good changes,” netizen @jerick_pacio said.
“Include me in the stories of families and lives that were changed for good when Duterte became President,” @meiyingchua remarked.
Despite the criticisms being received by Duterte, he’s still enjoying high approval ratings since he took the most powerful position in the Philippines.
Some believe that his popularity also made his allies won the 2019 senatorial elections while all of the candidates the opposition lost the race.