Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte arrived in Indonesia earlier today to attend the annual ASEAN summit. He left rumors of serious health problems swirling in Manila, but the controversial leader does have one serious problem for sure – the economy.
Inflation in the Philippines rose to 6.7 percent – a nine year high.
According to the New York Times, prices for vegetables, fish and meat are soaring. But the biggest problem is the country’s staple. Rice is so expensive that President Duterte lifted restrictions on imports this week, a measure enacted decades ago to protect Filipino farmers.
A new opinion poll shows that 52 percent of Filipinos now consider themselves poor, that’s up 10 points over the past six months. In a Manila market, Lilian Gomez told the Times, “500 pesos feels like one peso now. All the prices have gone up since Duterte became president.”
While critics cite mismanagement, Duterte blamed a conspiracy among rice dealers. “Consider yourselves warned,” he declared, “or the full power of the state will be upon you.”
Last week, the president also said that he might have cancer; after a second colonoscopy, he told a news conference that tests were negative. Heath rumors started a year ago when Duterte vanished for a week, and spiked again after he missed two public appearances last week.
If the president dies in office or becomes disabled, the constitution specifies that the vice president take his place – that’s Leni Robredo, a leader of the opposition. The Vice President is elected separately in the Philippines. Duterte frequently scorns his vice president as too weak and said that he’d prefer a military junta.
TheAssociated Press cites senior military officials as saying that they would follow the constitution.