President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has made meaningful gains in terms of directing the government’s foreign policy, carrying out important government programs, and ensuring media freedom, a political analyst said on Saturday.

University of Santo Tomas political science Prof. Froilan Calilung made the assessment on the President’s initial year in office in a media forum in Quezon City.

“Ang isa sa talagang masasabi kong strong suit ng ating Pangulo ngayon politically speaking was the fact that he was able to come up with a very definite, very clear and specific direction when it comes to his foreign policy,” said, Calilung, who is also the director of the Local Government Development Institute.

“And I think, politically speaking, this is one thing that I think will really put further, you know, the President in a very good position dahil nga kung makikita natin, iba iyong naging galaw ng ating foreign policy noong panahon ni Pangulong Duterte.”

Filipinos are seeing a pivot as the country shifts towards the United States, he said, noting that it shows the President’s decisiveness to actually craft or carve his own direction in line for his foreign policy.

In term of passing key legislative measures, Calilung said President Marcos should be more assertive and must aggressively work with legislators considering his supermajority in Congress.

“So, in the pipeline, what I’m seeing here is that siguro…though he has the supermajority in the Congress, I think the President should be more assertive when it comes to the priority measures that he would like to put in place kasi dito siya sisingilin,” Calilung said.

“Pero, on the other hand, iyong kakulangan naman sa legislation, ang nakikita ko naman dito is that nasusuportahan naman ito ng mga programa. There are individual programs that are actually being put in place kagaya nga noong Kadiwa rolling stores, iyong ating eGov PH. So, I think kahit paano nasu-sustain niya.”

Despite some challenges, the political analyst said the public feels that, under the President’s leadership, the rule of law as an institution is actually being upheld and proper perspective is being given due importance.

The rule of law is important because if the Philippines wants to invite foreign investments to come into the country, this can never materialize if there is a perception of breakdown in peace and order situation, according to Calilung.

“Kasi kailangan nating makuha iyong kumpiyansa nila and pagpapakita lamang ito na buhay at nandiyan iyong ating mga institutions lalo na sa pagpapalaganap ng batas,” he pointed out.

Aside from his good performance in other areas, Calilung said Marcos was able to build good relation with the press.

“I think this is something that the President is also very keen on attaining – not to mention also, politically, maganda rin iyong naging landas na tinahak noong relasyon between the President and the media,” he said.

“Unlike in the past administration na talagang ramdam natin iyong animosity. But right now, I feel that the media is a lot freer, I think…even the NUJP mentioned na medyo mas nararamdaman nila na less restricted iyong gobyerno.” Presidential News Desk