Batas Mauricio AS our country prepares for a Rodrigo Duterte presidency, I am raising, once again, the same question I raised when President Aquino was installed as president in 2010: What, really, can a president do to transform the Philippines and our countrymen and make them a truly reformed country and people eligible for tangible success and prosperity in just a short span of six years? Okay, let us assume a President Duterte can stop corruption and criminality during the six years that he will be in Malacanang. Let us assume further that he can make our people a disciplined race while he is in power. Will these achievements under a Duterte presidency continue after 2022, when he himself bows out of power, assuming he will not be ousted in the meantime? The examples we saw in our country indicate that whatever victory we achieved in battling corruption and criminality in our country subsisted only for as long as the leader who launched these battles were in office. After they stepped down from power, legally or otherwise, the gains they managed to achieve also step down with them and are dissipated irretrievably. With due respect, I believe that the same thing will happen to Duterte. As soon as his time is up, I am sure corruption and criminality will come back, with greater intensity even. The reason is that, a bigger part of change--the bigger battle against crime and corruption--lies not just with the president alone, no matter how powerful he maybe. It lies with, and should really come more spontaneously from, the people themselves. There must be a corresponding change in mindsets, attitudes, and behavior, of our people, if real and truly beneficial change is to come upon all of us. Change cannot be won by just one man alone, no matter how strong-willed or determined he or she maybe, like the strong will or determination displayed by Duterte during the campaign. And this is where the problem lies, really. I think that much too many of our countrymen have placed too great a reliance or dependence on Duterte and on his promise of killing criminals and corrupt government officials, in the same manner that we reposed the same trust, six years ago in 2010, on Noynoy Aquino, thinking that he will be able to solve the ills of our country by himself alone in six years’ time. Noynoy miserably failed to live up to the overwhelming trust given to him in 2010. If Duterte and his advisers will again not know what to do, they will likewise miserably fail to do justice to the landslide victory that the Filipino people gave him, notwithstanding the fact that he is the least capable candidate in 2016. So, what should Duterte and his government aspire to do, aside from eliminating, through means fair our foul, the corrupt and the criminals in our midst? Pardon me for giving this unsolicited advice but, just like what I said when Noynoy came to power, Duterte must find a way to encourage Filipinos to be more truthful in their faith in God, no matter what they conceive God to be. I believe Duterte has a greater chance of doing this, since diverse religious groups were behind his victory. He should return to the religious leaders whose support he enlisted not only to thank them, but more to learn how they inspire their members into a stronger spirituality, and thereafter utilize what he has learned to bring more Filipinos to a more tangible relationship with God. Beneficial change will come after that! E-mail: batasmauricio@yahoo.com