Duterte - "Corrupt journalists will be killed"

On a point of information, Duterte was not elected by a majority of those who voted.

As regards Trillanes' attempts to pursue a bilateral negotiation with China, trips undertaken at the behest of the President, perhaps you will tell us why these were "treasonous" whilst the newly appointed Secretary of the DFA, a man who was forced to resign in a corruption scandal under GMA, has already proposed bilateral talks with China, thereby cutting the ground from under the professional staff of the DFA.

Please adduce your evidence for the proposition that a man who holds 17 bank accounts and owns 41 properties, all acquired on a mayor's salary, will "clean up" anything.

I look forward to reading your defence of the murder of journalists, as espoused by Mayor Duterte.

Sorry Andrew but I don't interpret that as a license to kill. Those involved in the drugs trade are not only armed themselves but have heavily-armed bodyguards and they will have absolutely no compunction about killing Police Officers or anyone else who gets in their way. The Police are instructed to use their weapons defensively - in response to being fired upon - rather than offensively. If that results in the death of a drugs trafficker then, whilst any death is regrettable, many innocent lives may have been saved.

This is the Philippines, not sleepy Suffolk. The Police are armed because they need to be and if you think that a drugs trafficker is going to allow himself to be arrested by an unarmed Police Officer then you'd be very mistaken. Duterte's message to the Police is surely this "close down the drugs trade by use of deadly force if absolutely necessary".

And by the way, there are always armed Police officers at drugs raids in the UK.

Perhaps we can now return to the murder of journalists?

Indeed so. Nor was Aquino, Arroyo, or Estada (to name but a few) just as neither was Cameron, Brown, Blair, Thatcher, Callaghan, Wilson, Heath, Attlee or Churchill - so what?!!. I think I can say with some confidence that you wouldn't have made such a remark when Aquino was elected!

Are you seeking a career as the Philippine Liberal Party's new spin doctor?

That's very simple: Davao City is a testament to what he might be permitted to achieve as President. Ask anyone who has actually lived in the City and experienced life there rather than simply reading skewed opinions.

I am a former journalist and I have no problem with the legitimate punishment of those of my trade who in some way break the law.

I think those remarks deserve to be preserved for posterity, so I have copied them here.

Hmm. I'm not sure that I would categorise murder of journalists as being legitimate punishment.. .

I am very interested to see whether Duterte will make a difference in the Phils. I feel that on the face of it, the kindest thing I can say about the man is that he has made some rather unwise statements of late. I shared in the disapproval of others concerning the remark concerning the rape of the Australian missionary for example.

My wife, @BlueberryCheeseCake , worked on a piece of translation work in the City a few months ago. She was translating documentary material for a news channel. Some of the material included interviews with criminals involved in drugs who maintained that Duterte was involved in that. Is this a case of 'poacher turned gamekeeper'? Perhaps - after all, as @Methersgate observed, his assets do not seem commensurate with his means...

Only time will reveal what may happen. I'll keep an open mind, but I do feel that some of the statements the man has made were unwise and made him seem less intelligent and more boorish than perhaps he would prefer.

I'm very happy to declare an interest. The Liberal Party are in no need of my help, as a spin doctor or anything else, but I do have a number of friends amongst the chattering classes of Manila, and indeed of Cagayan de Oro and of Bulacan and of San Fernando de Pampanga and of Olongapo, who are not happy at all with Mr Duterte's conduct.

But I neither said nor implied that it was.

Duterte is no saint, nor does he profess to be one. But he might be what the country needs right now.

Others who read this thread may differ.

On that, we disagree so completely that, as I remarked earlier our friendship is at an end. You are no longer welcome in my house and I do not wish to associate with you in any way.

I do not want anything to do with anyone who thinks that little brown people do not need the rule of law.

No country ever "needs" to be ruled by a murdering thug.

This is absolutely fundamental.

And yet there are a few million more who are obviously unhappy with Roxas, Binay and Poe all of whom failed to get elected.

I emphatically do NOT subscribe to that view and ask that you retract that odious accusation. I also think you should apologise to our Filipino members for describing them as "little brown people".

I would remind you that 16,601,997 Philippine voters elected Duterte and did so despite there being a vicious propaganda campaign against him. Although his share of the vote is less than Aquino's, well over a million more people voted for Duterte. They knew who they were voting for but did so anyway. It is not up to me to criticise their choice and I would respectfully suggest that it's not up to you either. We should respect their decision, however misguided we believe it to be.

As for you terminating our friendship, well that's entirely up to you; I am not that petty.

What irks me, Andrew, is that you have spent a great deal of time and effort railing against the man who won the Presidential election even though you claimed he was no more, no less than a "spoiler" candidate who would not go anywhere. And ever since it became apparent that he was the President-elect, you've gone out of your way to post links to as many articles as you can find that support your anti-Duterte stance.

You seem to think you know better than the 16.6 million who elected him. I agree you are entitled to a view and to express it - providing you do so from outside the Philippines - but the concerted zeal evidenced by your sheer volume of anti-Duterte posts is both symptomatic of, and an example of, the parochial patronage politics so favoured by the Manila elite and their mega-rich backers. That "old" politics has clearly been rejected by 39% of the electorate and nothing you - or any of his detractors - say will change that. At any rate not for six years.

Because I have experienced almost six years of life under Duterte and because I believe in the maxim "actions speak louder than words", I'm prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt and judge him by what he does rather than by what he says. Had you taken me up only suggestion of spending a few days in Davao the last time you were in-country, you might have a rather more positive opinion of Mayor Duterte. Or at least a greater understanding of why so many support him.

The "rejection of the old politics" is no such thing.
Duterte was elected because he struck deals with Macapagal-Arroyo and with Marcos. Twenty-five million people did not vote for him. Only three provinces produced a majority for him. He won because the vote for "essentially more of the same" was split between Poe and Roxas.

Only 3 Provinces?

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A few more than three are coloured in Duterte's shade of yellow in the above map from Wikipedia.

If you believe that in electing Duterte Filipinos were not rejecting the old-style politics practiced and perfected by the likes of Binay and Aquino, then perhaps you can account for his success and the fact that he received more votes than Aquino did in 2010 (1.6 million more).

The fact that 25 million did not vote for Duterte isn't actually relevant. He has just as much legitimacy as Obama, Cameron, Hollande, Merkel ....

No, they are out by a factor of 3. One million Pesos is about £14 thousand.

No, of course I don't and would never ever support such a proposition. However this "story" arises out of a single sentence which was part of a much fuller answer being taken completely out context and exploited as a standalone story.

Next, he'll tell us that it was just one of Duterte's "jokes" and if only we lived in Davao we would understand that.

Just in case anyone has not seen this:

http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes...tion-philippine-politics-160509191553315.html

Mark has never liked free speech be carefull not to upset him or he will threaten to leave again