Seems Duterte means business.

Or Gaddafi?

A good friend of mine, who likes to travel, planned on going to the Philippines for the first time. However, he cancelled his holiday (at some considerable cost) yesterday after seeing the news reported on Sky.

As he said to me - "If someone just looks at me, and takes a dislike to me, they can legitimately shoot me and accuse me of things I have not done. That assassin would get a reward, the people would think their streets are safer, and my family would have to pay a fortune to get my body back home. In short, not worth it".

I wonder how many other tourists are considering making the same decision, and I wonder how many businessmen are re-evaluating their foreign investment into the Philippines?

A train from Manila to Davao would be fantastic.

Short term you will always get this type of panic reaction..
In regards to Foreign companies investing here..Who are they?? Do they realise the 60/40 foreign equity laws?? If they do and still invest,they are mugs.
This is the first President I have heard here with ambitions of changing the constitution which will wipe out these stone age protectionist laws to Give foreign investors a fair shake..
Give the guy a year at least and lets see how it goes.. As most here know..I care about the Filipino nation and I wish him all the luck in the world.
Give him the benefit of the doubt at the very least and tell your mate he`s not yet ready to visit any nation that is still in the development stage..
Suggest Skiing in the Swiss alps to him..Its very safe there I`m told.

My friend has travelled extensively - to places from Central Africa to South East Asia to South America.

If my friend had expressed concerns about the Philippines and then told me he had visited extensively the countries you list, I would be questioning his logic.
Yes the Philippines has issues but so do the areas he travels in.
Travel nowadays is all about minimising risk and self help and self discipline.
I am convinced that short term there will be issues but if he is genuinely good then he will prevail.

My way of thinking is that the risks are potentially higher in the Philippines than they were before the election. What is Duterte's attitude to westerners?

Any thoughts?

Yes, and he is aware of risk management when traveling. His point to me was that anyone could decide to shoot him, and clear themselves of possible murder charges by claiming they shot a drug dealer. When law is bypassed (with blessings seemingly from the very top), and people are found guilty and sentenced in a street - then I can sort of see his point.

This was shared and liked on fb a lot today.

He didn't answer the questions at all, did he?

I have to say that he defended his position very well in that interview.

Quite a handy way of dealing with an opposing politician.

It didn't seem so and relating that to the injustice of killing black american men doesn't justify what is happening in his own country nor the killings in Syria.

By attacking what happens in America? What goes on in the US had very little to do with the question that was asked. The answer to the first question was a bit rambling, the answer to the second question was "Other people do worse things".

Some people rob many banks, if I am caught robbing a corner shop I don't think my defense of "Um, but there are people robbing banks, leave me alone" would hold much water.

I understand his logic but Im not so sure about the practicalities of extra judicial killings. I respect he is making a stance for the good of the masses but just the execution of it doesnt sit well with me.

Exactly. If he bumped off a relative of ours by mistake, we would not be best pleased.

Yep. Once something like that is allowed its sometimes very difficult to put back in the box.

I see he has just talked of leaving the UN

He's also wanting Chinese investment whilst keeping the Americans on board. Chinese investment means only one thing to me, handing over the Spratly's or parts thereof. Playing with fire if he's not careful.

Yes, I noticed he was willing to give the Spratly's away. And the rest of the South China Sea too?