Finally Mayor Duterte of Davao decided to run for President of the Philippines in the election in 2016. For Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-LABAN). Many Filipinos are thrilled with his decision especially the Mindanaoans. Really when Mayor Rody said a few months ago that he is not interested to run, many people of the Philippines were disappointed. I know that we were. Even when Aaron was still in the USA, he would tell us that if we heard from the news that Rody filed for his candidacy as president to let him know no matter what time it is in the States. Ha ha ha, in our household we are serious in supporting Duterte for president.
I know that the mayor has many enemies too especially the drug users/dealers and those other criminals, but I think the country needs a leader who is tough and not afraid of anything. It would be interesting to see how he will be living in Malacanang. I’ve heard from friends that knows him well that he always welcome poor people in his house. I’m wondering if he will do that kind of stuff in Malacanang. I know one thing he does here in Davao he welcome those indigenous people from the province and bring them to the city and feed them.
If Rody wins, I think he will be the first Mindanaoan to be the president of the Philippines. I think it’s time to have one from this island. It’s just tiring to see that it’s always people from Luzon who run the country and they don’t know much about Mindanao. I hope all of us in the south of Luzon will unite and vote for Rody. Even before he said he will run for president, I’ve seen many cars with his name already something like “Duterte for 2016“, Rody for President“, “Duterte 2016, Ato ni Bai“, “Digong for President” and many others.
I am wondering though if he also will ban the smoking all over the Philippines. I’m not sure what the smokers think of not smoking wherever they want. Here in Davao, you can smoke at the designated area the businesses have. For smokers I advise you to follow the law here if you don’t want to be just like that foreigner that was forced to swallow the cigarette butt in-front of the business owner. I wonder what the cigarette company thinks of him running for president? They might pay big money for campaign against Duterte. I’m pretty sure they are not happy of Duterte running the country and cut the profit of their business. We’ll see in the next few months what will the cigarette do. 🙂
I am really encouraging the Filipino people to vote for Duterte. This country needs a tough leader. I am also calling for the people of Mindanao to vote for him. It’s time for the Mindanaoan to have a voice. Take a look at all the improvements in the country, it’s all focused in the Luzon area.
Vote for: “RODY DUTERTE for President 2016”, “DUTERTE – CAYETANO 2016”
Feyma Martin is a Columnist here on the Live in the Philippines Web Magazine, she is the wife of site Publisher, Bob Martin. Feyma is originally from the Philippines, but went to the USA for 10 years after marrying Bob in 1990. Bob & Feyma moved to the Philippines to live permanently in 2000.
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Thank you Violet!
Unfortunately Duterte is not suitable as president! He will do no good for PH domestic nor international. This man is a cowboy with too simple quick answers for complicated issues.
Hi Martin, I’m surprised of your assessment of Duterte. You might not know that he is a lawyer. Have you seen his show on Sunday morning. He can answer questions well. You might not agree on his answer.
well said Feyma.
This has always intrigued me. How could a mayor get away with pulling a gun on someone and threatening their life if they do not pick up and eat a spent cigarette butt off from the ground. Honestly if the guy didn’t do it was he planning on shooting him over it? I fully support order and discipline but what is the punishment for smoking and littering in Davao? Is it to pay a fine, serve jail time, or does your life get threatened if you don’t pick it up and eat it. Is there not a threat law on the books here? If so why did it not apply? What really makes me scratch my head is that the media and the people love him for this and other blatant acts of human rights. Its kind of like how up here in the north, they love Marcos. It should be interesting with both a Presidential race happening here and back in the US next year.
Hi Gary – As far as I know Duterte did not used gun to that tourist guy. It’s the law here to not smoke anywhere. Most establishment here has a smoking area. I haven’t heard of the Duterte shooting anybody here. Did you see him shoot somebody here? I’ve lived here for almost 15 years never heard of Duterte shooting someone.
Human rights head people from Manila already came here to investigate about Duterte and came out nothing. So it shows no crime committed by Duterte.
Cheers!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving to you too Gary and to your family!
We already gave lots of chances from worse to worst Presidents & now it’s our chance to own the best President who can handle the tough Pinoys . Go 4 DU 30 ! Nothing can stop us now !
Hi Garcia Ben, yep time to have tough guy there in Malacanang. Yes, go, go ,go Duterte!!!
I am highly impressed that the whole good family like my heartfelt comments & so glad that we are riding on the same boat steaming straight into the port of victory !
Thank you Bob , Feyma & the whole Martin & Bayoy’s family ! Happy Thanksgiving 2015 !
You’re welcome Ben. Happy Thanksgiving Day to you and your family too. God bless!
He just might the the only man in the country who can bring badly needed discipline to the people of this country.
For sure Doug….
i will pray a lot for him….he’s the only one
good luck Rody your certainly going to need it. One man will never be able to break down the system of corruption that has been adopted by the country’s power brokers for many years now. Hopefully you can appoint a team of like minded individuals to assist you. At the same time there will plenty of opponents working to bring you down if appointed, as the corruption suits their greedy ambitions.
Hi David, yes it will take time for sure, but hopefully Duterte can starts bringing the country into proper order. Discipline is a must in this country. Thanks for the comment!
David,
Your quote “there will be plenty of opponents working to bring you down if appointed”
That is pretty much true anywhere, even in the US from what I see.
Be careful what you wish for…. the iron fist could come down on you. Seems Marcos had an iron fist also…. how’d that work out…. so people who don’t smoke have more important rights than those that do ? Maybe expats should be taxed for the privilege of living in PI to pay for the poor. I mean hey why not…if we’re picking winners and losers….. freedom and liberty for all….. not the vhosen
Where you here in the Philippines during Marcos time? I doubt that. They’re totally different leaders. I grow up during Marcos regime, it’s totally different than Dutete’s leadership here.
My wife was. Yes. Her family was yes. Your entitled to your opinion. Mayor is different than president. So is the difference between judge and jury.
Marcos ruled the country bad, what was yours all belong to them. Duterte is what the Philippines needs now. Someone to clean house and have consequences for actions.
Brent… Marcos cleaned house of those he deemed wrong. And the consequences are well known. It is the same mind set with different victims. It is not liberty. But ok y’all get what ya pay for. Second verse same as the first.
What i have learn from people that dont like or dont agree with Duterte are people that have never lived or been in Davao and see how clean and safe it is. They only know what some news person reported from hearsay from someone visiting manila.
I have been and know…. whstever….
Choose who gets ” ruled”….and who gets blessed…. it ain’t democracy, it ain’t a republic. It ain’t free.
Freedom ain’t clean and it ain’t safe….have fun
At least this man is trying to sort things out in the Philippines.
Crime is punished in Davao.
Who do we want as president. Corruption king vice pres Binay? Has been proven that Binay is corrupt with all his land ownership plus numerous bank accounts with millions in them. Yet they still let him run and people actually support him!
From what my wife tells me Duterte is doing great things in Davao.
I suspect that he will be polished off by someone though. Just the way things are handled here if somebody actually tries to bring HONESTY to the table!
Hi Adam – Very true. I don’t think he would be polished off because he is very strong and proactive. I hope and pray that he succeeds. Go DU30!!!
Duterte became possible because crime was rampant in the 1970s and 1980s in Davao. Order came when bodies of suspected drug dealers started turning up. I know because I had relatives who lived there. I remember reading in the papers of shootouts in Davao.
I’ve been to Davao and admired the orderliness. I understand that people there have seen the benefits of law and order. But it’s not enough reason for me to want someone like Duterte. I know that fear also drives people to discipline, not just fear of the law.
Duterte became possible because he makes shortcuts in enforcing laws. Do you think a guy like him will ever be elected mayor in the US?
If Duterte wins, what’s next? Bodies turning up again all over the country? Just like old times during the martial law years. I remember reading headlines like “Man found by roadside in Fairview”.
Will we also find bodies of venal politicians or only small-time crooks? Can he take on them? Can he take on Congress, which is largely run by dynasties? How about liquidating corrupt judges to get the justice system to run faster?
Throughout the history of this country for the last century, the politicians have been the biggest crooks against the Filipino people. Worse, they use the law to break the law and run away from the law. I have wept many times just by reading the history of this country. You should try exploring the squatter colonies and see how they live. I have done it when I was once a door-to-door Bible preacher in the 1980s. And each election, I hate hearing politicians lying to the masa, telling the suckers how they will deliver them from misery.
If a body turns up somewhere, how do we know if that guy was really a criminal or simply somebody who got liquidated? We all know that there are politicians who will not blink when killing people. Think of the Ampatuans.
If Duterte wins, it only means that the justice system is hopeless in this country, that you need shortcuts to enforce the law. The Philippine Revolution was premised on the ideal of social justice. Enforcing the law means exactly that: enforcing the law to the letter. No shortcuts. Duterte, being a lawyer, should know that.
Who can stop Duterte if he becomes another Marcos? Has anybody thought of that? Marcos started out well in his first term until he started feeling messianic in 1972. In 2001, I thought Gloria Arroyo would make a good president. We know what happened later. When she declared a state of emergency in 2006, I thought I was going to spend the night in jail because I expected her to close down our newspaper.
Another problem with a government running on personalities instead of democratic institutions is that the country becomes dependent on that person. What will happen if that person becomes incapacitated or is assassinated?
Democratic institutions exist because they are there to ensure law and order, and that the government continues to function even in times of crisis without needing to wait for orders from the president. Filipinos largely have yet to understand how the democratic system works.
A country that is so dependent on one person will collapse if that person leaves office. I remember how chaotic it got after the 1986 People Power Revolution and Marcos was gone and people had to relearn how democracy worked and how to be free again. The Philippines is so chaotic and feudal because we see and do things on a personal level. That is what the American colonizers tried to change when they introduced a democratic form of government.
I understand people’s frustrations with the injustice and disorder in this country. I also have the Dirty Harry mentality. I would love to carry a gun around and just shoot people to teach them a lesson about good citizenship. But that would make me a dictator, won’t it? But what would make this country any different from Syria if people start shooting each other up? The mass shootings in the US are already bad enough.
To say that only Duterte can bring order to this country, then I wonder how America and other countries have law and order without the need for mini dictators. When I visited America for the first time last July, I saw that it was possible for Filipinos there to be disciplined and law-abiding without the need to have a cop around. Maybe the American colonizers shouldn’t have left in 1946.
If Duterte will just ignore the law to enforce the law, why don’t we just get rid of the law and get things over and done with?
There is a difference between rule of man and rule of law. I know how it was like to live under Marcos’s martial law. I haven’t gotten over the trauma of that period.
Frankly, I have been so frustrated with this country’s feudal political system that it’s enough reason for me to give up on my political reform advocacy and just commit suicide to get some peace of mind. I am quite capable of that. Who would care anyway?
Or, if you read about me having a bullet hole in the head and my body being discovered in some remote spot, don’t be surprised. I am very willing to die for my country. I consider it an honor. Not everyone gets that chance.
Norman, excellent writing… BRAVO…!!!
You forgot to add one thing; presidents are SELECTED and not elected…
Big difference… unfortunately.
Not many people know this.
Well said Norman. Voting in Duterte carries big risks, a risk I would not accept if I were Filipino. An American voting for Donald Trump also carries risks, and I still would not take that much smaller risk. There are some very strange politics for 2016 in the PI and the US. If Duterte and Trump win I think I will move to Italy! God help us all.
Hi Feyma
My personal point of view is that Rody D running for president will be a loss for the good people of Davao. One of the reasons that I chose to live there is that he was the mayor.
On the presidential subject, perhaps, just perhaps, the people of the PI might take the example of a non-corrupt president. Lets face it, there has been little incentive so far.
Cheers
AJ UK
Feyma,
Besides the fact that he is the mayor of where you live and it is well known that he is tough on crime (which is obviously a good thing especially with corruption), what are his views on the the economy and other other pertinent issues that he has an advantage of over the opposition?
speaking of ” FREEDOM” is just a word to most Filipinos. We dont know nor understand what it really means. I was once like them. We are good in following what is being told to do. Unlike Americans who know their real history “Freedom” is a big deal. What I’ve learned “Freedom is a God given right it cannot be given to me by a politician it can only be taken away by politician.”
From what I’ve heard about him, I think he would make a good President (if he wins!). There are a lot of problems to be sorted out and he just might be the right person to do that.
i can understand banning smoking, as long as all combustion engines are also banned. otherwise it is pure hypocrisy. or political grandstanding
William, Other areas of the Philippines also have No Smoking Laws, they are just more strictly enforced in Davao City.
Also a hard sell that he came out and states he wouldn’t challenge China in the West Philippine Sea.
Doug Thompson – He is just being realistic. No one in that part of the world can challenge China’s military might.
Well said, Richard.
Doug, there are some Vid’s on You Tube (In Tagalog) that claim Arroyo did a deal with China over the Spratly’s.
Maybe just propaganda, I don’t know.
Norman your comment was brilliant
Hi Feyma.
I won’t get drawn into Philippine Politics for obvious reasons.
However, I’ve always felt that the Philippines needs a great leader with similar traits of the late Lee Kuan Yew (Singapore).
Take care.
I Don’t live in the Philippines (yet) and as an outsider I have no right to comment but I would like to make 2 points for your thoughts.
1. Has your current president done such a terrible job? If he has done good then maybe the person he recommends as a successor deserves consideration.
2. As far as clean and safe is concerned, there were 2 other presidents that come to mid from history that were famous for clean streets and low crime and safety on their streets. One of them was famous for making the trains run on time for the first time ever. Their names were Hitler and Mussolini…
I agree with Norman. My wife and I have been discussing the issue of pros and cons of finding a home in Davao, Samal, Tagum to Mati. Davao is to strict for me and getting tougher on alcohol and smoking. and here in The US I am trying to get away from laws that infringe on peoples rights. There are bigger issues than to enforce tough fines in Davao and Philippines
Good luck to you, Bret, I hope that you find what you are looking for.
I’m concerned but remaining hopeful..