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| Source: topgear.com.ph |
My sister and I went for a short visit to Cebu City last month. After two hectic days of errands and catching up with work deadlines, we finally went home. We hailed a taxi from Mandaue to Pier 3, and while we were on the road, the driver shared his thoughts about President Rodrigo Duterte and his policies. In this article, I will try to recall what he said as much as possible. He spoke in Cebuano, but for obvious reasons, this article will be in English. These opinions are not my own, so if you don’t agree with any of them, please don’t point the gun at me 🙂
On the war against drugs
Since Duterte took office, I could really see the difference the Philippines was going through. He is unlike other presidents we had before. He is decisive and although foul-mouthed sometimes, he means business and does not waste a moment to fulfill his promises to the Filipino people. Look at what he has done so far. The war on drugs is a necessary step in improving the state of the Philippines as a whole. I know that it is bloody, but the people could not possibly be surprised by that. From the get-go, he said that blood would be spilt when he does become president. This purge would not be an easy one, and it certainly would take some time, but at least he is doing something about it. When he says he’s going to do something, he does it immediately. Look at how fast he implemented the war against drugs. The moment he stepped into office, he took care of it. I could feel the streets are safer now. I have had experiences where I would have passengers late at night who are clearly high. When Duterte was elected, I have not had that experience. I even talk to some passengers who are still out in the wee hours, and they all said they never felt as safe as they do now because they knew the drug addicts are afraid to come out because of the Tokhang program.
Here’s the thing about the war on drugs that people don’t understand. Most Filipinos think that it is simply a way to cleanse the country of addicts, but it is more than that. Think about it. If the drug trade continues, it would ruin the lives of so many children who are supposed to be the leaders of the next generation. When this happens, the whole country will be in trouble. Also, people think that Duterte focuses too much on criminality and does not think much about the economy. What they don’t realize is that he’s trying to solve crimes first because he’s looking at the big picture. In order to improve the economy and attract investors, the country should be conducive to operating businesses. Who in their right mind would invest in a place where their business could be threatened by the high rates of criminality? The drug trade affects all aspects of the nation’s development. If we want to improve, we should nip this problem in the bud.
Comparing Duterte to Noynoy
The main difference between Duterte and Noynoy Aquino is that the latter is not a leader. He acted more like an administrator. He sees what his predecessors left him and worked on maintaining that rather than coming up with new ways that may move the country forward. Noynoy merely built on what already exists. Duterte, on the other hand, knows that the existing policies so far have done little to improve the state of the Philippines. So he implements new ones and those that have worked well in his beloved Davao. The Filipinos are naturally hard-headed. You can’t expect us to follow rules immediately just because we were told to do so. That’s why we need Duterte because he’s a leader that effectively enforces rules and punishes those who disobey. The problem with the previous administration is that there were laws in force, but they were not enforced properly.
On international relations
Duterte is one of the few presidents who publicly told the United States to fuck off. Most world leaders would not dare to do so because the America is a powerful and influential country that could cause trouble when provoked. However, Duterte knows that he has other allies and that the United States under the new leadership of Donald Trump is not as strong as it used to be. So he turned to the other powerful nations instead—China and Russia. Duterte knows how America functions. They meddle with international affairs and position their soldiers in critical areas to maintain control in the international realm. He knows we have had enough of being mere yes men to the Western power. He wants the Philippines to exhibit national sovereignty. That is why he does not pay much attention to the calls of the international community about human rights or any other issue thrown at him. He knows that even if the Philippines is still a developing country, we don’t need to be subjected to the demands of foreigners who have got to mind their own business.
Whenever I have foreign passengers, they don’t fail to tell me how much they like our president and how he is the best president of the Philippines so far. They congratulate me for having such a strong leader. Some even tell me that Duterte is the key to making the Philippines a great nation. See? Even the foreigners agree.
On the Boracay cleanup
Being the decisive president that he is, Duterte does not spend much time postponing things that obviously have to be done. Boracay is a tourist spot that needs to be preserved in order for it to continue bringing in money. If it is one day destroyed because of the neglect of the establishments there, the tourists will stop coming. We had been taught in school to take care of the environment, so I don’t get why people are complaining when the president is doing just that. They say it was too sudden and that it needs more time and planning. Sudden! People are calling the move sudden when it has been a glaring environmental problem for years. Boracay should have been cleaned a long time ago. The move is not sudden. In fact, it’s late! Look at what they had discovered in the island. There are pipes leading immediately to the ocean. What Duterte wants is to respond to the problem immediately. If we are going to wait longer, the problem will become bigger and the effects harder to counteract. They argue that the businesses will suffer. Of course they should! They caused the problem in the first place. Six months with no business a small price to pay for the damage they had done to a national treasure. Duterte was right in implementing the clean-up immediately.
Our conversation was cut short by our arrival at the pier. There were other things the driver said that I have not included in this article, but this should suffice for now. How do you feel about his opinions? Share your thoughts in the comments section.
It's a Ping Thing 