Why do some people, particularly members of the Philippine Liberal Party, call President Rodrigo Duterte a dictator? I have been trying to find people who can substantiate that accusation, but none of his critics could provide anything to back their claim. Liberal Party Senators like Leila De Lima, Risa Hontiveros and Antonio Trillanes keep warning the public about what they think is a looming dictatorship. They keep harping about the “doom and gloom” scenario if Duterte is not stopped, but they simply come across as delusional since their statements are far from reality.
Somebody ought to tell Duterte’s critics what the term “dictator” means. A dictator is someone who has total power over a country. As far as I know, all branches of government in the Philippines are still functioning. Members of Congress can still vote on issues so, therefore, the country is not under a dictatorship. Congress recently exercised their mandate, convened and tackled the issue of Duterte’s request to extend Martial Law in Mindanao. Congress approved the extension of Martial Law until the 31st of December 2017 with an overwhelming 261 yes and just 18 no votes.
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The extension of Martial Law is definitely a slap on the face of anti-Martial Law advocates including members of the Liberal Party and their supporters. Their shrill cries are generally ignored by the public anyway, which means the representatives in Congress are in touch with public sentiments. Anti-Martial Law advocates are way out of tune. They only talk about abuses committed in the past, not today. In fact, I’m beginning to think that anti-Martial Law advocates secretly wish the military would commit atrocities and abuse their power against civilians just to prove their point and have something against Duterte.
Anti-Martial Law advocates have become annoying. The public cannot relate to what they are saying because the public understands that the threat of ISIS-affiliated terrorists taking control of the rest of the country is more dangerous than one or two rogue members of the Philippine military abusing their positions. In other words, anti-Martial Law advocates have lost their ability to rationalise. Their arrogance is preventing them from seeing that the country is under threat. They still think that Duterte is simply exaggerating.
Liberal-minded critics still think that peace talks would be more effective in dealing with terrorist groups like Maute. Yeah, right! The Maute Group was founded by Abdullah Maute, son of Moro Islamic Liberation Front official Cayamora Maute. This just proves that despite the millions of pesos former President BS Aquino spent on brokering “peace talks” with the leaders of Moro Islamic Liberation Front, peace in Mindanao remains elusive because breakaway groups continue to pop-up and wreak havoc in the community. These terrorists are not fighting for their religious ideology; they are fighting for power. They don’t want peace because they want to take over the region and quite possibly the entire country.
Seriously, if Duterte didn’t declare Martial Law in Mindanao, his critics would have nothing new to say against him. They can only throw old problems left by BS Aquino government like the traffic at EDSA and public transportation woes. Duterte’s swearing is not even an issue anymore because his supporters don’t have a problem with it and there is nothing his critics can do to change the way he talks.
Duterte’s critics are questioning his popularity ratings and imply that survey firms did not paint a very accurate result. They cannot believe Duterte still enjoys a very high popularity rating – even higher than the previous survey result at 84%. They didn’t have a problem accepting the result when BS Aquino’s popularity rating was high though. They just can’t accept that Duterte still commands respect after a year in office.
Unfortunately for Duterte’s critics, they have nothing to pin him down with since he has not violated any law. His war on drugs is consistent with his mandate as the leader to deal with the drug menace in Philippine society, which the previous government failed to address. The courts have yet to prove that the deaths related to drug operation were the result of “extra-judicial killings”. His war on drugs even seems to be going viral. Indonesian President Joko Widodo has instructed members of his country’s law enforcement agency to shoot drug traffickers, including foreigners. We can only hope that his decision to emulate Duterte would distract US lawmakers who are against Duterte’s policy from focusing on him too much.
St Scholastica students in a protest rally call President Duterte a ‘dictator’ yet are evidently free to criticise him openly.
If Duterte is a “dictator” then he is bad at being one because his critics are still free to rally out in the streets and are still able to say negative things about him without getting killed. His critics still enjoy the freedom to speak out against him. His critics may not agree with his policies, but that doesn’t mean democracy in the Philippines is dead. What died is the lie that the Aquinos are God’s gift to the Filipino people and that the Liberal Party is fighting for the interests of the people.
Indeed, a year of Duterte has resulted in a more engaged public due to the President’s determination to expose issues that were swept under the rug by the BS Aquino government. Duterte certainly doesn’t pretend everything is peachy in the Philippines. He is the first to admit that the problems in the Philippines are not going to be easy to solve. That is a good start. The first part of solving a problem is exposing it. The solution should present itself after that.
In life, things are not always what they seem.
am just wondering this so called human rights violations, why is it always blamed on the AFP-PNP? why i don’t hear human rights violations done by CPP-NPA, MNLF, MILF, ABU SAYAFF, BIFF, MAUTE, ETC????????????????????? CHR must comment on this. and look what will happened during SONA, BAYAN group will sow terror they will provoke the authority then blamed it to the peace keeping troups.
…go president Duterte clean our Nation of rats.
its not ‘HUMAN’ RIGHTS its ‘CIVIL RIGHTS’, FFS!!! EE-GAD MON, get a frikkin clue already. AND, the ‘EXACT CIVIL RIGHT’ is called ‘DUE PROCESS’, yes that is what its called, and 7500 Filipino’s were murdered by Duterte’s decree without it.
The Aquino Cojuangco political axis; the Liberal Party; the opponents of Pres. Duterte; cannot think of any valid issue against him. So, they are resurrecting the Martial Law issue, and the ghost of the late Pres. Marcos, Sr., who proclaimed Martial Law…
These anti Duterte idiots, who think , they can deal and negotiate with Terrorists, like the ISIS -Maute Group, are giving us the wrong solution of the Mindanao rebellion problem. There must be NO negotiation for any terrorist (period)…we kill terrorists; not negotiate with them.
The War on Drug, which is the “gift” of that idiot Pres. Aquino on the Duterte administration, must be dealt with “iron hands” …The nymphomaniac Leila de Lima Drug Cartel, has already expanded to the Barangay Level in the government, with the help of that another idiot, Mar Roxas.
Let us all prosecute and jail those who profited immensely with the : DAP, PDAF, Pork Barrel Bribery, etc…
The voracious appetite of Porky Drillon on Pork Barrel, must be stopped…
The Aquino administration, and his cahoots, also stole the gold reserves of the Philippines.
Let us jail them , and seize all their assets. They are Shameless Thieves, on the highest degree.
If our search for Justice on the wrongs, that the Aquino administration had done, on our country, is dictatorship; then let us have dictatorship, as long as these Scums are prosecuted and jailed.
Otherwise, they are just trying to make a diversionary political tactic; to hide and cover their crimes…
If it walks like a duck, and it quacks like a duck, WTF ? Duterte has instituted MARTIAL LAW in one part of the country. Duterte has had a hand in the deaths of over 7,000 Filipino’s, and don’t tell me he did not. The President declared he would’ GIVE YOU A MEDAL ” if”YOU KILL A DRUG DEALER”, and so 7,500 dead people later….This is in violation of the ‘DUE PROCESS’ clause of the constitution, via Usurper Elite de Duterte….and no one can deny its not ! You just can’t. He has gotten away with it, so what does that tell you ? That he is not a dictator? BWHA HA HA, you Filipino’s elected him, and pretty soon you are going to wish you had not. and soon after that you are going to wish that the CIA would get rid of his dumb-ass already. BUT WAIT, what else has he done for the down-trodden MASSA’, WHAT? NOTHING, TA-DA, yes that is correct, the oligarchs still front run the Stock Market daily, get rich on energy speculation ala that US Scam template, ENRON….and the electricity rates in the country are still the highest in the world, stifling the economy and small business’s everywhere in the country.
SO, you tell me what DUTERTE IS, IF HE IS NOT A DICTATOR ? HUH? WHAT ?
AND I AM NOT A SUPPORTER OF ANY GOVERNMENT POLITICIAN IN THE PHILIPPINES EITHER, so throw out the ‘Yellow-Tard’ label you were going to try to pin on me…DUTERTE IS A TOOL OF THE OLIGARCHS and THE KNOW THEY ARE LOSING A GRIP ON THE COUNTRY AND SO NEED A DICTATOR LIKE DUTERTE TO INSTITUTE ML AND ALL THATGOES WITH IT……Filipino’s need someone like me, a person with balls to lock up these scumbags and give the country back to the people.
Another YellowTard and Aquino Cojuangco political axis cahoot/hireling, telling us what to do…Who are the scumbags? They are the Aquino Cojuangco political axis people, who stole us blind…they made our country a Narco country…
They hire bloggers, to confuse people…WE believe that Pres. Duterte is on the right path…we have too many problems that piled up, during the Aquino Cojuangco era…it will take many years to solve them, not months…Duterte is not a Superman !
“the country is under threat”??? Maury and ISIS want to take over the whole country?
Who is exaggerating more than Duterte? Definitely you!
And what this so glorious president has been able to do against few hundreds of this Maute people? Nothing after month they still hold Marawi City. Just showing how incompetent the Philippines army is, showing how much interest the politicians have in maintaining that security situation ( the same way Abu Sayaf never been eradicated… It is in purpose to keep them around).
Seriously ISIS taking over Philippines while just a very small part is actually Muslims?
Failipinos: stop always blaiming the others for your own shit. Agreed the Aquinos were as bad as the others but putting everything on them is just a lie…
And what about GMA administration? Seems every forgot how much they stole from the Filipinos!
one false move by the anti-Duterte rats during SONA, and it’s martial law for the entire country.
@D.
Very funny that you’re still EMO over GMA that you say she stole YOUR MONEY (which is the government’s money to begin with. Taxation ain’t yours, son! Lemme tell you that taxation bis nothing w/o representation!) while let’s say she’s more competent the she even kept the economy afloat during the 2008 financial crisis. It really amuses me that you’re totally fine with her successor Noynoy where he had the biggest pork barrel money. My advice: stop your misguided EMO crap and see the bigger picture.
The prominent opposition has reached a status of arrogance in that they assume they’re in a position to impose their views on the majority, and that they understand the situation better than the rest. Somebody ought to give them a rude awakening. Then again, can they prove themselves as opposition working for the country’s interest?
duterte critics are imbeciles. if the country were under a dictatorship, their mouths would all be permanently shut! IDIOTS!
Actually I think Patrizia is right. However, the reason Duterte doesn’t need or want to be a traditional dictator is very simple:
– Filipinos are incredibly gullible, at least when it comes to convincing them to do things that will harm them.
– Filipinos hate being told what to do, so if he went around “dictating” to people, they’d rather die than comply.
In other words, it’s easy to get Filipinos to dig their own graves and lie in it.
I think we can safely say, then, that Duterte’s effect/impact on the Filipino people will be overstated., noh?
If Duterte’s reforms do not result in any change, then it won’t be for lack of trying, but because Filipinos are just too obstinate for their own good, yes?
@YO BLOW, didn’t you still know that president Duterte is the real gift from heaven. he’s the second coming. didn’t you see those idiots following the fake second coming during SONA, they look like wet rats.
Problems are meant to be solved, but unfortunately, a lot of Failipinos in the Failippines choose to complain, worry, and cry about them.