Philippine president-elect to offer cabinet posts to rebels, reimpose death penalty

@lockke

Have leaders like Duerte who threaten to override justice, civil rights, and the constitution worked for countries in the past? Would you like your teenage child to be executed for partying? I have not lived in the Philippines, but I have lived in worse trust me. If he is so clean then why did he first deny then acknowledge (and again laugh off) that he has a personal account with millions in it that he accumulated from being mayor of Davao (corruption)? Someone that calls the pope "the son of a whore" for causing a traffic jam then wants to meet a few months later to pretend he didn't mean it, is clearly a populist, say one do another, attention grubbing dude. If he actually changes crime for the better then I'll give him a round of applause. I highly doubt you will see anything except some token show of brutality here and there.

that millions of money that he was accused of, was not proven. the senator who accused him could not identify sources, and used fake documents. All part of the Philippine election fiasco that you are not familiar with. All his enemies were trying to put him down before the campaign ends, and everyone saw through it. He is a proven Mayor of Davao for 20 years and everyone over there, even outside the city, LOVE him and his family. Someone corrupt and stole millions wouldnt have gotten the same reception. He is a proven leader who has cleaned his city. the "Son of a whore" is a literal translation, which wouldnt be understood by outsiders. That curse that he made wasnt a direct attack to the pope's mom, but to the pope. Albeit, a very bad remark about the Pope which earned him lots of raised eyebrows, his desire to meet up isnt a pretend of not meaning what he said. He outright said he will meet the pope to ask for apology personaly.

look up his work and you will know that he DOES do what he says he will do. And he outright said there will be blood with this upcoming change, and yet the people voted for him. People of the Philippines are crying for a change, and he is the only one who can bring it. btw, he did not say anything about executing kids who party. He said he will enforce curfew for kids.

Again, while I do believe you say you come from a worse place, and I hate saying stuff like philippines cannot be understand by outsiders.. for this case, I cannot help but say so.

One would hope the antidote to lawlessness is not vigilante/death squads, but the rule of law. At least he has no nuclear weapons.

philippines is far from worst. with the right government and citizens willing to discipline themselves, they can become one of the top countries

If Duerte feels so strongly about rapists that he wants to "double hang them" then he shouldn't joke about committing the act of rape in person and try to laugh it off later. He also joked about raping an already dead victim. If his whole "tough on criminals" stance boils down to reimposing the death penalty and a few other one fix all laws the Philippines may see a lot of people get executed as a quick fix.

If Duerte feels so strongly about rapists that he wants to "double hang them" then he shouldn't joke about committing the act of rape in person and try to laugh it off later. He also joked about raping an already dead victim.

it was a bad joke indeed. He is an open book, and has shown no attempt to hide the fact that he has a bad mouth. However, he is the most cleanest Politician in the Philippines, and will bring good change that the country deserves.

If his whole "tough on criminals" stance boils down to reimposing the death penalty and a few other one fix all laws the Philippines may see a lot of people get executed as a quick fix. We really dont care. I want ALL the criminals, rapist, robbers and thieves to perish. Why not? If this imposes fear on the people and prevent them from making crime, it makes the country a lot safer, then i see no bad in it. If you're not even Filipino and didnt grew up in the Philippines, then you cannot possibly understand.

@thepersoniamnow

I know how i must sound to you, and I actually agree with you with ALL of your points. I never once said that his words and jokes are in any way acceptable. Those arent something I would want to teach my son. So please dont think of me as someone who condone that.

That said, when you have the most corrupt country in the world, corrupted for decades.. manipulated and monopolized by only a handful of families sharing most of the wealth.. and you have candidates running for presidency.

one is proven corrupt (has graft and corruption charges against him and his entire family) one is a daughter of a famous actor who died, has barely any experience one is from same party as the current president, who failed to tackle corruption, and has various questionable leadership experience (Billions of dollars donated to philippines during mega-typhoon, didnt go to the people) one is a bookwise, tough lawyer but unpopular to many, and one foul mouthed small city mayor who is loved by his city, and has proven track record for 20 years.

When your choice for presidency are mostly corrupt officials, Duterte was the obvious choice. Anyone else, we would be back in the corrupt state that we are in. The rich gets richer, and the poor gets poorer.. however more poorer they can become.

Mayor "Digong" Duterte was and still is the only candidate whose platform calls for a Federal form of government .

This means he alone knows the problem facing big and beautiful Mindanao.

All those media headlines about rape jokes and killing criminals only attracts those who are ignorant of what he's done in Davao city.

Davao city and Duterte are open books and so is the rampant crime and corruption in the Philippines.

If you are not careful, airport police will plant bullets in your baggage and demand money or put you in jail.

That alone explains the landslide victory.

@ Lockke

I guess we can go on all day :) I just hope he really does try his best and isnt another massively corrupt leader. I just dont think you can excuse everything this guy does and says. His use of force is a little concerning, and you do not need to be a local to "understand" the term 'Son of a whore' , I mean cmon. Great leaders lead by good example and they dont represent boorish, crude, and even criminal behavior. I would be ashamed of my leaders if they engaged themselves in that way and no I wouldnt have to be a local to get it. I think we all get it.

@thepersoniamnow

the "son of a whore" was mentioned in Filipino language, and is just translated literally into english as such. That's why i'm explaining to you, that curse in Filipino is used to degrade the person, not the person's mother.. though it is how it means when you translate it literally.

I do hope he isnt a massively corrupt leader. The Philippines is one of the most corrupted government in the whole world, and for the very reason that we keep falling for leaders that talk nice, promises the heavens and sounds like an angel.

Like someone said.. In the Philippines, There's been too many leaders who said good and did bad.. it's time for a leader who says bad and do good.

So Duerte is a sign of the times of people being fed up with the past and willing to go with something fresh and with something that worked elsewhere. Son of a whore is pretty universal. It's not something the role model of a nation should be saying and it's degrading to women regardless of whether or not you or I think differently. How can you tell your children to look up to a leader who degrades others in that way or threatens to kill others who don't do what he wants, or makes degrading sexual jokes in public address? The Philippines doesn't need a leader to stoop to gutter talk to clean up do they? If they think they do, then that's half the problem. If in the past people said good and did bad, now you want someone who says bad and does good? That's not exactly a science. We try to teach them the opposite in schools.

i guess the voters just went for the "lesser evil." i did a quick read about the recent election and how people think this guy can bring change and discipline to the filipinos. no offense, i do love the phils and its people, but your country is really in a sad state if you need the threat of some powerful, tough guy "punisher" figure to scare you into just obeying the law especially simple traffic rules and regulations. i've heard from filipino friends that people in the phils don't know how to fall in line and wait. but the good news is people are willing to change. goodluck.

@Lockke Thanks I agree with a lot of what you say too. This was more of just a debating point for me and it was interesting to hear your POV. I do understand that everything was translated and I also know that the western media slandered Duerte during the election and that the news I got in English would be heavily opinionated.

Best wishes to all those in the Philippines this year.

I have not lived in the Philippines, but I have lived in worse trust me.

How can you know that you lived in a worse place than the Philippines when you haven't even lived in the Philippines? I'm not saying you're wrong, but I wouldn't trust you just yet either. I've lived in the Philippines for several years. I guarantee you that Duterte is a breath of fresh air as far as politics goes. At the current state right now, which is pretty much the same when I lived there, Philippines has no rule of law. The biggest criminals in the country are politicians, police, and military officers.

I only hope the people are lifted up &out of the economic misery inflicted upon them by past leaders, who were unable or unwilling to put a stop to the rampant corruption all around them. Amen to that!

@thePBot

Well man after living in Pakistan (Karachi), Colombia (Bogota), Mexico (several cities), Egypt, and having traveled in Africa, the one day I spent in Manila didn't seem too particularly difficult.