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Thread: Rodrigo Duterte

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    Rodrigo Duterte

    Paging Davis Knowlton

    My wife just talked about a new contender for the next Philippines presidential election. She and her friends seem to think very well of him. He has a good trackrecord as mayor of Davao City.

    Anything else known of him, any opinion on his bid?

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    Tough guy. Very little education. Widely rumored to have been heavily involved in the DDS (Davao Death Squads) which executed numerous criminals without trial. He admitted it years ago, then later denied it.

    Rumor has three NPA attacking his home in the '90's, and being stuffed in oil drums and burned alive on his front lawn.

    Latest, a month ago, told a guy to put out his cigarette when smoking in a No Smoking area. The guy didn't respond fast enough, so Duterte stuck his .38 in the guy's face and made him eat it.

    That said, Davao is one of the cleanest cities I've ever been in. The surrounding areas are an NPA stronghold, but the city is safe and near crime free.

    He's very attractive to Filipinos who see him as a tough, law and order guy. My wife likes him as well.

    Bit of a thug. Plays well as a local Mayor, but I don't think he has the brain power to be an effective President.l

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    ^Correction. He has a college degree, as well as a law degree. I think I was thinking of his younger years, when he was expelled from several High Schools for disruptive behavior - took him 7 years to get through HS.

    70 years old. Been Mayor of Davao for 22 years - longest serving Mayor in the PI. Big supporter of gay rights. Former heavy smoker...now rabid anti-cigarettes. Big playboy in his younger days. Like big bikes.

    Could he win? Possibly. Not much in the way of really strong candidates. Perceived as a 'man of the people' a la Erap.

    Has a lot of popular support. Law and order and anti-corruption could well get him elected.

    What he does then, when confronted with impossible issues like Manila traffic rather than running his small, long-time kingdom of Davao, will be the real test.
    Last edited by Davis Knowlton; 23-11-2015 at 01:04 PM.

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    During the campaign, expect all of the extrajudicial killing stuff to haunt him. He may slide, as it was some years ago. but it was enough to bring down Ping Lacson.

    On the other hand, many Filipinos, my wife included, have no problem with extrajudicial street justice given a broken court system. I asked my wife, "What if they were innocent?" Answer: "Tough. If they didn't do the crime for which they were salvaged, they certainly deserved it for some other crime." The hand-wringers will squeal in horror, but it's a widely held view here.

    He's quite honest about his past - as many of his age are - and I doubt wild women, etc will cause him problems. If the worst issue he can be hit with is some back alley whacking of druglords, he should be fine.l

    In a speech today, Duterte told Filipino criminals, "If I become President, hide". When asked about reports of 1,000 extrajudicial killings in Davao he replied, "If I'm elected, it may jump to 100,000. There will be a lot of fat fish in Manila Bay."

    He doesn't seem too worried..............
    Last edited by Davis Knowlton; 23-11-2015 at 01:58 PM.

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    Thanks for your posts.

    He seems to deal with third world problems using third world methods. I don't disapprove of that.



    Quote Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton
    Has a lot of popular support. Law and order and anti-corruption could well get him elected.

    What he does then, when confronted with impossible issues like Manila traffic rather than running his small, long-time kingdom of Davao, will be the real test.
    Right, that's the big question.

    Plus, will he survive the election campaign? Lead poisoning is not uncommon for disruptive people up against entrenched privileges. If he gets up against them.
    "don't attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by incompetence"

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    Quote Originally Posted by Takeovers View Post

    Plus, will he survive the election campaign? Lead poisoning is not uncommon for disruptive people up against entrenched privileges. If he gets up against them.
    He's been a big NPA and criminal target for decades.....my money would be on him and his boys.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton
    Big playboy in his younger days.
    Seems, not only then. He said one of his problems when elected president is which of his wifes will he present as First Lady.

    He also said earlier on he just does not know if he is capable of dealing with the problems on a national level. That is why he was very hesitant to enter the race.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Takeovers View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton
    Big playboy in his younger days.
    Seems, not only then. He said one of his problems when elected president is which of his wifes will he present as First Lady.
    Just talk. He only had one wife, by whom he has three grown children; their marriage was annulled many years ago. He currently has a long-time partner, with whom he has one child, and to whom he is not married. Thus, he has no wife, much less wives. Although the ex, of German/American descent, still lives in Davao and they are reportedly on good terms.

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    The odds are very heavily stacked against him. He's a hick, basically and Manila/NCR/Luzon machine politics dominates this country.

    Only 3 of the 15 presidents of the 15 presidents of the Philippines, have been born on islands other than Luzon, and none of them, for over 50 years.

    However the field of opponents Duterte faces, all of whom are Tagalogs, seem quite weak.

    Despite that, I think one of them will prevail and Duterte will do well, to come second.

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    ^All valid points, and you're probably right. But, it's the Philippines........

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    Be difficult for him to get votes from anyone outside Mindanao. He doesn't have the organisation.

    Also much easier to bring Davao under control than the whole country.

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    A lot of foreigners seem to be painting it, judging by some of the postings on other forums, as a straight Tagalog vs. Visayan battle. But it, and also the Philippines in general, is not as simple as that.

    I wouldn't vote for him but I confess I'm not at all sure who I would vote for. None of the other candidates have much appeal.

    He also has age to overcome. 70 is quite an advanced age to be taking on a six-year term.

    I think it's good for the process that he is running and it will definitely make it much more interesting. And even if gets close, but loses he will have still have blazed a trail for some other Visayan to have a stab at the office in future. Which means, with this being the Philippines, his daughter.

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    ^Good post, with which I agree pretty much totally.

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    Not all women are in his camp. I'm holed up in a 250 peso room on the Camotes at the moment with a girl. The fan room has a pinoy cable TV in it. When it came up top of the news that Duterte was running, I asked her if she would vote for him. She said no. I said why not. She just mimed firing a machine gun at a bunch of people lined up against the wall. He's not everyone's cup of tea. Even Visayans.

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    Many of the people in Davao are from Luzon.

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    Remember Alexander and the Gordian Knot?

    Desperate times call for desperate measures. Hang the Maguinaldos and there's a good start. Kill the kulaks! Who said that?

    P.I. can never been a western style democracy and that's it!

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    Neither can Singapore, Korea, or even Japan who used to be poor but have become rich.

    But they never made the mistake, of having talentless hooligans in the top political jobs, did they. Duterte wouldn't be anything new, even if he does make president. It would just be another illustration of what they do in the Philippines - the land of guns, goons, gold, and girls.

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    PI News

    Today he ask to increase the number of funeral parlor if he get's elected, since he will kill all drug lords and make execution each week end to show off...

    The actual President just said that the scam at airport with bullet planting in tourist luggage is ok as only 1200 out of million passenger is a small percentage...

    Mar Roxas is another character in this circus as well. Then there is the other guy that lived in normal corrupt years that is too old to place in jail but still seen in politics, colorful place the PI...
    Monday,Tuesday, then it goes WTF !

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    ^Phil. politics is a circus. Even I don't know who I'll vote for President next year.

    For me, Duterte's age isn't really a deterrent, as long as he keeps himself healthy. Look at FV Ramos, he's 87 and he's still alive & kicking. But then Ramos was a military man and maintained his exercises even while President.

    Erap was different - he was a known gambler and drinker and was known to gamble into the early hours of the morning, and that's when he approved shady deals (or so it was said).

    As for Duterte, I don't know if he'll be able to handle whole country and I'm also queasy about dictator-style assassinations.

    I wouldn't trust the mayor in my hometown with the whole country. I would vote for him again if he ran for mayor as he keeps my town clean & orderly. However, he has said that it's his last term since he's also getting on in age and probably wants to retire.

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    Four-Woman Crime Fighter Aims to Win Role as Nation's Leader

    BANGKOK: A 70-year-old crime fighting mayor who boasts about his womanising and praises the extrajudicial killings of drug dealers has emerged as a leading contender for the Philippine presidency.

    Rodrigo Duterte, a seven-time mayor of the southern city of Davao who basks in the nickname "the Punisher", has pledged to ruthlessly wipe out crime if he wins next year's election that has been shaken-up by the disqualification of leading candidate Grace Poe.



    Mr Duterte warned criminals that if he becomes president "I'll dump all of you into Manila Bay, and fatten all the fish there".

    "I do not want to commit a crime but, if by chance, God will place me there, you had better watch out."

    Mr Duterte's campaign received a surprise boost on Tuesday when the Philippine electoral commission disqualified Ms Poe for failing to meet residential requirements that includes that candidates must have lived in the country for 10 years.

    Polls had shown the 47-year-old adopted daughter of two popular movie stars who was abandoned in a church when she was a baby had been leading the race to be elected president in May.

    Mr Duterte built a reputation as a crime fighter who transformed Davao from what was known as the "murder capital of the Philippines" into one of the country's safest and most orderly cities.

    He once told criminals that they had two choices about how they left Davao: vertically or horizontally.

    "The best practices in the city are the killings (of criminals)," he said on another occasion.

    Mr Duterte also assured funeral parlours of brisk business if he wins.

    "If I become president, I advise you people to put up several funeral parlour businesses because I am against drugs . . . I might kill someone because of it," he said last week.

    When an intoxicated tourist in a bar refused to follow Mr Duterte's anti-smoking law, the mayor reportedly walked up to him, pulled out a .38 revolver and pointed it at the man's crotch.

    "You choose, your manhood, or you swallow your cigarette butt."

    The man walked out of the bar with his manhood intact.

    As he launched his campaign in the devoutly Roman Catholic nation, Mr Duterte bragged about his womanising, telling 10,000 supporters last weekend that he has two wives - without clarifying their legal status - and also two girlfriends.

    "If I can love 100 million and one (Filipinos), I can love four women, at the same time," he said.

    "If you want me to become president, you should know everything about me."

    Mr Duterte said that unlike other politicians he does not use public funds to support his paramours.

    "I do not let them live in posh condominium units . . . they just stay in boarding houses," he said.

    Analysts say Mr Duterte's crime-busting message will resonate in the crime-weary country but he has already alienated the Catholic Church, the country's most powerful institution.

    In January he riled the clergy when he was quoted as cursing traffic delays caused by a visit to the country of Pope Francis.

    Mr Duterte initially insisted he was misquoted but then switched focus by claiming that he was sexually abused by a priest as a child.

    Archbishop Socrates Villegas responded by accusing Mr Duterte of spreading vulgarity.

    "When we find vulgarity funny, we have really become beastly and barbaric as people," the archbishop said.

    Other election candidates include Vice-President Jejomar Binay, 73, and former interior minister Mar Roxas, 58.

    President Benigno Aquino, who was elected in 2010, is barred from re-contesting the election under the country's constitution.

    Four-Woman Crime Fighter Aims to Win Role as Nation's Leader - Phuket Wan

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    If Poe is really out of the race, that leaves Miriam, who is widely regarded as being insane, and a couple of REALLY boring status quo elderly establishment hacks.

    Who knows? Duterte might have a shot (no pun intended). Although his shots (no pun intended) at the Pope and allegations of having been abused by priests as a child didn't help much. As far as women, it's a lot of macho bluster. He's 70, has one ex-wife and one long-time live-in partner.

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    Duterte was here in my home town campaigning yesterday. TONS of supporters...and this is Luzon, only 50 miles from Manila.

    Poe simply isn't very inspiring, and Miriam is out of it.

    So, it's Duterte vs the political machinery of Manila and the old status quo guys, who aren't getting much press time.

    He could pull this off.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Takeovers View Post
    He said one of his problems when elected president is which of his wifes will he present as First Lady.
    Recently announced that his daughter will act as First Lady if he's elected.

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    It's funny how things change...in pol-i-tics...sometimes...possibly...maybe...(if you catch my drift...if...).

    See how far Trump has gone based on being perceived as tough....
    and Arnold and Jesse both became Governors...not to mention Reagan as President.
    Image is everything in marketing.

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