The Honorable Mr. António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations.
OF SPORTS, POLITICS AND GOOD GOVERNANCE (Philippines):
President Durterte – In response to some sector’s appeal for the United Nations to interfere in Duterte’s war on illegal drugs.
By: Graham C. Lim, member, National Press Club of the Philippines
Nearly 11 months after he took office as President of the Republic of the Philippines, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte has continued to wage war against illegal drugs in his country. It is the centerpiece of his governance in addition to his goal to eradicate corruption in the bureaucracy.
A great majority of the Filipino people is appreciative of President Duterte’s campaign against drugs proliferation. A mid-March survey by Pulse Asia (a respected survey company in the Philippines) showed that 82 percent of Filipinos feel more safe than before when president Duterte launched his campaign against unscrupulous people in the drug trade at the start of his six-year term.
It feels good to see real changes happening in less than a year’s time under the administration of President Duterte.
Duterte’s genuine campaign for change is a phenomenon that only Filipinos can be proud of but also a shining breakthrough in other parts of the world where the menacing drug trade has prospered and narco-politics now rule.
The drug menace has destroyed human lives, break up family, and endanger the security of social communities.
Duterte’s national leadership of more than 100 million Filipinos stems from his strong political will on matters that greatly affect his countrymen.
The ordinary Filipino has been seeking solutions to various problems that had hounded past presidents and addressed by them half-heartedly.
Worse, some of the national leaders brush them off like an irritant fly. The Secretary of Justice from the past administration, is now an imprisoned Senator after being charged of being a drug protector at the National Penitentiary Bilibid Prison, which was under her supervision during her time at the Department of Justice (DOJ) and was infested with drug trafficking and other criminal activities.
That the opposition, of which the country’s Vice President is the titular head, is accusing the Duterte of criminal acts arising in the campaign against drugs, like alleged extrajudicial killings of drug addicts/protectors, has raised some concern to many.
The Vice President who is with other political party, even went too far to send a video to the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations of alleged criminal acts by the police and the President, without verifying the authenticity of the reported extra-judicial killings, nor any proofs that the killings of drug personalities were state-sponsored.
The report , which is allegedly part of the opposition to destabilize the Duterte administration and an open invitation for outside forces to meddle in the affairs of the country, is simply a demolition job as most statements are not of first-hand knowledge and mostly were worded with “She said, he said, and according to ….”
That the United Nations and European Union will fall for this zarzuela is astonishing. They are riding on empty space as reports brought to them are never verified, relying on the say-so of the opposition, Commission on Human Rights (whose leader was appointed by past administration during his time), hypocritical Church (financially well-off despite the vow of poverty and chastity professed by the priesthood) and moneyed anti-Duterte trolls in the United States that are out to topple Duterte and install their puppet in the opposition.
That Duterte was the winner of the Philippine presidential elections by more than a six million-vote advantage of the second-place finisher shows that he has the mandate of the Filipino people. That “The voice of the people is the voice of God” is a generally acceptable principle, too.
But Duterte is being pilloried by foreign imperialists who see the president as a maverick who is not dancing to their traditional music of paying homage to them.
Duterte has an independent mind and is not beholden to the master-slave policies of foreign governments such as the U.S. and European countries.
His program is for the Filipino to stand up on its own and be proud of its race. He is fully committed to the betterment of the Filipino first and foremost.
Duterte’s love for the poor is admirable as he, too, came from a poor family. He does not want Juan dela Cruz, or the ordinary folks, to suffer humiliation and surrender its dignity in the face of financial hardship.
The traffic in the major thoroughfares in the Metro Manila area admittedly has been horrendous. But what made matters worse in the past was the high-handed attitude of some taxi drivers, illegal activities in the international airports (like the planting of bullets there during the watch of the previous administration that is now a thing of the past under Duterte) and the maltreatment of Filipino overseas workers. These are some of major problems that Duterte inherited from the incompetent and vindictive past administration that was also plagued by corrupt practices by lower-ranked officials whom he considered as friends who are untouchables
The military/police is another area that Duterte has sought to strengthen. The Philippine National Police is committed to tread the straight and narrow path. The rule of law is the guiding principle. Duterte has started to dismiss scalawags in the police ranks and in the long run, he intends to uplift their stature through the upgrade of their salary and equipment.
Soon the general public will have a better perception of our military and police forces, so unlike before when they were depicted as corrupt and even clumsy as portrayed in the movies.
In Duterte, Juan dela Cruz has finally found an ally, somebody who is dead-serious in solving the problems that have taken their toll on poor Filipinos who neither have the finances nor power on their side.
Duterte is aggressively going after drug lords and drug users among all classes, including the rich and influential.
He is going after corrupt government officials that launder money and stash their ill-gotten wealth in foreign banks, greedy oligarchs that control the country’s economy, and is trying his darn best to correct the flawed and corrupt justice system that has wrought havoc on law-abiding citizens and instead has given the law breakers the impunity to do wrong on the guise that their human rights are protected by the inutile Commission on Human Rights now and before during the term of an immoral and corrupt Senator – now imprisoned without bail for her illicit drug activities and bribery acts in the National Penitentiary Bilibid Prison – as this adulterous Senator (who publicly admitted to being the mistress of a married driver of hers during her stay in the DOJ) had previously held the top positions in the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and the Department of Justice (DOJ).