Strongman Popularity?

[Gratefuled]

6 hours ago, Jack Peterson said:

 He is not making many Friends I have to Admit and his greatest enemy is himself, he just has not realized this yet.

6 years is a long enough time to do the Damage to ruin a Country he is seems so passionate about "reap what you sow" springs to mind, It is a well known Fact that I am a lover of the PI and it's people but I worry sometimes latley what it will hold for any of us ( especially the foreigner) if Mr President does not slow down and let some less important things be handled by those HE puts at the helm ( Not wanting to mix Topics but..) he seems to have won the hearts of his people as he puts it now it is time I feel to listen to them

JMHO 

I agree with you on this one. We, as expats have a country to return to if things get out of hand. The people of the Philippines have no choice but to endure the consequences for at least 6 years. 

[Benington]

On 8/21/2016 at 7:08 PM, Kuya John said:

Anyone aware that there are certain parts of the UK with large numbers of Muslims who abide by Sharia Law, rather than go through the UK justice system?

My internet went down or I would have come back on this sooner. The Sharia courts in Britain are involved in arbitration and family matters. In fact the arbitration courts are recognised as part of the mediation system there. No chopping off of hands!

That's not to say many people are not concerned about them and also in general about the practices of various religious groups, not just Muslims, but also, for example, Jews. Education is one such area of contention.

If the Muslims in the Philippines have Sharia Law in their autonomous areas, there's no problem. If they set them up in the rest of the country the government will have to decide where to draw the line.

[Benington]

22 hours ago, mogo51 said:

I think he has certainly 'hit the ground running' Jack.  I understand your point, but I think I would rather his style than the former President.

 

I think he has "hit the ground", running!

Regarding leadership style we must return to the original question posed by the OP.

I think there is no doubt that most Filipinos do currently prefer an authoritarian leadership style.

It's a country that's had a high birthrate, though it is now declining , and one is old here in one's 60s. So there are few people alive now who were around to experience the Marcos time. And, of course, not many of those were affected by his human rights violations and the turmoil at the end. 

The coverage of international news here on the mainstream TV and radio is abysmal. It's mostly about a Pinoy or Pinay OFW somewhere, or natural disasters.There are many authoritarian leaders in charge around the world. Many military dictatorships, Sheikdoms and one party Communist states like China, North Korea and Cuba,

In supposedly democratic countries there is Mugabe in Zimbabwe, el-Sisi in Egypt...before that Mubarak, In South America there was Chavez, followed by someone a bit better now called Maduro. Also, now, Erdogan in Turkey. In Central Asia there are a number of "democratically elected" strongmen in office. Last, a prime example, Putin in Russia.

Some of these countries economies are kept afloat by oil revenues. China and Turkey are doing quite well. But the rest are basket cases.

The great bulk of people here have no idea about that link. The OFWs might have some idea, but they are too busy working and probably are not interested. Contrast that with the level of knowledge and understanding in the West of international economic and political issues. They will make the news headlines..but usually not in the Philippines.

Things have certainly got bad here..though I would put poverty before drugs/crime...and the desire for a strong leader is understandable. Many seem willing to trade off some human rights to deal with the drugs issue. We shouldn't be surprised at this...because apart from the economies of those countries with authoritarian leadership, human rights in those places are also appalling. People here have long seemed willing to accept that trade off - just note the meaning of "salvage' here in that context.

There's one strong leader that some commentators say the President admires, Lee Kuan Yu in Singapore. That seemed to work and Singapore has a Western standard of living now. But City State Singapore split off from Malaya. Would it have worked otherwise?

Can a leadership style that might have worked in a city here be scaled up to work at the national level? For me, the early indications are that it cannot. People will have to learn the hard way that leaders must have a mix of qualities to be successful.

[i am bob]

I love the comments about what our members fear but some are really not in phase with what is happening or is planned...  So, just referring to some of the general ideas and not what has been said, here are my thoughts...

First, about the speed that the president is going at things...  Corruption has long been felt in the south...  He has felt and experienced the pain people went through and it turned his stomach...  Of course he wants to end it and end it now...  The same with the drug problem...  It's at a crisis level and has to end now...  So that's what he's doing...  Yes, other countries and their news reporters and coming down on him for it...  Why?  Because he doing it in front of everybody...  Those same groups who complain have crimes just as serious but they are covered up...  Hidden from the public...  That's why there are so many alphabet and numbers agencies in our countries...  Many of which we don't even know what they do...  Or are even aware of...  

He's been in politics most of his life...  Not just at the city or provincial level but dealing with both sides of the Communist and Muslim issues...  I think he had a firm idea long ago on how to make things good for both sides and now he is about to make things happen...  Allowing the Muslim population the right to use the laws that follow their religion will only be in areas that are predominately Muslim... And will not affect other religions greatly...  Muslims will be expected to follow the laws...  Others will be looked at each individually and, for minor religious crimes, will result in education of the law...  Not as a punishment but so that the person understand why what they did was wrong...  Serious crimes by non-Muslims that are considered as crime anywhere the Philippines will be carried out by a regular court system...  In effect, the people living in these areas will have representation that represents both sides...  As for killing non-believers?  Not gonna happen...  Some laws will be the same no matter where we live...

 

[mogo51]

A good post Jack and sums up the present position well. I am hoping like you, he winds back some of his excessive global views (UN not one of them IMO bloody hopeless lot). But US distancing is not a smart move. It will depend who wins the US election maybe. Hilary is a 'non doer' and Trump a loose canon and somewhat similar in style to Duetere, so maybe they will become 'good buddies'.IMO.

[scott h]

45 minutes ago, Benington said:

So there are few people alive now who were around to experience the Marcos time. And, of course, not many of those were affected by his human rights violations and the turmoil at the end. 

Great point Ben.

My wife was a young lady at work (at the airport) when martial law was declared. She noticed soldiers running around on the way home and thought nothing of it. Her mom, a school teacher, didn't know it was declared for 3 days. My wife's response to martial law was (recounted 30 years later) was "oh really?" and went to work the next day. It really affected her life very little. Her only real comment was that "discipline" seemed to improve. Her favorite example was Jaywalking. Recalls that if a person was caught jaywalking, they were made to stand in the middle of the road (by traffic enforcers) and sing the national anthem. 

[Jack Peterson]

My daughter came out with a Classic this lunchtime, Dad she asked, Do you think The President has ever read or seen the Film on " The kings new Clothes" by H.C. Anderson?

[robert k]

5 minutes ago, Jack Peterson said:

My daughter came out with a Classic this lunchtime, Dad she asked, Do you think The President has ever read or seen the Film on " The kings new Clothes" by H.C. Anderson?

It's a classic popular with children, I imagine Duterte probably read it as a child or possibly seen a play. I have had the pleasure of both. I used to have a book with that story in the collection which I gave to my niece and she reads it to her children, all of them, she is a teacher.

[Jack Peterson]

1 minute ago, robert k said:

It's a classic popular with children, I imagine Duterte probably read it as a child or possibly seen a play. I have had the pleasure of both. I used to have a book with that story in the collection which I gave to my niece and she reads it to her children, all of them, she is a teacher.

 Then Robert I presume you understand what she was getting at? (cynical  maybe) but.................  Out of mouths of babes as it were!

[robert k]

2 minutes ago, Jack Peterson said:

 Then Robert I presume you understand what she was getting at? (cynical  maybe) but.................  Out of mouths of babes as it were!

Well, she's young Jack. Do you think she knows much about Julius Caesar? Not his death but the reason he was appointed dictator in the first place?