Strongman Popularity?

[Methersgate]

1 minute ago, scott h said:

Good observation Meth.

An example I have is my dentist. A woman of 35, married, has one child, owns her own business, and is actually related (3rd,4th, or 5th cousin I think) to my wife. She started calling me "Sir Scott" (which I hate, makes me feel like a knight at the round table) I said, just call me Scott, "oh I cannot do that, you are older than I am. We finally settle on Kuya Scott.

These are the type of ingrained cultural norms I am thinking of.

Yes, being called "Sir" by friends, whom I definitely consider my equals if not my betters, "spooks" me. Of course, they are translating the honorific, "-po", which is not as strong as "Sir" is in English, and they don't realise that "Sir" has more force than "-po" does. 

But the fact that everyday conversation is littered with these honorifics tells us something already - that this is a more hierarchical society than ours is.

My wife approaches anyone she doesn't know with "Kuya" or "Ate". 

You get the same sort of thing in China, where everyone gets addressed by their job title, moved up one rank, so "Deputy manager Zhang" becomes "Manager Zhang" and "Major Zhou" becomes "Colonel Zhou"...

I am told the Japanese take it even further, but I don't have much experience of Japan.

The Filipino and the Filipina spend their day giving and receiving deference. 

 

 

 

[Dave Hounddriver]

3 hours ago, Methersgate said:

Yes, being called "Sir" by friends, whom I definitely consider my equals if not my betters, "spooks" me.

It used to be like that in Canada when I was young.  My parents taught me to call strangers Sir or Ma'am and to call friends of the family "Uncle Bob or Aunt Jane" etc.  When I reached adulthood I told youngsters that just plain "Dave" is better.  Over the years I really missed the lack of respect that the previous generation had instilled into their kids and we, of my generation, just blew it off like it was nothing.

Too bring this back to the topic, it seems that Duterte is trying to bring this country back to an earlier time.  The time when Marcos was king and Duterte was his admirer. Such is just my unsubstantiated opinion.

[not so old china hand]

22 minutes ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

It used to be like that in Canada when I was young.  My parents taught me to call strangers Sir or Ma'am and to call friends of the family "Uncle Bob or Aunt Jane" etc.

It was the same in the UK in the 50s and 60s. All my parents friends were Auntie and Uncle. In Hong Kong in the 90s all my son's friends called me "Uncle Terry". Here in China I'm frequently addressed as ShuShu (uncle) by young children. Alas now I am beginning to hear YeYe (grandpa) more frequently.

[Benington]

Deference to, and respect for, the elderly is one of the positive aspects of living here for many Expats, I am sure.  The President looks all of his 71 years and to an extent will therefore increasingly be able to rely on age deference to retain much of his public support, even at times when things are not going smoothly and the honeymoon period is well past. Unless one uses draconian measures just acting a strongman can't help a President at those times.