Category: rodrigo duterte

Five reasons why Duterte should stop swearing at the EU

Rachel A.G. Reyes

IN this time of Brexit and the ranting of right-wingers in both Europe and North America who clamor for a chance to take pot shots at the European Union, President Rodrigo Duterte’s own tirades against the EU may not sound too unusual. “Tell them the mayor says you are a f*****g s**t,” he said recently before a local audience, who laughed and clapped approvingly. But while it might seem Duterte is riding on a populist wave in deriding the EU, and standing up for Philippine sovereignty, he is actually doing the country a massive disservice.

Read on…

The price of national independence

Randy David

On April 8 and 9, Manila will be the venue for an international conference aimed at expressing solidarity with the Cuban people in their bid to end more than half a century of American sanctions against their country. I understand that President Duterte, a self-described socialist, has been invited to speak at this conference, which is being organized by two local Filipino-Cuban friendship associations.

Read on…

Perfect storm in wild, wild Philippines

Tony La Viña

For our sake, we better understand what is happening and act collectively to avert the worst outcome.

First, there was the filing last Friday of the impeachment complaint against President Duterte by Representative Gary Alejano of the Magdalo party list. The timing was perfect, with Congress having just adjourned, surprising the Duterte administration and its supporters.

Read on…

tricky testy toxic times

ako lang ba ang ninenerbiyos sa state of president duterte’s health?  praning lang ba ako dahil sa pag-amin niyang parati na lang siyang may dinaranas na pananakit ng ulo at ng gulugod, kung kaya’t napagamit siya ng fentanyl na mas matindi pang painkiller kaysa morphine?  di naman niya sinasabi categorically na itinigil na niya for good ang paggamit nito nuong nabuking ng doktor niya na he was using 1/2 of the transdermal patch instead of just the prescribed 1/4.

pag mga doktor ang tinanong mo, napapailing sila sa fentanyl.  parang ang implication ay hindi na siguro umuubra ang ibang gamot na panlaban sa matinding pananakit ng ulo (na maaaring dala ng spinal injury from that motorcyle spill).  and by the way, ang pagkahilo at / o pagsusuka — na ilang beses nang nangyari sa kanya, ayon sa balita — ay ilan sa side-effects ng paggamit ng fentanyl.

maganda sana raw kung ipakita sa atin ang resulta ng head MRI o brain scan ng pangulo.  lalo na’t sinabi ng kanyang doktor mismo na ang sobrang paggamit ng fentanyl ay makakaapekto sa kanyang cognitive functioning, ibig sabihin sa kanyang pag-iisip (which encompasses reasoning, memory, attention, language, grasp of information, decision-making, etc).

it would be good to know that the kill-kill-kill orders, the paulit-ulit kuwentos, the pagmumura, the pagbabagong-isip on major policy issues, the joke about god telling him to stop cursing, calling his most trusted aide a bugaw, the misogynist talk, at kung anuano pang nakakagulantang na pananalita…  it would be good, kahit paano, to know that all these are not products of a cognitively dysfunctional mind, rather, of a politically astute and strategic, if radical, kind of thinking and messaging out to simply confuse, disconcert, discombobulate, and disable us from agreeing on anything, whether for or against him.

on facebook i am dismayed to find that like-minded “friends” who used to walk the middle ground — giving the president the benefit of the doubt yet not hesitating to speak up when disturbed re policy issues and especially by the rhetoric of his rabid supporters — and whose daily statuses i counted on to keep me updated on the latest developments…  i am dismayed to find that they are now squarely on the president’s side.  kahit level-up naman ang discourse nila from mocha uson’s, still, nakakapanlambot.  nakakapanlumo.

parang wala pati sa kanila ang na-tense about the fentanyl flap.  mas nakatutok sila on hitting out at the vp and trillanes and everyone else who dares ask duterte to resign on whatever grounds.  i seriously wonder what they know that we don’t know about the president’s health. maybe he’s actually in good shape?  but why not reassure us?  or maybe they’ve bought in to the bongbong protest as valid and therefore if the supreme court declares bongbong winner, they’ve decided they can live with that?  come to think of it, they have also been critical of the protests vs. the marcos burial in libingan ng mga bayani, and kapansin-pansin how critical they have become of the veep, who it would seem is doing nothing right.

but if digong is as sick as he himself says he is, i wonder what the game plan is.  i imagine that the supreme court is under extreme pressure to decide by january 2017 and going by the optimism of the bongbong camp on fb, parang they expect the ruling to be in his favor.  i imagine that that’s what leni and loida and leila and the liberal party are gearing up for, conceivably with the blessings of uncle sam.  maybe that’s why a certain opinion columnist has been bombarding us with stuff about how it was america that installed cory in ’86, which is like saying that america was responsible for EDSA, which is so not true.

EDSA season will be upon us soon enough, and it will be interesting, if not mindboggling. let’s brace ourselves, for better or for worse.