Rodrigo Duterte, New Philippine President

[Shotgunner51]

.
Indeed he is an honest man.

In life, being too honest can get you into trouble sometimes.

As a President, I think he has to think more carefully what he says.

My advice - "engage brain before opening mouth."

More so, if it's a "mouth cannon".

Ain't that true! His predecessor has set his country on collision course with a gigantic neighbor, now he is pissing off his country's only backup in the confrontation, what exactly is he thinking?

 

[ahojunk]

@Shotgunner51
This guy will says what is in his head. Brutal honesty!

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Duterte on Robredo: You won't listen to a beautiful female president

'You won't listen to a female president, you will just stare at her,' says President Duterte, admitting he stares at Vice President Robredo during Cabinet meetings

Pia Ranada
Updated 8:00 PM, August 10, 2016

WORKING WITH DUTERTE. President Rodrigo Duterte welcomes Vice President Leni Robredo to her first Cabinet meeting. File photo by Cado Ninal/Malacañang PPD


MANILA, Philippines – President Rodrigo Duterte did not hesitate to express his admiration for Vice President Leni Robredo's beauty on Wednesday, August 10.

But his admiration prompted a joke about how difficult it is to listen to beautiful female presidents, something Robredo might be one day if she decides to run in 2022 and wins or if Duterte is unable to complete his term.

"You won't listen to a female president, you will just stare at her because she's beautiful. I keep looking at [Vice President Robredo] in the Cabinet meeting," joked Duterte, a self-confessed admirer of women who once told a crowd of thousands about his multiple girlfriends.

Duterte was speaking to soldiers at a military camp in Labangan, Zamboanga del Sur on Wednesday. He spoke mostly in a mix of Bisaya, English, and Tagalog.

The President also called the Vice President "lady-like and kind," adding that so far, he has had no problems with his Cabinet appointees.

This is not the first time Duterte commented on Robredo's physical beauty.

On the campaign trail, he had admitted he found her so gorgeous that if she did not win as vice president, he wanted her to be his "assistant president."

While his comment amused some, it insulted others who thought the joke was demeaning to women.

But after his joke, Duterte said he did not mean to offend anyone.

"I'm sorry Leni, I hope, do not be offended, I am just shooting the breeze with these guys," he had said.

After a rocky start to their working relationship right after the elections, Duterte and Robredo appear to be on each other's good side. Robredo is now part of Duterte's Cabinet as his housing czar.

But Robredo has not agreed with all of Duterte's policies. She expressed concern over the rise in extrajudicial killings which is seen as a consequence of his administration's war on drugs.

She also opposes the planned burial of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. – Rappler.com

 

[TheTheoryOfMilitaryLogistics]

I have already seen his future.
This man will be shot by CIA.

 

[jerry_tan]

I have already seen his future.
This man will be shot by CIA.

i saw it differently , he will be assassinated by Chinese druglord.

 

[ahojunk]

Duterte is saying sorry, sort of.
I like his style.

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Duterte: Ignore my tirade against Goldberg, PHL-US alliance remains strong
Published August 10, 2016 5:44pm
By TRISHA MACAS, GMA News

President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday said his tirade against United States Ambassador Philip Goldberg should be ignored, even as he expressed confidence about the strength of the country's alliance with the superpower.

"Pasagdi na lang na akong tirada sa ilang ambassador kay tinuod man na. Simply the truth at the time of election. Nganong muhatag man ka ug statement when the election is going on?" Duterte said.

("Just ignore my tirade against their ambassador because they were true anyway. Simply the truth at the time of election. Why would he give a statement when the election is going on?")

"Wala kay labot diha. That is our business. Kampanya gud ito," he added.

("You should not have meddled. That is our business. It was the campaign season."

Speaking to the 1st Infantry (Tabak) Division in Labangan, Zamboanga del Sur, Duterte promised to give the Armed Forces of the Philippines quality equipment, which can only be sourced from a few countries including the United States.

"There is only one source. Two or one. The United States with whom we have alliance militarily," he said.

"But I will reiterate our strong alliance with America," he added.

Envoy summoned

The president had called Goldberg “bakla” or “gay” for his negative reaction over Duterte's remarks about the rape of an Australian missionary in 1989 during the campaign.

Elizabeth Trudeau, the director of the State Department press office, earlier revealed that the department had summoned Filipino charge d'affaires Patrick Chuasoto to explain the "inappropriate comments" made by Duterte.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said that ties between the Philippines and the United States remain strong amid the issue. —JST, GMA News

 

[ahojunk]

Mr Duterte is going after digital gambling, another social evil.

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Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte Attacks Digital Gambling Ops
AUGUST 08, 2016 BY KEVIN HORRIDGE

In the Philippines, the country’s new president, Rodrigo Duterte, has it out for cyber gambling operators. The newly inaugurated leader has taken a rather unconventional approach as he continues his crusade against anything he deems to be “detrimental” to society.

Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte says he doesn’t care if he goes to hell if his people’s lives are bettered under his harsh rule. In addition to cracking down on Philippines online gambling, the president has issued a list of drug traffickers that he believes should be executed in cold blood. And he’s made good on many of those directives.


The 71-year-old officially became the country’s 16th president when he assumed the office on June 30. That very day he announced he would be going after criminal syndicates and online gambling cafes.

E-gaming machines had rapidly expanded under Duterte’s predecessor, from 2,160 machines in 2010 to nearly 18,000 today. The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (PAGCOR) was forced to suspend issuing and renewing licenses for online gaming operators. And now, the financial impact of dissolving much of the gaming industry is now coming to light.

PAGCOR announced last week that it would not cancel, but also not renew, technology provider PhilWeb’s license. PhilWeb’s current permit expires on August 10.

PhilWeb operates roughly 300 gaming cafes throughout the Philippines, but Duterte says the publicly traded company is an online gambling company. Duterte also named PhilWeb Chairman Roberto Ongpin as someone who needs to be “destroyed” for using his wealth to sway Filipino politics.

Ongpin resigned from PhilWeb last week in an effort to save the company. Shares of the business on the Philippine Stock Exchange have since plummeted.

E-Gaming Not Online Gaming

Ongpin is worth upwards of $1 billion. Similar to the US where multi-billionaires like Las Vegas Sands Chairman Sheldon Adelson use campaign donations to pressure lawmakers, such riches in the Philippines afford the ultra-wealthy significant legislative influence.

Ongpin has largely made his fortune off petroleum and other energy industry markets, not PhilWeb. But now, Duterte wants to minimize the power that businessmen have over the governing process.

The gaming technology company is actually a subcontractor of the Philippines government. Since 2002, PhilWeb has managed the $298 million in revenues that PAGCOR’s e-games network distributed to the government agency. Should PhilWeb now close its doors, those funds will disappear. And the company’s 5,000 employees will be out of work.​

PhilWeb says it doesn’t offer online gambling. That distinction may be a tad dubious, as mobile devices and computers can access the PhilWeb network, but only if a customer is physically located within one of its land-based cafés.

“PAGCOR e-games is not online gaming,” PhilWeb President Dennis Valdes said in a statement. “It is a private, members-only network of clubs where players need to be physically present . . . access to these clubs is strictly controlled such that it is only open to members who are over 21 years old and are financially capable of gaming.”

Bucket List That No One Wants to Be On

Duterte’s first month in office has made those in the Philippines vice industry uneasy, to say the least. While that’s not targeted at the gambling conglomerates per se, it seems to be pretty much of a “my way or the highway” approach, with Duterte making all the rules.

He’s issued a “shoot-to-kill” order against drug dealers, and named 158 citizens he believes have ties to illegal activities.

Though he says those mentioned would have their day in court, he also revealed, “I don’t care about human rights.”

He added that police would receive immunity for killing drug traffickers in the line of duty.

Filipino Roman Catholic Bishop said of Duterte, “If drugs indeed kill, will killing the suspects remove the menace? From a generation of drug addicts shall we become a generation of street murderers?”

State police say 500,000 people have surrendered since Duterte’s campaign started, but a staggering 800 have also been shot and killed since just this May.

 

[ahojunk]

The WSJ is starting to demonize Duterte?
Look at the carefully crafted title and the photo chosen.

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OPIONION
The Scourge of Duterte
The Philippine leader fights crime by inciting more lawlessness.

In November 2015, Rodrigo Duterte gestures during the ‘MAD for Change’ event in Taguig city, south of Manila, Philippines. PHOTO: EUROPEAN PRESSPHOTO AGENCY

Aug. 10, 2016 12:54 p.m. ET

Rodrigo Duterte campaigned for President of the Philippines on a pledge to fight crime, brutally if need be. He has kept that promise, albeit not the part about dumping the bodies in Manila Bay. Since he took office on June 30, police and vigilantes have gunned down more than 500 suspects, often leaving a piece of cardboard nearby that details the supposed crimes of those killed.

Mr. Duterte is also fulfilling his promise to ignore the law as he fights those who break the law. On Sunday he named 158 mayors, police chiefs, judges and other officials suspected of involvement in the drug trade, and gave them 24 hours to turn themselves in “or I will whack you.” “I don’t care about human rights,” he says. “If you know of any addicts, go ahead and kill them yourself.”

Despite claims that some innocents have also been gunned down by the police, Mr. Duterte is riding high. As of early July the President had an approval rating of 91%, according to polling company Pulse Asia Research. So why aren’t Filipinos alarmed about extrajudicial killings?

The country is drowning in methamphetamines, known locally as shabu. According to the United Nations, the Philippine rate of meth use is the highest in East Asia, and Mr. Duterte claims there are three million addicts and 600,000 pushers. Corrupt policemen protect the drug gangs, while honest officers are overwhelmed. Only 29% of reported crimes were solved in 2013, compared to 90% in 2004.

Meth has made an already dangerous country downright lawless, with drug gangs running profitable sidelines in kidnapping for ransom and home invasions. Mr. Duterte has dubbed areas such as the province of Iloilo “shabulized.” And last week he accused Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. and his son of running a major drug syndicate and threatened to issue a “shoot on sight” order unless they turned themselves in. The mayor denied he was involved in drugs but admitted that his son sold shabu. When police went to search the Espinosa home, a firefight ensued in which six of the mayor’s bodyguards were killed and six escaped.

Mr. Duterte is right that Filipinos have lost trust in government because so many officials are involved in the drug trade. The rich can afford Uzi-toting bodyguards, but the middle class is largely defenseless. That explains why the new President is especially popular with upwardly mobile Filipinos.

The problem is that disregarding the law to fight lawlessness encourages more disregard for the law. Some prominent Filipinos are already warning about this as they watch the crime-fighting carnage.

Archbishop Socrates Villegas condemned the murders Sunday, asking, “In our dream to wipe out drug addiction, are we not becoming a killing fields nation?” Vice President Leni Robredo said, “I think all of us should do our share in making sure that this has to stop.”

The new President has tapped into Filipino anger at their country’s lawlessness. But Mr. Duterte’s incitement of vigilantes in response will further weaken government institutions and reinforce a culture of official impunity. He’d do better to target the corruption and disregard for the law that are the root of the crime epidemic.

 

[Shotgunner51]

The WSJ is starting to demonize Duterte?
Look at the carefully crafted title and the photo chosen.

Wow, that means one thing: Duterte might actually be a good guy?

 

[Shotgunner51]

The WSJ is starting to demonize Duterte?
Look at the carefully crafted title and the photo chosen.

Wow, that means one thing: Duterte might actually be a good guy?

 

[TheTheoryOfMilitaryLogistics]

i saw it differently , he will be assassinated by Chinese druglord.

It's the same thing.Cia can have mang agents.
By the way,I really feel sad for you,you hate your Chinese blood,right?
It doesn't matter,you are already a loyal Philipine in my eyes.
Buddy,be yourself.

 

[ahojunk]

I like Mr. Duterte. He sets the rules for the others to get used to them.

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Senators on Duterte language: Get used to it
By: Tarra Quismundo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
01:18 PM August 11th, 2016

President Rodrigo Duterte. AP FILE PHOTO​

MANILA, Philippines— The nation just has to “get used to it.”

Several Senators had this to say about President Duterte’s quip about declaring martial law in response to Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno’s comments on the tagging of several judges as drug suspects.

“We might not agree, but that’s his style. Sometimes we will say it’s appropriate, sometimes we say it’s not appropriate. But he’s fighting a war. His focus is on the drug war. He’s passionate about the drug war. So why make a mountain out of a mole hill?” said Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, Duterte’s defeated running mate in the May elections.

He said the President just meant that the country might end up needing a martial law declaration if the drug problem is not addressed.

“He wants to communicate to people that ‘the worst that can happen is martial law, and that I don’t want it to have to come to that point.’ And he feels like shouting it out instead of saying [speaks in a soft voice], ‘My countrymen, instead of having to declare martial law, let us arrest them now,’” Cayetano told reporters Thursday.

The lawmaker said people have been too conscious of political correctness when “we’re fighting a different kind of war.”

Senate Minority Leader Ralph Recto said the nation should learn how to “auto-delete the colorful parts” of Duterte’s language, adding that some of his shocking lines shouldn’t be taken as policy.

“The best coping mechanism is not to let his curses get in the way of studying the causes he is fighting for,” Recto said in a statement.

“His language is colorful. There is a mix of sarcasm, and that is part of his stagecraft. This is separate from the state policies he is pursuing,” he said.

Still, Recto advised the President and his other officials to have “finesse” in their speech.

“Words can move a nation, incite people, disturb the peace, and make the political temperature rise. So people wielding large bullhorns should exercise caution in what they say,” he said.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson reiterated what he had said on Duterte’s recent statements: “Don’t take it seriously.”

“By now, we should already know how to read between the lines when the President speaks. Isn’t it true that sometimes he would say something that shouldn’t be interpreted literally?” he said in an interview. CDG/rga

 

[ahojunk]

That's unusual. Mr Duterte says sorry.....

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Duterte apologizes to CJ Sereno: 'Harsh words were never intended'
Updated August 11, 2016 11:32pm

President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday apologized to Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, a couple of days after pronouncements against the judiciary stemming from his naming of judges allegedly involved in the illegal drug trade.

"I get tangled with the Chief Justice. I would apologize to the Chief Justice for the harsh words. It was never intended. Ba't ako kasi because of the magnitude of the problem," Duterte said.

"It was my way of solving the problem within the ambit of my powers as president. Kayo ang humihingi eh, even the media," he added.

Sereno had written Duterte a letter after the chief executive linked seven judges to illegal narcotics.

In the letter, Sereno told Duterte that she had advised judges against making themselves "physically accountable" if there were no warrants issued for their arrest.

Duterte responded with fighting words, warning against a constitutional crisis and even bringing up the possibility of declaring martial law.

Sereno, for her part, refused to respond to Duterte's tirade.

On Thursday, Duterte reiterated that it was merely his duty to inform the public about the dangers that they face with the proliferation of drugs. He said that as president, he did not have to "go through the motions of the warrant of arrest."

"Trabaho ko kasi 'yan," he said. "Para malaman mo na 'yung katabi mo, adik." —JST/NB, GMA News

 

[ahojunk]

Mr Duterte is going after the terrorists. Should have done this earlier.

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Duterte: Arrest, deport ISIS indoctrinators in Mindanao
Published August 12, 2016 10:08am
Updated August 12, 2016 10:13am
By TRISHA MACAS, GMA News

President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the military to validate the presence of alleged ISIS indoctrinators in Mindanao and immediately arrest and deport them once reports against these persons have been confirmed.

"I have been informed that a lot of Caucasian-looking people are conducting teachings. Walang armas, wala lahat except the guys and education. They are foreigners. I told the military to validate it, and arrest all of them and we will deport them for acts iminical to--" the President cut his statement.

He issued his statement at a press briefing late Thursday night in Davao City.

In a speech delivered before troops in Zamboanga del Sur on Wednesday, Duterte revealed that there are Arab-looking missionaries in some parts of Mindanao, which may be the start of ISIS threat in the country.

"Tan-aw lang nako, three to seven years from now, magaproblema ta sa ISIS. In some parts of [the] island of Mindanao, naay mga tao na puti. I supposed mga Arabo na. They are here as missionaries. Wala silay armas. But they are into [indoctrination]. Maoy kahadlukan [As I see it, three to seven years from now, we will have a problem with the ISIS. In some parts of Mindanao, there are white people. I supposed they are Arabs. They are here as missionaries. They don't have arms. But they are into [indoctrination]. That's what we should be scared of]," Duterte told the troops.

"Sama sa mga komunista... kana moy delikado kay ang ginaluto nila ang utok [Just like the communists... that's alarming because they are conditioning the minds]," he added. — RSJ, GMA News

 

[Pinoy]

 

[Kyle Sun]

Duterte sounds like an honest man here!

he is ,not sound, honest for this moment.