Interesting read, so thanks for the 'educational' pathway through the Philippino way of life.
Your point about my biased perceptions regarding RD, I have little option than to read a broad cross-section about the world at large. In the main I sense that what's being reported is at least accurate. You may wish to reveal that a publication or broadcaster has it's own bias against RD, which of course I'd be happy to read. But until then, given that my weekly reading matter covers the broadest span of political and social opinion, I'm slightly concerned that you describe the media in the UK, or is that the west, as deliberately sharing the same negative view of Duterte? I struggle to accept that the Daily Telegraph, about as right-wing, even reactionary, as a paper is allowed to be, and then The Guardian, about as liberal as it gets, even sometimes embarrassingly so, so I hope you'll forgive my cynicism about your carefully worded description of Duterte.
No doubt there are many in the Philippines who adore the fact that drug dealing is being confronted. That's a response I imagine we'd find in most countries, so no real surprise there. But it's Duterte's unabashed thirst to employ violence, which has been backed with televised interviews where he says he'd be happy to carry out such murders. One interview I saw was particularly disturbing, in which RD intimated that he had already been personally responsible for the murders (that's correct, plural) of drug dealers. I know this goes against the grain if you believe in state endorsed murder, but I prefer the rule of democratically agreed law by which we should live. By all means build more prisons, increase tariffs for the most appalling of crimes (and I include drug dealing in this), but anyone who thinks that the creation of death squads will stop the use of drugs has been shown to be wrong. Historically, wherever the death penalty has existed, it has made no significant difference to whichever crime appalls someone. It may get rid of an individual, but there will always be someone else to continue the same dreadful social ill. At best these negatives can be minimised, but removed from the social landscape? No a cat in hell's chance.
I think that rather than continue to go round in circles disagreeing, we should agree to disagree. I hope you can at some point prove me wrong, but it will take more than the above to convince me that Duterte is almost Ghandi-like in his wish to improve his country.
