Since the start of the Duterte presidency, numerous criticisms have been
thrown by many.
The western media outlets have not been that cooperative in a sense that
they have highlighted only those would make a nice sales pitch for their
respective sales volume. Add the fact that politicians from the other side of
the fence have been very active sending out negative news about the country,
that has been slowly being used as a barometer ( or the lack of it ) in portraying what is the true
status of the country.
The most controversial policy of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte is his
war on illegal drugs, this has been criticized by foreign governments continuously
most specially coming from those in the west. Currently, The International
Criminal Court has started its preliminary investigations regarding President
Duterte’s alleged state sponsored extra judicial killings. *
US President Donald Trump and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte during the ASEAN hosting of the country last year (photo credit to owner) |
After almost two years in the office, it seems the tides are slowly
changing- is the United States of America would also do a “Duterte”?
Foreign writer Adam Garrie in his column with the news and opinion
website “Eurasia Future” titled “Learning
From Duterte? Donald Trump Supports Death Penalty for Drug Dealers” dated March
11, 2018 cites reasons why he thinks
United States President Donald Trump is copying one policy from the Duterte
playbook.
For purposes of full understanding and clarity ,we have quoted in full the whole article written by Mr. Garrie for the convenience and knowledge of our reading public.
For decades, drug dealers and abusers have held The Philippines hostage.
A culture of violence, degeneracy, public filth and social decay sprung up
around a dark narcotics trade that spread like a virus. Countless politicians
spoke about the problem, but only one took a militarised approach to a problem
which effected the country as much if not more than terrorist insurgencies.
That man, Rodrigo Duterte pioneered a tough zero-tolerance policy to drugs
which give everyone in society a stake in helping to curtail the problem.
Between 2001 and 2010 and again from 2013 to 2016, Rodrigo Duterte as
Mayor of Davao, did something in one of the poorest major cities in The
Philippines, what the wealthy politicians in Manila could not do. He stopped
the drug trade by eliminating the problem from its roots. When Duterte ran for
President, even those who admired his achievements in Davao remained sceptical
of his ability to do the same at a national level. Those sceptics were proved
wrong as Duterte’s ongoing war on drugs continues to take effect. As a result,
the streets throughout the country are safer and Duterte remains popular for
achieving this reduction of violence and anti-social behaviour. *
While the US Congress and intelligence agencies remain deeply hostile to
President Duterte, Donald Trump has declared his admiration for Duterte’s war
on drugs. A leaked transcript from the first conversation that Duterte and
Trump conducted reveals the extent to which Trump found Duterte’s drug war
inspirational. According to the transcript, Trump told Duterte,
“I just wanted to congratulate you because I am hearing of the
unbelievable job on the drug problem. Many countries have the problem, we have
a problem, but what a great job you are doing and I just wanted to call and
tell you that”.
Yesterday, Trump announced that he seeks to impose the death penalty on
drugs dealers. He made an analogy that a murderer who kills a single individual
can receive the death penalty, but drug dealers whose narcotics kill thousands
are often in and out of jail quite rapidly, only to return to their dark ways.
Trump may well be following in Duterte’s footsteps, even at a time when
many in Washington consider Duterte an enemy.
Report from EurasiaFuture
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