BY ADAM DAVIS
Los Alamos
I want to thank Mrs. Maire O’Neill of the Los Alamos Reporter for running my March 21 op-ed on the unlawful arrest of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and the mass demonstration of support for him taking place all around the world. I submitted that same op-ed to every paper I could think of, including major international outlets spanning the vast political spectrum. To date, Mrs. O’Neill is the only editor who has published it.
Millions of Filipinos around the world continue to peacefully demonstrate in support of their former president since his unfortunate arrest by the International Criminal Court last month on March 11. In Davao City, where Mr. Duterte was mayor for so many years, an estimated 350,000 demonstrators showed up on his 80th birthday on March 28. An estimated 10,000 plus showed up in Cebu, PHPS for a “midnight run” on the same day. An estimated 6,000 demonstrators celebrated Mr. Duterte’s 80th birthday at the Hague. These are only three demonstrations of many. Such demonstrations have been ongoing for almost a full month now. There was even a brief photoshoot demonstration of four Filipino cruise ship workers on the coast of ANTARCTICA I happened upon in social media in the last month that put a smile on my face.
Between hundreds and thousands of demonstrators at a time continue to demonstrate in various cities in Japan, South Korea, the USA, U.K., Canada, Finland, Netherlands, Israel, and other “free” countries to lovingly support their former president. Even more restrictive countries such as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the UAE, China, Vietnam, Thailand, have made exceptions and have reached compromises with their Filipino expats to peacefully demonstrate their love and support for their “Tatay” former president. Here’s hoping that this will open the door for continually expansive freedom of speech and expression in those traditionally more restrictive locations.
The willful and deliberate silence about this on part of the western media comes from the very same hypocrites who talk down to the rest of us about the need to “elevate others’ voices.” They shed their crocodile tears for “more representation,” and constantly admonish us to acknowledge the “lived experiences” of others; yet with these millions of “underrepresented” demonstrators speaking out in this instance, their voice and their “lived experiences,” are being willfully and deliberately ignored, and even at times, despicably minimized. Why is this? Is it because these demonstrations are actually “mostly peaceful” and nonviolent? Is it because nothing is being looted, vandalized, or set on fire/burned to the ground? Is it because unlike the demonstrations the media showcases ad nauseum, these demonstrations are rooted in genuine, humble love and support FOR someone and something that isn’t demanding validation as opposed to the ones we do see getting coverage that are primarily rooted in opposition and even at times, murderous and even genocidal hate in which one’s unwavering support is demanded under threat of life and career-destroying racism, sexism, -phobia accusations and even arrests in some places such as the U.K. and Germany if you so much as question them?
That’s it, isn’t it? Unlike the demonstrations the media does show us, these demonstrations on part of the Filipinos are rooted in genuine love, support. and gratitude for a man who, when he was mayor of Davao City, transformed that city from one of the most dangerous places in the world to one of the safest. In a 5-way presidential election race, Mr. Duterte won 36% of the popular vote in 2016. When he first took office, the Philippines was practically a “narco state.” Violent shabu (meth) manufacturers and dealers ruled with terror throughout and over this beautiful country and people. Toddlers were being used as pushers and experimented on with the shabu. Child kidnapping and organ harvesting were regular occurences. Violent and deranged shabu addicts further violently terrorized, including horrific and heinous acts of infanticide and also engaged in the gross and grotesque such as necrophilia. This is a point that must be made clear to the west, Duterte’s alleged “victims” were not people harmlessly smoking pot in the park or even people doing harder drugs and only destroying themselves and their relationships. In such crackdowns and campaigns, excessive force and abuse of power are prone to occur. Such instances were dealt with as best as possible with arrests and convictions for such.
This was a campaign against real evil that Mr. Duterte waged, which was also waged by other means by way of constructing rehab centers across the Philippines. It is estimated that 1.4 million shabu addicts got clean in those facilities. Through it all, Mr. Duterte maintained extremely high approval ratings in his six years as president, with his lowest approval rating at 58% in July 2021, and 91% was his highest, achieved in September 2020. He left office in June 2022 with an approval rating of 88%. He flipped the bird to the western globalists and stood up to the American empire, requiring them to pay the Philippine government to keep their military bases there, which despite not having the money for it, the empire and its regimes obliged the Duterte administration. He diplomatically brought peace to his home island of Mindanao between violent Islamic jihadist rebels and the Philippine government and people without western “intervention.” These are the real reasons why he is now being imprisoned at the Hague.
I am reminded of Mark Antony’s eulogy of Julius Caesar in Shakespeare’s play when I think of Rodrigo Duterte. “When the poor hath cried, Caesar hath wept.” Mr. Duterte was known to spend his birthdays donating to children’s hospitals and spending time in their cancer wards playing with and encouraging the children. When he heard that OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers) were being badly mistreated in Kuwait, he threatened to bring back all Filipino expats living in Kuwait if conditions didn’t improve for workers there. Well, they did get better! When a Filipina expat was sentenced to death in the UAE for killing her rapist in self-defense, Mr. Duterte stepped in and got her back to the Philippines alive.
Finally, during his presidency, there was a mass movement to amend the Philippine Constitution that allows only one term of six years to the president to unlimited terms contingent upon continued election victories, of course! Mr. Duterte refused such an offer and lovingly scolded those pushing for such, saying that such would result in even more government corruption than what is already in the Philippine government. “Did this (any of this) in Caesar seem ambitious?” “Ambition should be made of sterner stuff.”