Philippines - shoot dealers and addicts

I was in the Philippines this year when the election was held there, there was huge vote rigging and attempts to rig the election against this Man; particularly by Mar Roxas the opposing candidate and incumbent party candidate. The rich and powerful elite who control the Philippines lost the election and Duterte is now ruling with an Iron fist; Drugs are a huge problem in the Philippines particularly Shabu (Crystal-Meth). A Filipina I know there was offered 5,000pesos (€95) to vote for a different candidate; she took the money but voted Duterte anyway. This 5,000 bribe would be equivalent of around €1,500 here in terms of time to earn it on minimum wage. She and her family were selected for payment due to party loyalty and close friendship with the local Barangay mayors daughter.

Two days before the election nearly 2 million people went to hear him speak in Luneta park in Manila. The day before the election, tens of thousands of Buses all arrived into Manila and one of the greatest migrations of people I have seen began as several million people left the City to return home to the their Provinces, Villages and Barangays to vote as that would be where their vote is.

On the day of election all bars were closed and Alcohol sales banned, a taxi trip which should have taken me over 2 hours across Metro Manila took 17 minutes as the entire city emptied out and people stayed home and off the roads. Their was a distinct eeriness to the whole thing as the Military were on high alert because people were prepared to fight if Duterte did not get elected and a Revolution would have taken place along EDSA; as it subsequently transpired Duterte got elected with 7 million votes to spare.

The Philippines is not a huge country but has 105million people and is bursting at the rafters; corruption is its biggest problem and this guy Duterte is tackling the problems head on; one bullet at a time. It is the only way to do it and while he upsets liberals; he is certainly getting results.