#rodrigo duterte

[tomorrowusa]

Philippine Nobel laureate Maria Ressa literally wrote the book on standing up to dictators.

How to Stand Up to a Dictator

She spoke to Ali Velshi about what she has been calling the "Philippinization of America".

Ms. Ressa says that given the Philippine example with President Duterte, six months is all Trump needs to consolidate power in his hands.

Trump appointments are something we should be especially wary of. And we should begin now by opposing his wildly unqualified cabinet nominees. If you live in a state with GOP senators in Washington, you have a special responsibility to lobby them to oppose the pervy and corrupt people Trump wants to place in government.

Contacting U.S. Senators

Don't think it can't happen here. It already has.

@dnlfelix

[aphroditesknife]

Been seeing a lot of "Kakampinks" (Leni Robredo supporters during the last Philippines election) saying "Tama nga kami" (we were right all along). This is a jab to those who voted for the current President and Vice President of the Philippines, who currently on bad relations with each other, pointing fingers about who is the incompetent one. Spoiler alert: it's both of them.

Anyways, being smug about the election choices that people make does NOT help with the greater cause and what are the real sides of this fight - the ruling class in power and the working class.

Raoul Manuel of the Kabataan Partylist and Member of the Philippine House of Representatives put it so well in the following tweet he posted:

Rough translation:

Friendly advice to allies for good governance:

It is not enough that we are right. We need to reach out to those who can become additional allies, including those who have doubts and are questioned about their decisions. Let's multiply and act together.

It is the strategy of the deceivers to label and consider as enemies those who do not share another's views. Let's be on guard not to be like them.

Potential allies will distance us if, consciously or not, we appear self-righteous or arrogant.

Fight!

[maya-chirps]

update on the president and vice president's fight: after giving a death threat against the president, the vice president is now claiming that she's the real person in danger and that the president is threatening her life after the nbi issued a subpoena against her.

she claims that because of the president's family's deadly past (the president's father being a dictator) it means she could be in danger, all the while ignoring the fact that her own father's administration (her father's the previous president) has killed possibly over 12,000 people because of alleged drug cases and related issues (most of the victims were impoverished).

truly, an entertaining fight between dynasties

[isobelleposts]

Recalling My Childhood Through Patricia Evangelista’s “Some People Need Killing”

By Cassandra Isobelle [June 5, 2024]

[Cover of “Some People Need Killing” by Patricia Evangelista

I was only 9-years-old when Rodrigo Duterte was declared winner of the presidential election back in 2016. I was privileged enough to not witness the War on Drugs up-close and not have to worry about whether my father would be alive the next day or not.

But even so, my recollection of his Presidency was never good. During car rides with my family, I would hear my grandparents swear at the former President and talk about the latest news—the words “bastos” and “manyak” thrown about and engraved in my impression of him. All I knew was that my family did not like him. I saw how opinions would tear friendships and relatives apart, and it wasn’t until the pandemic hit that I began formulating my own thoughts and understanding what had led up to such ruthless comments on the internet.

[Sonya Gregorio, fifty-two, and Frank Anthony, twenty-five, moments before being shot by police officer Jonel Nuezca - December 20, 2020]

It was around the time this video went viral that I was awakened to what was happening in our country. I was told not to watch it because of its violence, and so I never did until recently when it was mentioned in this book. It made me realize how easy it is to scroll past an article or video on Facebook and continue your life wholly unaffected and unknowing of the story behind them, simply because it was not your life taken.

For the majority, life during Duterte’s term was normal. For reporters and journalists, on the other hand, it was a different case.

”I was furious instead at everyone who announced their indignation after ignoring a four-year parade of coffins.

Page 293 of “Some People Need Killing”

The numbers presented on the news of the Extrajudicial Killings were large, but not enough for the people to take action. It wasn’t enough that these cases were published through news articles day after day by people that stayed up just to tell the victims’ stories. It wasn’t enough until there were videos.

[Former President Rodrigo Duterte in Malabon, Metro Manila - April 27, 2016]

At some point in reading this book I started noticing how repetitive it can be. Case after case of killings; the same excuses, the same uniforms, the same stories but different characters. — This book is a reflection of Duterte’s leadership; an unending cycle.

”Kill, for example. It’s a word my president uses often. He said it at least 1,254 times in the first six months of his presidency, in a variety of contexts against his enemies.”

Page 6 of “Some People Need Killing”

Kill the drug addicts. Kill the activists. Kill the journalists. Kill them, period.

Patricia Evangelista’s efforts are present in the way this book captured so many details—the people she had to talk to, the stories she had to hear, and the bodies she had to witness just to complete this book. “Some People Need Killing” is a memoir, not just of the author's life but of the country’s.

[misspeppermint2003]

⭐️ Friday Vote Battle (Round 58) ⭐️

[coochiequeens]

De Lima was arrested in 2017, months after she had launched a senate inquiry into Duterte’s brutal anti-drugs crackdown, which is the subject of an investigation by the international criminal court.

The most prominent critic of the former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s so-called “war on drugs” has been granted bail, after more than six years in jail on what rights groups condemned as trumped-up charges.

Leila de Lima, 64, a former senator and human rights commissioner, emerged from court on Monday to cheers from supporters, who chanted “Justice” and “Leila will soon be free”.

Surrounded by crowds of media and police escorts, she said: “For years, my whole being has been crying out for justice and freedom … For more than six long years I’ve been praying, praying so hard for this day to come.”

De Lima was arrested in 2017, months after she had launched a senate inquiry into Duterte’s brutal anti-drugs crackdown, which is the subject of an investigation by the international criminal court.

Duterte had accused her of receiving payoffs from drugs gangs while she was justice minister, and she faced three drug-related charges, two of which have been dismissed. She has always denied any wrongdoing.

On Monday, she was granted bail in the final pending case, which she had sought on health grounds.

UN human rights experts, as well the European parliament, have long called for her release, and witnesses who testified against her have recanted their statements.

De Lima has said the charges were an act of revenge by Duterte, who she described at the time of her arrest as “a murderer and a sociopathic serial killer”.

She had long criticised his governance. In her former role as chair of the national Commission on Human Rights, De Lima had sought to expose killings by so-called “death squads” in Davao City, where Duterte was mayor for more than two decades.

De Lima was considered the most prominent political prisoner under his administration. In prison she continued her work as a senator, issuing handwritten statements from detention, often condemning Duterte’s governance. She was unable to campaign in the 2022 election, however, and lost an attempt to run again for a senate position.

On Monday, De Lima thanked her legal team, as well as the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, Duterte’s successor. His administration had, she said, respected “the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law”.

Marcos has previously said he would not cooperate with an ICC investigation into the drugs war killings.

Between 12,000 and 30,000 civilians are estimated to have been killed in connection with anti-drugs operations from July 2016 to March 2019, according to data cited by the ICC.

Government data estimates are lower, and say at least 6,252 people were killed in police operations between July 2016, and May 2022. Police have said any killings were only in self-defence.

[socialpoison]

https://x.com/denimcatfish/status/1705002593863537089?s=12&t=XWSmobHha9ZbB-FKd06RwQ

[openkook]

Blood, Meth and Duterte

What you’re about to read isn’t your typical glossy, feel-good story. This is a story about meth, Duterte, and what happens when life throws you into a fight you didn’t sign up for. This piece started as a Facebook post—a raw, unfiltered rant that somehow struck a nerve. It went viral with over 1.4 million views and nearly 22,000 shares, proving that people are just as obsessed with chaos as I am. The Manila Times even picked it up, with veteran journalist Robert Tiglao featuring it in their publication. Honestly, I thought it was too dark and personal for the masses, but apparently, oversharing is a national pastime. If you’re expecting a moral high ground or a neatly tied bow at the end, you’re in the wrong place. But if you want an honest look at addiction, survival, and the razor-thin line between safety and fear, then you’re in for a ride. Don't forget to check the Facebook link if you're curious about the comment section—it's a battlefield all on its own. Here’s the piece that made waves. Read it, judge it, share it, or just let it sit with you. Like I said, it’s not pretty—but then again, neither is life.

Can you kill crime without spilling blood? And who the hell are we to judge when we’ve never had to make that call?

I ask these questions as someone born and raised in Davao City, a place that, for better or worse, is synonymous with one man: Rodrigo Duterte. Over the years, I’ve seen people debate his extrajudicial killings (EJKs), his war on drugs, and the looming shadow of an ICC investigation. I don’t know what it’s like to run a city—let alone a country—but I know what it’s like to run a household shattered by drugs. Meth, to be exact.

Talking about the drug war means talking about addiction, not as a statistic but as lived reality. I’ve lived it. And unlike the polished speeches from politicians or the filtered reports in the media, my experience couldn’t be spun into a neat narrative. It was raw, bruised, and bloody. It hurt like hell. If I were to paint those years, they’d be black and blue—literal bruises, figurative shadows.

Living with a meth addict is like inviting chaos into your living room. It seeps into the walls, turning your place into a war zone. I spent a decade as the punching bag for a man whose mind had been hijacked by meth. He wasn’t always like that—no one starts out that way. But once meth got its claws in, the kind man I knew turned into a ticking time bomb. I lost track of the nights I’d hide my face, clutching the kids, praying we’d make it to sunrise.

It’s Psych and, well, Meth 101: The stuff doesn’t just mess with your head—it wrecks everything. Addicts live like cornered animals, lashing out with paranoia and desperation. When I heard about cops killing addicts in the street, I wasn’t surprised. I knew how quickly things could escalate, go south. The crackhead in my house once chased me with a knife, eyes wild like a rabid dog. I was bruised inside and out. And yeah, I stuck around too long—call it hope or masochism.

I learned a bitter lesson: Meth turns people into monsters and leaves their families in constant danger. Seen like that, it’s no wonder Duterte went straight for the jugular.

People talk about rehabilitation, and I agree—it’s necessary. But the reality is some addicts, the ones deep in the spiral, are beyond therapy, at least in the immediate sense. They need help, sure, but they also need to be contained and restrained before they hurt others. So when someone like Duterte, a prosecutor who’s seen the dark side of humanity, decides to impose strict, brutal measures, is it really that surprising?

A Game of Numbers and Corpses

People love to talk numbers when it comes to Duterte. The media says 30,000 dead from extrajudicial killings. The government says 6,000. The truth? Probably somewhere in the middle. But here’s another stat: 1.2 million addicts surrendered, 345,000 arrested. That’s almost 1.5 million who got a second chance. I wonder how many of those are like the bastard who made my kids' life and mine a living hell. How many had wives or kids who spent nights in fear, praying the man they loved wouldn’t turn into a monster before morning?

It’s ironic—Duterte’s threats did what our begging couldn’t: they scared these guys straight, at least for a while. It’s messed up, sure. But when your desperate, ten-year-long pleas—“Tama na, please, maluoy ka, tama nq”—choked out between punches, go unheard, there’s a twisted relief in knowing that Digong’s roar finally got through.

Choices and consequences—that’s life, isn’t it? We love to pretend every decision is black and white. But what happens when it’s all shades of gray? When it’s picking the lesser of two evils?

The Davao I Knew: Safety on a Knife’s Edge

I’ve lived in Davao all my life. I’m about to hit 47 next month, with three kids in their 20s and a bunch of grandkids. Davao under Duterte was a safe bubble in a chaotic country. I was 11 when he first became mayor, and I watched the city change. It wasn’t just safe—it was dull in its calmness. You could leave your bag at a café, walk home alone at night. The only chaos I knew was inside my own head and, yes, my household. The outside world? Duterte took care of that.

It wasn’t until I spent time in Manila in my mid-20s that I realized how different Davao was. I remember staying on Adriatico Street while training to be an entertainer for Japan. One day, I walked to Robinsons with a fellow trainee from Cavite. I stuck to the sidewalk, as I always did. She, on the other hand, walked dangerously close to the speeding traffic. I scolded her, worried she might get hit by a car. "Hoy, pag ikaw na hagip ng rumaragasang sasakyan dyan, good luck sa'yo." She just laughed and shot back, “At pag ikaw hinatak ng mga sanggalo dyan sa tabi-tabi, good luck rin sayo.” I glanced around and saw the shifty eyes of young men she called “sanggalos”—street thieves who could pull you into an alley faster than you could blink.

A few days later, I came across three barefoot kids, sniffing solvent from plastic bags as they begged for coins. You don’t see that in Davao. Sure, there are beggars, but never kids openly using drugs while asking for money. Even children in Davao know what will happen if they get caught.

Not long after that, my best friend had her earrings yanked off her ears by a rookie thief. They weren’t even real gold—just cheap plastic. She told me she was "used for practice." It left me speechless. Days later, she was still rattled.

Could I ever feel that kind of fear in Davao? Not likely. In Davao, it felt like someone always had your back. That someone was Duterte. He wasn’t gentle to criminals.

The Crude Protector

A lot of Manileños, especially the congress crowd, love to trash Duterte. They clutch their pearls over his foul language and his disregard for politeness. Maybe he’s a rough, uncouth bastard. But I’ve known men like him—uncles and grandpas who cursed like sailors but would fight tooth and nail for you. They weren’t polished, but they were dependable in ways polite society never is.

Then there’s the circus in Congress. Newbie congressmen, barely out of their 30s, grilling Digong like he’s some clueless old fool. The arrogance, the self-righteousness—from people who’ve never run a city, let alone a country. It’s depressing.

You had this one guy who couldn’t shut up about being a zumma cum laude, like that matters when you’re facing the blood and chaos of the real world—like Davao’s streets in the ’80s and ’90s, or the country’s drug mess before Digong’s presidency. He didn’t live through that. None of them did.

Then there were the former CPP-NPAs turned Congresswomen/men grilling Duterte—the same people whose comrades were out killing soldiers and recruiting kids for their battles. It’s laughable. Do they really think their cause is nobler than Duterte’s crackdown? Both left young bodies in the ground. The difference? Duterte’s war left 6,000 dead addicts. They’re still sending teenagers off to die in the mountains.

The Same Old Question

So here we are, still arguing about Duterte’s drug war. The ICC might drag him into court, but we’re still stuck on the same question: Were his methods justified? Did the ends justify the means? Is it better to live in a city where you don’t worry about your earrings being snatched, even if it means lives were lost?

Maybe the real question isn’t whether his methods were right or wrong, but whether they were necessary. Can we demand safety without blood, or is a peaceful society built on violence we prefer not to see?

Do I have the answers? No. I’m just a woman who survived a violent home, raised three kids in a city that felt safe. I’m not here to make grand statements about morality. But here’s what I know: The man who used me as his punching bag for a decade is still alive. He never gave himself up. But Duterte’s crackdown got to him. I saw it once: He was trembling, locking every window, convinced the cops were on his tail. It was raw fear, the kind I’d never seen from a meth head before. Part of me wished he’d been that scared of me. In the end, he got his second chance, despite everything he put us through. And while I don't wish him harm, I can't help but think of all the people spared his fists because someone like Digong decided to take extreme action.

I’ve walked the streets of Davao without fear. That’s a luxury I didn’t have elsewhere. I don’t love violence, but I also don’t have the luxury of pretending the world is safe without it.

Is this the kind of safety we should cheer for or fear? Depends which side of the sidewalk you’re standing on, I guess.

—Kooks D., Open Journal, 14 Nov 2024

[monetizeme]

The Nobel peace prize winner Maria Ressa has said Meta’s decision to end factchecking on its platforms and remove restrictions on certain topics means “extremely dangerous times” lie ahead for journalism, democracy and social media users.

The American-Filipino journalist said Mark Zuckerberg’s move to relax content moderation on the Facebook and Instagram platforms would lead to a “world without facts” and that was “a world that’s right for a dictator”.

“Mark Zuckerberg says it’s a free speech issue – that’s completely wrong,” Ressa told the AFP news service. “Only if you’re profit-driven can you claim that; only if you want power and money can you claim that. This is about safety.”

[head-post]

Philippine VP faces impeachment complaint over threatening president

An impeachment complaint has been filed against Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte, who is facing a judicial storm over death threats against the president, alleged misuse of public funds by her office and other criminal charges.

The impeachment petition filed by several prominent opponents and activists in the House of Representatives accuses Mrs. Duterte of violating the country’s Constitution, massive corruption and other “high crimes,” including death threats she made against the President, his wife and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

The vice president’s threats showed “the extent of the defendant’s mental incapacity, her depravity and lack of mental fitness to continue to hold the high office of Vice President of the Philippines,” according to a copy of the complaint made available to reporters.

Mrs. Duterte, a 46-year-old lawyer, is also accused of unexplained wealth and authorising extrajudicial executions of drug suspects started by her father, Rodrigo Duterte, a former president and formerly mayor of the southern city of Davao when she held the post in the past.

The vice president’s legal troubles are unfolding amid her increasingly bitter political feud with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his allies.

Vice President Duterte held a midnight press conference on November 24, saying the president and his political allies had threatened to kill her. Duterte announced that she had ordered the assassination of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Lisa Araneta-Marcos, and House Speaker Martin Romualdez, a cousin of the President, if she herself was assassinated. Her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, called on the military to move against Marcos and Romualdez in a speech broadcast live on Facebook, an apparent call for a military coup.

The Philippine vice president runs a vast network of government agencies and aides, forming a kind of shadow presidency, a rival to the incumbent president-in-waiting.

Read more HERE

[tomorrowusa]

Just in time for the US elections, Philippines authoritarian former president Rodrigo Duterte freely admits he employed a death squad.

The 79-year-old, making his first public appearance on Monday since his term ended in 2022, said he offered “no apologies, no excuses” for his presidency, during which as many as 30,000 people were killed in a “war on drugs”. “My mandate as president of the republic was to protect the country and the Filipino people. Do not question my policies, because I offer no apologies, no excuses. I did what I had to do, and whether you believe it or not, I did it for my country,” he said. Duterte had entered the hearing walking with a stick and was defiant throughout, often cursing as he addressed senators.

None of what he's proud of doing had anything to do with Philippines law or international standards of human rights.

“I can make the confession now if you want,” Duterte said. “I had a death squad of seven, but they were not policemen, they were also gangsters.” “I’ll ask a gangster to kill somebody,” Duterte said. “If you will not kill [that person], I will kill you now.” When asked by senators for further details of the death squad, he said he would give more information at the next hearing. Duterte also said that he ordered officers to encourage criminals to fight back and resist arrest, so that police could then justify killing them. “What I said is this, let’s be frank, I said encourage the criminal to fight, encourage them to draw their guns. That was my instruction, encourage them to fight, and if they fight, then kill them so my problem in my city is done,” he said, in comments reported by Rappler, an independent news outlets.

When voters fail to keep lowlifes like Duterte, Putin, or Trump out of power they get lawless gangsterism and corruption.

If some shithead claims "only I can solve the country's problems" then it's probable that this person is one of the country's problems.

[nicdevera]

duterte says he takes “full responsibility” for the drug war, but denies that he’s liable for the deaths? then says in tagalog into the mic: “for a long time now i’ve been killing people, why hasn’t the justice dept filed a case on me?” what does he even think he’s saying, dancing back and forth between admitting/bragging into a hot mic, then saying you can’t pin the murders on me. i wonder if he knows what he’s saying.

[maya-chirps]

Bro the girls are fighting he literally just said he was high on fentanyl 💀💀💀

[radioshiga]

Ex-presidente Duterte se candidata a prefeito de Davao nas Filipinas

Tóquio, Japão, 8 de outubro de 2024 – Agência de Notícias Kyodo – O ex-presidente das Filipinas, Rodrigo Duterte, anunciou nesta segunda-feira (7) que registrou sua candidatura para prefeito de Davao, a maior cidade da ilha de Mindanao, no sul do país. A decisão foi revelada por Duterte em suas redes sociais, marcando seu retorno à política local nas eleições de meio de mandato previstas para…

[aphroditesknife]

Original post by @ peoplestribunalph (Instagram)

𝐖𝐀𝐓𝐂𝐇: 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐏𝐓 𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐧 𝐋𝐞𝐞 (𝐌𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝟕, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒)

An excerpt from the testimony of Brandon Lee on the assassination attempt against him by elements of the Philippine military.

On August 6, 2019, Northern Dispatch correspondent and human rights officer Brandon Lee was shot and seriously injured by 2 unnamed soldiers just outside of his residence in Ifugao province. Lee is a permanent resident of the Philippines married to an Igorot, an indigenous people from the Cordillera region with whom he has a daughter. Prior to this, Brandon had been consistently subjected to different threats and harassment, even in social media, by the members of the Philippine Army for his human rights work and advocacy.

After the incident, he was brought back to the US for further treatment but was rendered quadriplegic because of injury to his C4 spinal cord. He was paralyzed from the chest down, and has been unable to use his hands and legs.

Watch the full recording of Brandon's testimony here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQSPFieRH-8

Brandon is currently on a speaking tour for just peace in the Philippines with @ichrp_us @justice4brandonlee

#FightLikeBLee

The IPT was co-convened by @friends_ffps and @iadllaw and held in Brussels, Belgium, from May 17-18, 2024. On May 18 the Tribunal issued a unanimous verdict finding President Marcos Jr., former President Duterte, the Government of the Republic of the Philippines, President Joseph Biden, and the U.S. government guilty of war crimes and violations of international humanitarian law.

Read the initial verdict here: https://peoplestribunal.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IPT-2024-INITIAL-Verdict-18-May.pdf