I am a foreign national, and visit the country at least three times a year, for a month at a time, sometimes longer. I am not able to analyse the situation and say the country is falling apart, but everything I see here tells me that is definitely not the case.
I watched Duterte become elected, I saw first hand the swelling of support for him and yes, I feared he would be just as corrupt as the others that could have been elected. However, despite his fierce rhetoric, politically incorrect attitude, strong man reputation and age, he seems to be doing exactly what he said he would do. And this is commendable.
Before he was elected there were many different ways to evidence corruption. I’m not talking about large scale embezzlements or siphoning off national resources - I’m talking about things that affect local people, and visitors to the country. I’m talking about the changing fares in taxis if you’re white, the dual prices for Filipinos and for foreigners, the traffic violations that didn’t happen, the live ammunition ‘found’ in your luggage at the airport as you are about to leave… the need to pay a bureaucrat to get paperwork completed on time… the list went on and on.
Since being elected he has aggressively cleaned up the drug culture - it’s not completely clean here yet, but it is far, far better than it was. The everyday scams have all but gone, the police are doing their job better, the bureaucracy is much improved. Cameras at airports help prevent scams with live ammunition, but better still is that those in charge have been removed from post. Taxis all run on a meter.
Whilst his words are not to the liking of the Western ‘democracies’, here in the Philippines he has an incredible approval rating. Those who did not vote for him respect his no-nonsense attitude and zero tolerance for corruption in public office. His ‘war on drugs’ was savage… but seemingly effective. Not only that but infrastructure projects are underway, and many improvements have been made to how civic offices work (a small example - some no longer shut for lunch), and a whole plethora of other initiatives are underway which will only improve things for the ordinary residents.
Yes, I dare say this will all come at a price in the future. Perhaps China is lining up a takeover bid or a massive foreign debt, but right now, I’ve not seen so many people so satisfied that things are going well. Filipinos are proud their country is being cleaned up, proud they have a growing economy and proud they have a bright future just ahead.
And rightly so.
Does Duterte commit human rights abuses? Is he clumsy in how he says things? Is he mysogenistic, chauvenist or any of those other words people say he is? Possibly - but let’s not pretend western politicians are not the same. And let’s not forget that if the Philippines is indeed a third world country playing catch up, then it is entitled to follow the same paths as other countries who now look with scorn and disdain at what goes on around them, when only a few years previously they were doing exactly the same. And in at least one western superpower there is currently a leader who has less tact, less charm and less common sense than Duterte… so do not think for one moment that he is doing anything incompetent. It’s all a matter of how you measure it. It seems ordinary Filipinos measure it by checking on living standards and progress towards national aims.
They’re mostly quite happy about it, too.
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