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A man with ties to death squads is leading the Philippines presidential election

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J

Jackpot

Banned
He was in the news today for joking about how he'd liked to have been first to rape a woman who was raped to death, but it turns out there's much worse to him.

Rodrigo Duterte, a presidential candidate in the Philippines, was criticised on Sunday after a video surfaced of him apparently joking about a murdered Australian rape victim.

Duterte, who promises the mass extermination of suspected criminals if he is elected next month, appears in a video uploaded on YouTube making remarks about the Australian missionary.

Jacqueline Hamill was working in a prison in Davao in the southern Philippines when she was raped and killed during a riot by inmates in 1989. Duterte was the city’s mayor at the time.

“They raped all of the women … There was this Australian lay minister … when they took them out … I saw her face and I thought: ‘Son of a bitch. what a pity … they raped her, they all lined up. I was mad she was raped but she was so beautiful. I thought, the mayor should have been first,” Duterte is shown telling a crowd of laughing supporters at a campaign rally.

Duterte, who boasts about the extrajudicial killings of suspects by vigilantes during his time in Davao, is leading in the runup to the 9 May election, according to the latest opinion poll published on 3 April.
Click to expand...

When he was mayor of Davao he praised and encouraged the Davao Death Squads. He would go on TV and announce the name of suspected criminals, who would then be murdered by the DDS.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davao_death_squads#Alleged_involvement_of_Rodrigo_Duterte

"Summary execution of criminals remains the most effective way to crush kidnapping and illegal drugs"
Click to expand...

“If you are doing an illegal activity in my city, if you are a criminal or part of a syndicate that preys on the innocent people of the city, for as long as I am the mayor, you are a legitimate target of assassination."
Click to expand...

Referring to the arrest of a suspected rice smuggler, Duterte spoke out in the state senate saying, "If this guy would go to Davao and starts to unload (smuggled rice)… I will gladly kill him."
Click to expand...

The Human Rights Watch did an investigation on him and said there was enough evidence to file murder charges.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/07/17/rodrigo-duterte-rise-philippines-death-squad-mayor

http://news.abs-cbn.com/halalan2016...o-death-squad-says-hell-kill-100000-criminals

Duterte publicly admitted his direct links to the Davao death squad during a May 24 live broadcast of his weekly television talk show. “Am I the death squad? True. That is true,”
Click to expand...

Over a 1000 people were killed by the DDS.

Regarding the mass extermination of criminals comments he wants to execute people even for lesser crimes, boasting that if he comes to power he will execute 100,000 criminals under his administration and that human rights for criminals is a "Western concept".

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/691527/dutertes-secret-in-keeping-davao-city-phs-safest-kill-criminals

His ascension in the polls is relatively new though. 5 different polls put him first starting from late March.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_presidential_election,_2016#Opinion_polling

Oh, and he doubled down on his rape comments:

“It was not a joke. I said it in a narrative,” he said. “I was very angry when I spoke. I said: ‘Sons of whores, she is as pretty as an American movie star. They got to her before me. So kill them all’.”
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Will it hurt him? Well...

Even when he called Pope Francis a “son of a whore” in a speech last November, his followers in the devoutly Catholic country quickly forgave him.
Click to expand...
 
A

addik

Member
Just to give some insight to those who might not know him: he is pretty much the Philippine version of Trump--an anti-establishmenr campaign waging a war on criminals (particularly, drugs, since it is apparently a national issue). Just like Trump, Duterte's supporters have been very rabid, and have attacked people who have denounced him. A friend was recently in the news for receiving several rape threats after she posted her reasons for being against the guy. A young college freshman was also bullied after he asked a heated question to the guy at a forum.

Meanwhile, Duterte simply sits away from the drama, and simply lets it unfold. He has issued a statement that his fans must treat detractors "compassionately," but he has yet to call them out. What he does instead is to point out that detractors havent been to Davao (where he was mayor for many years. It's a nice place, btw, but it has its own disturbing cornera). Either that, or call you a part of the elite/oligarchy (incidentally, most of his voterbase come from the upper class.)

Icing on the cake: This guy was apparently my neighbor when I was growing up. Friends of parents (who are in Duterte's circle) are slowly telling us scary shit working behind the scenes.
 
T

ThusZarathustra

Member
This is the country of Marcos, remember?

I'm half Filipino myself and haven't been back there to visit in almost ten years. It's not good and it never was, the Spanish fucked things there for basically forever. It's really sad. Imagine the fuckery of the worst parts of South America, where the Spanish also colonized, and it's basically like that, but without the bits of prestige or tourism. The country's been tearing itself apart for generations with no clear vision of the future and massive corporate exploitation. I try not to think about it, truth told.
 
U

UnObtainium17

Member
Ac30 said:
I know so many people voting for this nutter. Easy to do when you don't live in Davao.
Click to expand...
I rarely facebook but the one time I logged in to check how my distant relatives and firends been doing I saw a CRAP ton of Ppolitical posts. It was astonishing how many of them like this dude. I got reminded as to why I barely use facebook... The country was never really good in picking the right man for the job. I still remember the days when that actor Estrada and then few year later Another actor FPJ was leading the polls. The general population has a liking to vote guys with tough guy appeal
scust.png
 
S

SuperStiltzkin

Member
Lexxus said:
It's not like they have a better option. It's lesser of two evils anyway.
Click to expand...

Yeesh, is he really the least shit option? My bf is Filipino, but I dunno if he supports him or not. But I saw his friend on facebook endorse the guy and posted an image dismissing the joke because he apparently volunteered himself to be a hostage.
 
P

Piecake

Member
Lexxus said:
It's not like they have a better option. It's lesser of two evils anyway.
Click to expand...

I have a hard time imagining the other candidate being worse. Even if the candidate is a complete corporate shill that is still leagues better that a rapist and a murderer.
 
T

Tugatrix

Member
Reading about him on Wikipedia, He basically did what a gang leader does after acquiring monopoly over a territory, impose peace on a community, in this case the city he ruled. So I say plainly he's a criminal no matter the results he achieved or motives why he did it, how many innocents died in his "cleaning"?

the guy is a bully
 
A

Ac30

Member
UnObtainium17 said:
I rarely facebook but the one time I logged in to check how my distant relatives and firends been doing I saw a CRAP ton of Ppolitical posts. It was astonishing how many of them like this dude. I got reminded as to why I barely use facebook... The country was never really good in picking the right man for the job. I still remember the days when that actor Estrada and then few year later Another actor FPJ was leading the polls. The general population has a liking to vote guys with tough guy appeal
scust.png
Click to expand...

What I find equally frightening is some members of the younger generation idolizing the reign of Marcos. How quickly people forget.
 
U

UnObtainium17

Member
Piecake said:
I have a hard time imagining the other candidate being worse. Even if the candidate is a complete corporate shill that is still leagues better that a rapist and a murderer.
Click to expand...
I would vote for Grace poe or Defensor over this guy. Whats funny to me is that the one filipino I've been wanting to run for the pres ever since i was a child was getting 1% of the support based on the most recent surveys. If it was up to me i would rather have Defensor for pres.
 
A

addik

Member
Lexxus said:
It's not like they have a better option. It's lesser of two evils anyway.
Click to expand...

There are a lot of better options, IMO. People just don't want to do some background checking, and would rather trust alternative news sites that share bullshit news anyway.

Also, the man is a walking macho figure that many Filipinos salivate over. He's become quite a myth, and people fall for the myth. Why do you think he was so unapologetic over the joke?

ThusZarathustra said:
This is the country of Marcos, remember?

I'm half Filipino myself and haven't been back there to visit in almost ten years. It's not good and it never was, the Spanish fucked things there for basically forever. It's really sad. Imagine the fuckery of the worst parts of South America, where the Spanish also colonized, and it's basically like that, but without the bits of prestige or tourism. The country's been tearing itself apart for generations with no clear vision of the future and massive corporate exploitation. I try not to think about it, truth told.
Click to expand...

To be honest, coming from my experience doing some field work, there is a lot of positive changes going on, and things have been going for the better (though certainly, this is not observed in many sectors were development is still staggered, or at worst, reversed).

But yes, the Spanish fucked up the country, and we're still recovering from centuries-long class strafe that the Spanish perpetuated and the conservative gender roles thanks to the Catholic church.
 
Sunster

Sunster

Member
Miriam Defensor is a great candidate in my eyes. If only she had the support Duterte has. People see him as someone who gets things done I guess.
 
B

bionic77

Member
Why is everyone in the world electing wankers into office?

Seems like only Canada is moving in the right direction and everyone else has lost their mind..
 
Vigilant Walrus

Vigilant Walrus

Member
Is religion a big factor in the phillipino way of life and political process? The conservatism here seeks vindictive as something out of a medieval pope.
 
EYEL1NER

EYEL1NER

Member
It is pretty frustrating, as an outsider looking in. Almost like a car crash that you are witnessing unfold but all you can do is point and say "Look out for the-..." The Trump comparisons are too true. Duterte says awful things or outright says he has committed or will commit human rights violations and the only response to it from supporters is "He speaks his mind and is honest and that is admirable."
Every single member of my wife's family living in the Philippines or abroad has been posting Duterte images on FB for months and I knew the guy was a horrible person from reading the Phillipine-GAF thread but there's nothing I can do about it. I actually sat down earlier today and read about all the other candidates and it seemed like each of the four is a better possible choice than Duterte. It seemed like they are all intelligent and have accomplished some pretty decent things in the government. I thought Grace Poe stood out as the best choice with Roxas trailing (my wife said she hates Roxas though and didn't provide an explanation as to why).
I haven't brought it up with my in-laws at all. I thankfully don't have to deal with any US political talk from my FB friends, I definintly don't want to delve too deep into PI politics on there. I am tempted though to get on and say "This guy is terrible and that you would support him makes you all highly suspect," for all the trouble that would cause me.

Maddening... We've got these assholes Trump and Cruz getting traction and people to take them serious and everyone else around the world has the opportunity to watch and learn from our mistakes and there is the Philippines, doing their damndest to make the same mistakes.
 
M

MMarston

Was getting caught part of your plan?
Vigilant Walrus said:
Is religion a big factor in the phillipino way of life and political process? The conservatism here seeks vindictive as something out of a medieval pope.
Click to expand...

Someone said this last year in another thread, but it's big enough to make even the Pope nervous.


As someone who lived there for the first 15 years of my life, I can attest to that statement.
 
W

Walpurgis

Banned
Philippines is going to be the next Zimbabwe. The state will probably be celebrating Duterte's birthday next year. Fun times ahead. :p
 
P

Piecake

Member
So, is there any worry that he is going to start eroding democratic structures and position himself as more and more of a dictator?

It seems like he certainly fits the personality profile and backs it up with action since he seems to have no qualms about disregarding the law.
 
K

Kenshin001

Member
I only just got the joke about the missionary. I thought he was saying the mayor should have been raped, not that he was the mayor and should have been the first to rape her. What a disgusting human being and Filipinos should be ashamed for voting for him.
 
I

ISOM

Member
addik said:
There are a lot of better options, IMO. People just don't want to do some background checking, and would rather trust alternative news sites that share bullshit news anyway.

Also, the man is a walking macho figure that many Filipinos salivate over. He's become quite a myth, and people fall for the myth. Why do you think he was so unapologetic over the joke?



To be honest, coming from my experience doing some field work, there is a lot of positive changes going on, and things have been going for the better (though certainly, this is not observed in many sectors were development is still staggered, or at worst, reversed).

But yes, the Spanish fucked up the country, and we're still recovering from centuries-long class strafe that the Spanish perpetuated and the conservative gender roles thanks to the Catholic church.
Click to expand...

How did the Spanish fuck up the country if I may ask? I know that the US also occupied the Phillipines for awhile.
 
T

ThusZarathustra

Member
ISOM said:
How did the Spanish fuck up the country if I may ask? I know that the US also occupied the Phillipines for awhile.
Click to expand...

The Philippines before the Spanish was a loose collection of groups and peoples without much of a unified sense of statehood in the modern sense. It was mostly a loose trade hub of indigenous peoples, travelers, and traders and whatnot from around the South East Pacific Rim and Asia. There was no Philippines, really. This is early 1500's and before.

Out in Europe the age of colonization is spinning up and empires want lands, trade, followers (If there's a religious motivation there, which the Spanish had and the Portuguese, Dutch, British etc did not) etc etc.

Magellan arrives. Manila is a perfect trading harbor, safe and calm, and had already been used for centuries for local trade. Magellan sets down and starts dividing and conquering among the local groups, spreading Catholicism and Spanish colonial control through force, trade, and religious conversion. Eventually more Spanish arrive and continue to take over, eventually the country is annexed into New Spain. Spanish colonies were never the most independently successful, there was too much focus on religious conversion and sending the fruits of the colonies labor back to Spain. As has been said by others, the Spanish colonized mostly the people, everyone else colonized mostly the land and the resources. Over hundreds of years most of the indigenous culture was lost and replaced with Catholicism and Spanish influence.

Filipino nationalism festered though and by the mid-to late 1800s there was rebellion brewing. The Philippine revolution happens near to 1900 as the Spanish Empire more broadly starts to lose power. This coincides with the Spanish American war, also happening more broadly. The US wins the Spanish American War with the Treaty of Paris and the Filipinos go from being under the thumb of the Spanish to being under the thumb of the US.

At this point we're talking about almost 400 years of big brother controlling things.

The Philippine American war segues right out of the Spanish American as the men and women who were fighting the Spanish were sure as shit not happy to see another big brother come in and take control (The Treaty of Paris kinda sucked for them). The US coming in disrupts 300 odd years of Spanish-run life, from language, to religion, to sense of identity. The Filipinos identified with the abuser. What can you do? The US wins the Philippine American war quickly and the country becomes the pet project of the US, including notably Woodrow Wilson. The country effectively has to reset itself in the mold of a whole new civilization and does about as well as could be hoped with that painful experiment until WWII breaks out and brings chaos right back to the fore.

I mean, there's soooooo much more, but suffice to say, the place has never really been free or had a chance to create an identity of it's own. It's been the pet project of abusers and the exploitative for centuries and that's left it with broken culture not it's own and a legacy of deep, deep pain and suffering.

Quite frankly I'm surprised more people don't understand how much of history, especially colonization, is still very much with us in an active sense. It's the same in South America, in Africa, in the Middle East. Anyway, I know that was long, but there's a lot to it all.

TLDR: 400ish years of cultural subjugation will fuck a place up royal.

EDIT: Remember, the Spanish were in control there before there was an America. The legacy of religious and corporate control there extends back further than the entire history of the United States.
 
P

Pachimari

Member
He will win the election 100% come next month. He is insanely popular. My family in the Philippines will vote for him as well but they ultimately want Marcos to be president.
 
A

addik

Member
ISOM said:
How did the Spanish fuck up the country if I may ask? I know that the US also occupied the Phillipines for awhile.
Click to expand...


(Note: I don't remember ALL of my history lessons, but here's the gist of it)
Adding to what was said before, the first thing that the Spanish came after colonizing the Philippines was they set up a feudal system where a small elite had control of huge swabs of land for agriculture. The Spanish put themselves on top of the class chain, while the so-called "indios," natives of the lans that Spanish stole from, worked for the elite that controlled them.

To make matters worse, they used religions as the means to control the masses. The church was used to quell religion and, at times, to limit movement of people between towns so "radical thinking" won't spread that much (at one point, a piece of literature was made claiming that going to Manila was a sin. This was after an educated group of people tried to put up a resistance against the Filipinos).

For 333 years, the elites got richer, while the Spanish and the elites became more severe against the "indios" and the lower-class people. As population boomed, Spanish colonization moved south to Mindanao, which was never fully colonized. This will totally have an impact in the current election, just you wait.

Anyway, the economic rift did not only create a tumultuous class system, it also drew apart Filipino from Filipino. When the Filipino revolution against the Spanish happened in 1898, the two classes were essentially united to oust the Spaniards: but for totally complete reasons: while the landed elite (mostly idealistic educated young men who afforded an education outside of the Philippines) fought for the abstract concept of a freedom, the lower classes mostly fought to get rid of Spanish oppression and taxes. Essentially, they were fighting for the right to own their lands and their harvest.

The rift between the elites and the farmers (which were perpetuated by the Spanish) would worsen during the American occupation. The Americans put up a trade deal with the Philippines that pushed Filipino businessmen to produce more crops/products for export. The problem was that it put a strain on the lower classes, who were immediately reminded of the Spanish oppression.

Meanwhile, Mindanao, which was not totally colonized by Spanish, became an American territory simply because Spain included Mindanao when they sold the Philippines to the US. Because of the drastic demand needed to be filled by Filipino businessmen, settlers from the Luzon and Visays elites went even deeper into Mindanao, to settle in more lands. They eventually pushed the natives and the IPs away from their original lands for the sake of business.

A law was put up for IPs to reclaim their lands from the elites (especially in Mindanao), but it was published in English, which was not yet a widely spoken languages even in the Elites. In other words, the elites found a way to take advantage of the IPs and natives because of a language barrier.

That happened less than 150 years ago. Mindanao is still in the process of trying to be assimilated in the Philippines. Yes, plenty speak Filipino/Tagalog there, but they still feel pretty left out in national politics. This is why rebel groups have taken arms to try to win back their lands. The wounds are still fresh.

Hence, reason why Duterte is leading the polls. 55% of Mindanao are voting for him, because he is the first true Mindanaon leader with a chance at the highest post in the country. They see this as a way to finally have their issues hold nationwide.

Meanwhile, because of the cultural and economic rift between the elites and the masses, there has always been tension between the classes during elections. Duterte has taken advantage of this situation by claiming he is the people of the masses by his candor and the way he speaks. Strangely enough, his platforms cater to classes ABC, by wanting to set up what sounds like a police state against petty crimes, which are mostly done by classes D and E. You can even see in the latest surveys that the majority of Duterte supporters come from Classes ABC.

It is also interesting to note that Duterte himself is a member of the elite.

So yes, all this tension that is taking place right now is a result of 333 years of class strafe purported by the Spanish, and the Americans trying to claim Mindanao through a sketchy deal initiated by the Spanish.

Madridista said:
He will win the election 100% come next month. He is insanely popular. My family in the Philippines will vote for him as well but they ultimately want Marcos to be president.
Click to expand...

He has a chance, but never say never. His ratings in the surveys have always been going up and down. Plus, detractors are trying to be not as vocal because of the threats they received from his supporters.

But yes, he does have a legitimate chance. Let's see if this incident will push people not to vote for Duterte anymore. Already, his casual supporters are withdrawing support from his candidacy.
 
L

lupinko

Member
ThusZarathustra said:
This is the country of Marcos, remember?

I'm half Filipino myself and haven't been back there to visit in almost ten years. It's not good and it never was, the Spanish fucked things there for basically forever. It's really sad. Imagine the fuckery of the worst parts of South America, where the Spanish also colonized, and it's basically like that, but without the bits of prestige or tourism. The country's been tearing itself apart for generations with no clear vision of the future and massive corporate exploitation. I try not to think about it, truth told.
Click to expand...

It's also the country of Corazon and Ninoy Aquino.

Ninoy 3 actually did great things in his term as president which is sad as all his hard work might go out the window with the incoming president.
 
T

titiklabingapat

Member
Fucking A. If he wins, all those hard work by the two previous administrations will be undone. Fuck.

One of the others need to drop out so they can consolidate the votes against Duterte. Fuck.
 
P

Pachimari

Member
Everyone's excited here though. I hope he can do well as president of the Philippines and actually do something about a corrupt government and criminals.
 
EYEL1NER

EYEL1NER

Member
I've seen quotes attributed to him saying that he will resign if he doesn't eliminate the country's crime and corruption issues within a certain number of months (I've read both three and six months). I can't verify if those quotes were true but I hope so, because obviously he can't eliminate the crime problem (hard to eliminate crime and corruption when you yourself are a criminal and corrupt). Then again, I don't think he is the type of guy who could be held to that though, when do bullies ever keep their word?
And would that even be a good thing? I don't know how the office of the president works in the Philippines: With BongBong Marcos poised to secure the VP spot, could he become President if Duterte stepped down? That is an equally troubling thought.
 
F

Froli

Member
Madridista said:
Everyone's excited here though
Click to expand...

Like what John Oliver said, the guy is a fucking asshole and a monster, anyone excited about him is a fucking idiot.

I thought the internet would educate Filipinos, but no, I was mistaken. Common sense and logic is non existent and prayers are the only answers.
 
S

sleverfunk

Member
Me, Most of my friends and family voted for him.
It's just that the Filipinos are tired with the oligarchy reigning on the Philippines.
A lot of people likes him because he's down to earth and been regarded as a messiah/savior of the country, Which can really backfire if he fucks up his presidency.
Before voting I really evaluated who should I vote, It was between Rody and Mar.
But Mar really fucks up his pr game and really made some dumb things before the election. and has many corruption allegations.
Although rody has his fuck ups, I still choose the lesser evil.
Also it will be a nice change to have a president coming from Mindanao.
I just hope he tones down his mouth and other mannerism.

EDIT: Also wtf pacman in the senate.
 
J

JoJoShabadoo

Member
Jackpot said:
Jacqueline Hamill was working in a prison in Davao in the southern Philippines when she was raped and killed during a riot by inmates in 1989. Duterte was the city’s mayor at the time.

“They raped all of the women … There was this Australian lay minister … when they took them out … I saw her face and I thought: ‘Son of a bitch. what a pity … they raped her, they all lined up. I was mad she was raped but she was so beautiful. I thought, the mayor should have been first,” Duterte is shown telling a crowd of laughing supporters at a campaign rally.
Click to expand...

That's just fucked.
 
A

agentofatlas

Member
Froli said:
Like what John Oliver said, the guy is a fucking asshole and a monster, anyone excited about him is a fucking idiot.

I thought the internet would educate Filipinos, but no, I was mistaken. Common sense and logic is non existent and prayers are the only answers.
Click to expand...

Free Facebook was the worst thing that happened to the Philippines lol. A lot of misinformation there and people just ate it up.
 
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