Filipino People Fighting for What they Believe In

Enter President Duterte who was elected not only on promises of ridding the streets of drugs and crime, but also of attacking the corruption and financial rape of the Filipino people by the elite. Lofty goals indeed! During the past few days, I have been in Manila meeting with Duterte men, pursuing my fight against another foreigner who has scammed several dozens of people and skated with impunity through unrelenting attempts to be brought to justice. Over the past several years of mine and these other victim’s fight, that impunity has clearly been granted by corrupt justice and political officials who have sacrificed their Filipino countryman’s integrity and pride for selfish financial gain. Now in Manila, and speaking directly with numerous high ranking officials of President Duterte’s staff, I have gained a rather fortunate glimpse into the mood of how things are going for this administration, and their lofty goals, as well as their candid feelings of being led by a man they love and revere.

These men were of a different ilk than the the Duterte Fanatics who grace the pages of Facebook and express their devotion naively with little grasp of what I personally would call reality. Those social media fanatics seem unable to express clear intelligent arguments to back up their President’s actions, and I believe do more harm than good for the man they support. By and large, they come across as nut jobs who are willing to drink the cyanide laced “kool aid” and blindly run over the edge of the cliff like lemmings. Their voices clearly drown out and risk stigmatizing all Duterte Supporters.

So what did I observe here in Manila  when given the chance to meet some of the upper echelon men who are avid Duterte supporters?  The men that I met apparently have far more wisdom than most of the social media crowd. They were no less devoted to President and to their country, but these  wise men can see that the man they loyally support is making many mistakes. They have no doubt in their minds that their country needs this strong leader who they confidently believe only has the best hopes and dreams in mind for his countrymen, but they have come to realize that to make those dreams a reality, he will need to regain the overwhelming support of most Filipinos. This support, they candidly admit, is fading fast and it brings them sadness, for a cause that was righteous to begin with seems to be getting lost in the fray. By and large, they feel that it is not their leader’s actions which is causing that loss of support but rather his uncanny ability to make foolish public statements. When a man compares himself to Hitler in any way, there is just no logical or rational defense any rational man can offer. When a man brags about killing, there is just no logical or rational defense a man can offer., And on and on and on,,,

When I asked these men candidly how they felt about the current situation, the responses were almost unanimous. They will support their leader until their last breath, for better or worse, however they are concerned that all the good that this great leader could do just may not come to be. They openly admit that the one best quality of the man they love, his ability to talk straight from the heart, might in the end be his undoing. They know that that undoing will not come from outside at the hands of the Americans , EU, Catholic charge or the UN, but from his own people. They desperately wish that he focuses more on the actions required to bring about the change that will better the lives of Filipinos, and leave the talking to some one who will not torpedo the support he will need from the Filipino people that he obviously cares so passionately about. They confidentially pray that he stops giving the corrupt people he replaced, so much ammunition to bring to end the one true hope the Filipino people have.

This brings me to the real thing that I sat down to write about. The true strength of the Filipino people! This is not a comment about whether anything President Duterte is doing is right or wrong. It is about the fact that Filipino people from both sides of the argument are standing up to fight and fight passionately. Each side WILL have their say!!!They will not allow other countries or peoples determine their future. They have the capability and the will of self determination and will passionately stand up for what they believe in.n the end, whatever form that future takes, they will have been the ones to have constructed it. I, for one, will always respect them for that.