This time next year, Rodrigo Duterte will no longer be President of the Philippines...

[brooklynite]

Single six-year term. New election in May.

[kimbutgar]

1. I have a Filipino friend who has family and friends who live there

In the beginning of Duarte’s term he went for a visit and he was followed and they demanded to see his social media and cell phone texts. When he returned to the states he deleted his Facebook account and vowed to not go back until Duarte is gone. He grew up in the Marcos era and said Duarte was worst. He emigrated here in the early 80’s and eventually became a US Citizen.

[EX500rider]

2. He may be hated here but is surprisingly popular in the Philippines.

MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s approval rating has hit a record high, an opinion poll showed on Monday, despite a stubborn coronavirus crisis that has ravaged the economy and caused millions of job losses.

The Pulse Asia survey, conducted last month with in-person interviews with 1,200 adult Filipinos, found 91% of respondents approved of both his performance and his personality, up from 87% and 83% respectively in December.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-philippines-duterte/philippines-duterte-scores-record-high-rating-despite-virus-crisis-idUSKBN26Q0YK

[JohnSJ]

3. I think you are right, and I was quite surprised to see that, including approval of his

draconian methods

[EX500rider]

4. Well sometimes in the 3erd world they are more interested in results then methods I think.

[JohnSJ]

8. I am not going to go anywhere near that discussion

[EX500rider]

9. Well he used the same methods as a mayor before he was elected Prez..

...so they knew what they were voting for.

[JohnSJ]

10. no doubt about that

[brooklynite]

5. The 2016 Election was probably the fairest in Philippines history...

[GoCubsGo]

6. "...conducted with in-person interviews..."

I wonder if those people would have the same responses if they were guaranteed anonymity, and they were not in-person. Most people are not going to openly speak negatively of a dictator who is famous for his roving hit squads.

[EX500rider]

7. 1st he is elected not a dictator.

2nd I have seen multiple polls showing him to be very popular in his country.
If you can find polls showing otherwise post them.

[True Dough]

11. I worked with several people from the Philippines in 2019

During a lunch break, some of us were talking about world affairs. I raised Duterte's record and authoritarian approach thinking that they would revile him. Just the opposite. Most of them said they respected him for cracking down on drug dealers who had ruined so many lives in their country.

It was an eye-opening conversation for me, although it doesn't change how I feel about Duterte.