Philippine mother's plea against 'death squad' Duterte

[WhiteTara]

Source: yahoo

Mother's Day is always tough for Philippine slum dweller Clarita Alia, whose four teenage sons were believed to be killed by vigilante squads, but this year even more so as the man she blames is close to becoming president.

Alia, 62, lives a bitter existence in a shanty town in the southern city of Davao, with a gutter running through her kitchen and only fading photos of her sons who were murdered between 2001 and 2007 after various run-ins with the local police.

Davao is the long-time domain of Rodrigo Duterte, the tough-talking lawyer who has surged to become the favourite to win Monday's presidential elections on a platform of abandoning human rights laws and killing tens of thousands of suspected criminals across the country.

Duterte, 71, is promising to clean up the Philippines with the same methods he employed in Davao, a city of nearly two million people in the violence-racked far south of the country that he has ruled as mayor for most of the past two decades.

Millions of Filipinos have embraced his authoritarian dogma, as they seek a saviour to the chaos and corruption that dogs their lives. Roughly one quarter of the nation's 100 million people live below the poverty line, and crime is rampant.

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/philippine-mothers-plea-against-death-squad-duterte-160611528.html?nhp=1

[Redwoods Red]

1. Duterte should be in the Hague, not leading presidential polls.

[WhiteTara]

2. I agree

and it seems like an object lesson for the US.

BTW where in the Redwoods do you live? Welcome to DU

[Bernardo de La Paz]

3. Duterte has admitted to at least 3 murders in a broadcast interview. . . nt

[WhiteTara]

4. I guess it adds to his macho image

and makes him more appealing to those who want an authoritarian leader.

[4bucksagallon]

5. It makes it a little testy living here......

I believe it is with dirty Duterte's support that these insurgent groups are able to thrive.... He is to the P.I .what Drumpf is to the US.....

[WhiteTara]

6. He sounds a little more Darth Cheney

than idiot, narcissistic Trump.

OT though, what is it like to live in the Phillipines? Do you like it? Is it as beautiful as my imagination? Is it scary? Or is it more like violent in the US or really crazy as news likes to make it sound.

[4bucksagallon]

7. It can be scary at times.

We are in an outlying area right on the Davao Gulf and the gulf literally is my front yard, Davao City is about 8 miles straight across the gulf from here in an easterly direction. We can almost watch the planes landing and taking off from Davao International Airport, almost because the Island of Samal just barely blocks our view of the airport. We also have view of the highest mountain in the Philippines Mt. Apo as a backdrop to Davao City. At high tides I can dive from our front deck into the warm water of the gulf. It is beautiful and the paradise one would imagine, for the most part.The people are pleasant and the majority speak English. There is an ugly underbelly of disparate groups of "terrorists and freedom fighters" living here, ranging from the Communist NPA to Al Qaeda, Abu Sayyaf, and MILF, that said, there are also many good and decent Muslims living here. Our water is supplied by a group of Muslims developers called "Magnaga Community Builders for Peace and Development Association". Believe it or not clean potable water is one of the biggest problems here, well that and electricity. We have random blackouts ranging from 2-6 hours a day. The number one crime that is worrisome, for me, is the drive by shootings that are far to common here. A neighbor 3 houses away was shot and killed in a drive by from a motorcycle two weeks ago and our guards brother was shot and killed the same way last week. The guard we have is not for me but for our fishpond we own across the street. It sits on Magnaga creek and is tidally fed, we have it stocked with bangus and tilapia, we also get shrimp and giant mud crabs. I am from Maine and these crabs are as tasty as our lobsters from back home and just as big. As an American in a mostly Muslim and NPA fought over area I am constantly on the watch for trouble. There is an army unit stationed just up the road so that does help ease the tensions, except, as happened 2 or so years ago, when they were attacked by the NPA. That resulted in a 4 hour firefight into the early hours of the following day. We were never in any danger but we did stand by all night just in case. We are in the gold rich King-King district which is why there is so much terrorism. Everyone wants to control the gold. It's allegedly one of the largest deposits left on the planet after South Africa.... You can't do business here on a large scale without paying some group or many groups their extortion money. The good news is this place if free of Republicans....LOL, not one for many miles around.. There is a saying here "Mindanao it's typhoon free" which is mostly true, I like to add come to Mindanao it's Republican free. They're a cowardly lot..
Come and enjoy, just heed the warnings, it is for the most part beautiful and paradise on earth.

[WhiteTara]

8. It does sound beautiful.

How did you get there? Did you go with the intent to build a fishpond, or was that an unintended consequence? I don't really think that I want to move there, but I'm always curious about expatriating.

[4bucksagallon]

10. My wife is a Filapina So we were developing the beach property before I retired.....

the fishpond came up for sale 6 years ago, I've been here 7 years, and the price was right. The pond was only a couple hundred yards away, a three minute walk and it encompasses about 1.75 acres or 7,000 sq. meters, land here is measured in hectares or square meters.... Besides what could be a better investment than fresh seafood caught and eaten within minutes. The only fish we have to feed are the Bangus or milk-fish the others eat what's available. We also have a gold mine in Agusan Del Norte but that is another story that would be too long for this post...

[joshcryer]

9. Fascinating.

Thanks for that.