A spectre is haunting the Philippines - the spectre of martial law. The history of all recent Philippine history is the history of dictatorship.
 |
| http://www.gov.ph/featured/declaration-of-martial-law/ |
Fast forward to 2015 and witness the ascendancy of Rodrigo Duterte. As mayor of Davao he had already built a reputation as a strongman, a take-no-prisoners kind of guy who would tolerate not the slightest infraction of the law. Davao, they said, was the safest city in the Philippines. This reputation would thrust him into the national spotlight and eventually win him the Presidency. He has not been silent on his opinions of how the country should be run and what it will take to get it back into shape. The spectre of martial law haunts even him.
 |
| http://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/in-depth/158810-understanding-duterte-martial-law-remarks |
 |
| http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2017/03/10/1679682/duterte-warns-martial-law |
 |
| http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/883051/duterte-says-martial-law-could-end-drug-terror-problem |
The President disdains to conceal his views and aims. He openly declares that his ends can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing political conditions. Yet something is holding him back from going all the way.
President Duterte is a man at war with himself. Deep inside of him is a desire to save his beloved Philippines from drugs and terrorists and foreign influence and everything else he sees as a threat to the divine right of Philippines to exist and sovereignly determine it's destiny. Pitted against that desire is the strong temptation to declare martial law as the one surefire way to accomplish these goals and save the nation.
So will he or won't he?
Listen to the voice inside his head striving to break down that barrier. It says:
"Let the drug pushers and terrorists tremble at a declaration of martial law. The Philippines and Filipinos have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Filipinos of all provinces, unite!"
No comments:
Post a Comment