Probably not the best example of a pro-gun politician. There are a LOT of interesting tidbits about Duterte’s Mayoral past, as well as Drug War (including Obama snubbing him at the international conference while Kerry signed over millions of $ to support exactly what Obama said he snubbed Duterte for)… not to mention all of the anti-American rhetoric during his campaign and first few years in office.
It’s my understanding that the “barangay captain(s)” is a carry over from when the Phillipines was under US rule. A source I spoke to said that during this pandemic, while all the small businesses went out of business, the police hired/deputized many of them to beef up the “barangay captain” numbers, and enforce strict lockdown orders, not allowing people to cross neighborhood lines, and subjecting communities to daily strict questioning about where they lived, where they were going, and why they were leaving their house/area. It’s been a couple weeks, but last I heard towns are still under strict lockdowns, even restricting food and supplies from neighboring towns.
Although international news outlets might skew the stories, one can easily look for “Duterte drug war” or “Philippines drug war” on Google and read about the accounts of the witnesses versus the accounts of the police. Another interesting related story was the kidnapping, killing, and post-death ransom of a Korean businessman by the police.
Duterte still remains extremely popular in spite of himself, and despite all criticisms from the international community.
In a country that has 77 dialects, a national language, and English as its business language, he’s using the magic word that is understood by a lot of Filipinos: FREE.
He can make it happen if he’s serious about it.
But, how effective would it be?
I will not get into the politics of this, but they have guns and ammo, where is my ammo? I can’t find ammo anywhere for my S&W SD40 VE. Online I have look and every Web Site I go to: out of stock.
