The country needs a strong man for President

HAPPY WEEKEND

                                                           
By Gina Dizon

Its about time that a president from Mindanao should  step up. Not only as the first one from Mindanao but one who can make Mindanao unite amongst conflicting armed groups- the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), Bangsa Islamic  Freedom Fighters (BIFF), Abu Sayaf, the New Peoples Army (NPA) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

To talk to them. Armed with credibility and conviction. 

Presidential aspirant Davao city Mayor Rodrigo DutertE met with  the Moro Islamic Liberation Front  Central Committee at Camp Darapanan in Barangay Simuay, Sultan Kudarat  to present his proposal on how to resolve the conflict in Mindanao particularly issues confronting  the Muslims.

The creation of a commission  was  Duterte’s  proposal along with the creation of territories for indigenous peoples including the Tausogs and the Iranons.

                Duterte has also been talking with the NPA saying the 46 year communist insurgency should  end  urging them to prepare for a peaceful life during his presidency.

Mindanao has  taken the limelight for  quite some in talks of war and peace. And during these long years of conflict in Mindanao which has taken lives of Filipinos capped by the infamous  Mamasapano  massacre January 2015 killing 13 of the Cordillera’s brightest Special Armed Force amongst 44 Filipino SAF specially due to a non supportive leadership and lack of  reinforcement  command.

Duterte sees federalism as the gateway for the economic progress of this country. With some of the poorest provinces found in Mindanao while most of the wealth of the country is also found in this part of the country, federalism is an answer to the long time conflict here in Mindanao where the infamous Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) has failed.

And so with the Cordilleras where some of the poorest provinces are found here yet supply mineral gold reserves and hydroelectric energy for the country.

And with a peaceful and crime-free community as the framework for a vibrant economy who would not want this state. A vibrant and healthy community rests on a peaceful  state.  For how could people work and make the economy flourish if  people live in fear.

Davao City is  exhibit A for the presidential bid of Rodrigo Roa Duterte.

In a survey released by crowd-sourced rating site Numbeo.com dated April 30, 2015, Davao City ranked 9th as the safest city in the world and moved up to the 5th spot and in June 2015, Davao City gained the spot as the 4th safest city in the world.

Davao City has consistently ranked high in “most competitive” city indices and has been named one of the "Top 20 Most Liveable Cities in Asia.".

For something  good to happen to this country. For evil to lessen if not stop- corruption, crimes and drugs. For in this state, people will enjoy life, move freely and enjoy the services that should redound to them- health, education, livelihood- because order and no corruption  abounds in a community.

This  state of Davao did not come  easy. Davao has bled  literally to make good things happen.

His  self confession for killing criminals and the much dreaded  death squads publicized before his  candidacy takes the most sensitive point of his political  bid for the presidency against  extrajudicial killings  hitting a raw  nerve among  human rights activists.

He dangled his statements and made himself look like a bloodthirsty criminal himself.

His  self-confessed statements drew  questions from  Dept of  Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and former CHR commissioner Etta  Rosales who accuse Duterte of extrajudicial killings.

Yet he is a lawyer, a prosecutor, a city mayor, a father, and one who has his grey matter in between his  ears.

There must be a reason to kill dangerous criminals.

The community is a place where people should live peacefully and move freely and breathe easily  and not  be afraid of any criminal lurking in the shadows and pounce at an unsuspecting person at any time of the day.

Duterte in his  argument  once said to reporters when asked  about his alleged extrajudicial killings that he ‘takes care of a community’.  Though he said in his campaign sorties that there will be no extrajudicial killings.

And he killed in accordance with  law. This he said when asked during the presidential debate  February 21. For the criminal must have put up a fight or a situation which called for him to kill a criminal. He favors the death penalty to be restored.

For even God in the Bible  sanctioned killing for self defense and capital punishment. 

For a father of a community  has to choose whether to keep a criminal alive and  keep the community people in danger and uphold human rights for all or kill a criminal and keep the people safe to breathe and move freely.

The judiciary itself is  corrupt as everybody knows this. Criminals can pay their offenses out and  everybody happy except the victims and the community.

The community’s welfare is foremost.  Reports says crime figures in the city significantly reduced during the period 1985–2000. Duterte said there had been a decrease in crime from a triple-digit crime rate per 1,000 people in 1985 to 0.8 cases per 10,000 inhabitants in the period 1999 to 2005. 

And not only should there be a peaceful community. A community  at the same time should also be governed by  a corrupt-free governance. In this way, what is meant for the people shall redound to the people- social services, health, education, irrigation, livelihood, housing, employment. Otherwise, people shall be in abject need for the most basic needs in life while the corrupt and the already  rich wallow in  filthy  wealth.

Presidential aspirant Senator Mirriam Defensor Santiago herself  acknowledged during the presidential debates that Rodrigo Duterte is not corrupt.

Corruption is a blood sucking sickness, gnawing at people’s nerves and existence. It robs people of what should be afforded and given to them. For money that should be accorded to the people is taken by corrupt politicians who have a share in infrastructure projects, by corrupt contractors, by corrupt officers and employees in government.

In another equation are  the  vendors who sell  their goods day in and day out  in shine or rain, to the farmers who toil for their crops come rain or shine, to the  house help who work beyond 8 hours, to the housewives who look for additional source of income as selling barbecue or balut by the roadside, the waitress who stands for how many hours a day to attend to customers, to weavers who work on their looms when there is time from their baby sitting and house chores and  farm work, etc to the worker.

For those who corrupt public funds shame on you.

There is a need for an un-corrupted, pro-community, strong  leader whose compassion and actions he shows in making decisions for the community, and in given situations where laws are made for everyone yet chooses the law for the community people to breathe and move freely.

And so with his self confessed  statements that he has killed  criminals, a mouth that spews foul expletives, has four women in his life aside from women he kisses in public, who would like this kind of man to be the next President of the  Republic of the Philippines.

I would.