Why I voted for Duterte

I thank the management and editors of The FREEMAN for giving me a space in their opinion pages to write my thoughts.

I voted for Rodrigo Roa Duterte in the 2016 presidential elections. Why did I vote for the vulgar, uncouth yahoo? I did, for the same reasons as that of the Davao City voters who voted for him without fail for nearly three decades.

After the American Civil War (1861-1865) fought between the United States of America and the Confederate States of America over the issue of slavery, more Americans ventured into the then virginal Western part of USA --California, Nevada, Utah, and Washington.

It was then known as the Wild West, with pistoleros, whether they be the good guys (sheriffs and law-abiding citizens) or the bad guys (outlaws and robbers), as the fulcrum of the place. They make or unmake the area.

There were, of course, judges there. One judge I recalled had this habit of telling the bad guys on trial in his court room: “I will give you a fair trial, before I hang you!”

We also have a Wild South in our country. It still is.

Broadcast journalist Ces Oreña-Drilon tried to conduct an “exclusive interview” on the bandit gang Abu Sayyaf a few years ago. Poor girl and her family were a few million pesos poorer afterwards, with the scars and trauma of being kidnapped for ransom by her interview subjects lingering on.

I went to Davao City on a business trip 25 years ago. No problem there. It was when I was travelling by bus from Davao to Iligan City when I lost my overnight bag placed in the baggage compartment above my seat. I was engrossed reading a book I didn’t notice someone filched my bag.

That’s not too bad, I suppose, as what happened to a guy whose left arm, protruding outside the window of a bus in southern Mindanao, was hacked with a very sharp bolo. The severed arm was recovered but the Rolex watch attached to it was not.

I went to Cagayan de Oro City more than two decades ago to represent the wife of my college buddy in a labor case (we won that case all the way to the Supreme Court). My college friend told me that if you want to buy a second-hand car there, the dealer will show you an album with pictures of different cars. After you make your choice, the dealer will ask you to wait for a week or two --as they still have to steal the car that you fancy.

Duterte made Davao City a very safe city --for law abiding citizens. The thieves, robbers, pickpockets, drug dealers, and other lowlifes there are warned to get out of the city, or else. As a consequence, you could go out at night there, alone, wandering on the streets, with a Piaget watch on your wrist, a heavy gold chain necklace around your neck, wallet bulging with cash, and nobody will dare rob you. You could sleep soundly at night knowing that no akyat-bahay expert will violate your home.

I have relatives there who can attest to that. My classmate in Law school, a brilliant lawyer who headed the ACCRA law office branch in Davao City for many years, can attest to that. The former president of Ateneo de Davao University, who happened to a priest, can attest to that.

Duterte promised to make the Philippines safe like Davao City. He promised to stop the drug scourge in three to six months. He vowed to end corruption. He pledged to end labor contractualization. He said he will ride a jet ski towards Scarborough Shoal in the West Philippine Sea and plant the Philippine flag there.

And I, just like more than 16 million of our countrymen, believed him. And that was that.

There was rejoicing at the start of the Duterte presidency when many drug personalities, big and small, were jailed or neutralized.

There are two sitios beneath and beside the bridge crossing Mananga River, connecting Barangays Tabunok and Lawaan in Talisay City, Cebu. They are called Sitios Mananga 1 and 2, but better known as Sitio Katawan. It is crammed with people, many of them, hailing from other places, coming to Cebu to look for better opportunities.

While there are many residents there who earned their keep honestly, like the guy who shines my shoes and repair my wife’s bags, there are many more who do it the bad way.

During President Noynoy Aquino’s presidency, there was a matron, while buying provisions at the Tabunok public market, who was robbed by three men, who all ran after the fact, towards Sitio Katawan beneath Mananga Bridge. A young, brave, and idealistic rookie policeman, by his lonesome, chased the robbers. He was accorded the 21-gun salute during his burial as he was shot dead beneath the bridge.

During the early years of the Duterte presidency, my shoe-shiner told me that many of the bad guys in Sitio Kawatan, what’s left of them, have stopped their wayward ways. He told me that his neighbor, a notorious pickpocket, had applied for a job in a respectable company.

President Duterte has not solved the drug problem in three to six months’ time. His drug war has fizzled out with the specter of cases against him when his term is over and his immunity from suit with it. Many of his trusted “friends” have been robbing our country blind. He is now saying that the jet ski election promise was a joke and those who believed it are stupid.

But the Duterte magic wowed the great majority of his countrymen while it lasted.

Atty. Alfredo J. Sipalay