I wanted to write about this weeks ago. But with work and family visiting from outside the country, the said thought took a back seat. Until now.
Our President, Rodrigo Roa Duterte, (used to be the Mayor of Davao City, where I live most of the time) is facing the drug cartels head on. With the help of the Philippine National Police and its head, Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, we are winning this sordid fight. It has only been 56 days since the new President gave an order to stop the drug cartels at all cost. And the Philippines has recovered billions of drugs already during by bust operations. Some were in laboratories, some were buried in the ground and some were in a ship docked near our ports. Some were even in the New Bilibid Prison. Yes, inside the penitentiary, where prisoners are supposed to give penance for what they have done. In our country though, NBP became a drug den. Business continues as usual.
This menace has obviously been going on for decades in our country. They have taken their deep roots within the government itself down to the ordinary Filipinos living in the slum areas. Included in the payroll to protect these drug lords are generals, judges, government officials (mayors and the likes) , government employees and other private citizens.
We, the 91% percent of the Filipinos who voted for the President, are behind him all the way. Why?
Because we have seen the effect of how terrible a narco state is. Yes, the Philippines has become a Narco State. Let us not be naive to think otherwise. Our previous leaders have allowed it to be so.
Because we , the Filipino people, who are mostly tired of rhetorics given by politicians , promising us heaven and earth during elections but forget about us when seated in power want peace and order.
Because we do not want the children of this country, to grow up thinking that it is okay to become drug addicts. With one teacherĀ caught a few days ago having stocks of shabu, imagine the danger that the children face on a daily basis…
Because we do not want our friends and relatives to continuously get raped, robbed and murdered by drugs addicts who are desperate to finance their addiction.
Because we hate fearing for our lives.
Because with the drug monies in our country, it has corrupted our government and our government officials.
Because with the drug monies in our country, proliferation of guns has become rampant as well.
I can go on and on. But I am sure you get the drift.
And now that we are slowly gaining victory over this war on drugs, the Philippines and our President are on the limelight. Some human rights group depict him as a mass murderer and a mentally deranged individual who is on a killing spree.
(Photo Credits to dutertenews.com)
The pictures below were taken outside the Philippine Embassy in New York. While I respect the rights of these people to rally, I feel disgusted over the irresponsibility of those that are behind this.
Feeding this wrong information to the rest of the world is akin to killing the future of our children. It is unjust and unfair to the Filipino people.Ā
To set the record straight, let me elaborate:
- President Duterte’s order was to go all out on drugs. If the drug addicts, pushers, dealers and their bosses surrender, then they will be rehabilitated. But if they fight during by bust operations and will put the polices’ lives in danger, then they have an order to shoot. To kill. If necessary.
My question is – if you are a policeman and your life is in danger during said raids,Ā what will you do? Just stand there and wait for the bullets to hit you? I am sure not. So there were few of these drug pushers who died on a shoot out. And there were policemen who suffered the same fate as well.
So how come nobody talks about the policemen that died? Were they of lesser importance? Do the families they’ve left in this world don’t matter?
2. The cartels are cleaning up.Ā They do not want proof of course. So what do they do? Kill their own so they cannot talk. Sounds like a movie plot. It might be to you. And to the rest of the world. But well, it is a reality that we Filipinos have to deal with.
And so to reiterate, there is no Extra Judicial Killings as what is being reported to the world. NO. NONE. NIL. NOTHING.
With all these media attention we are getting these days, it is imperative that we should speak our mind. We do not care what you think of us. ButĀ we care for our President.
This is the first time in Philippine history when a government leader loves his people enough to give his life literally for his contituents. No one had the guts to face these cartels for decades. Only now.Ā And we welcome the change.
We do not need those that are looking from the outside , who do not even have an inkling as to how it is to live in a third world country , feeling sorry for us, judging us and worst, pretend to care for us by rallying against our President. In the hope that he is ousted. So the previous government can take the seat of power again.
PLEASE DON’T.Ā STOP , WE BEG YOU.
With your actions, you are doing us a disservice. You are doing us more harm than good.
If indeed our President gets ousted, the Philippines will go back again to the dump it was in. Again.
Have you heard of the billions of donations for Typhoon Haiyan lost? The unexplained donations that didn’t go to the victims until now? The donations that were supposed to rebuild their houses and their livelihood?
Who haven’t heard of ISIS? I am sure all of us do. Well, we have them in the Philippines now. What about the Abu Sayaff Group, have you heard of them? We have them too.
Have you heard of that airport bullet scam? Where foreigners and locals alike are victimized in the airports by getting bullets planted in their luggages to extort monies?
If you have not heard of these things, then google it. Do your own research so you will understand where we are coming from. Don’t just believe what the media is feeding you. Most of them do not care about the people. The be-all and end-all for some of them is the money they get from the top bidder. We are just a pawn to their game, in other words.
Our President is cleaning up our country, which is long overdue.Ā And we the Filipino people , welcome the change.
This said, I hope that you will heed our request. Leave us alone. Do whatever it is you do with your lives. But please leave us alone.
The Filipinos are intelligent, well educatedĀ , hardworking and mostly honest people. We just got tainted because corruption ruled our government for the longest time.
Now we have the chance to have this changed. Now we have the chance to truly live a peaceful life. Now we have the chance to raise our children in a better environment. Now we have the chance to have the poor , benefit from the government… And more.
But you, who do not know the real score, are jeopardizing the real change that we have longed for. That we are longing for.
So please grant us this. Leave us alone. And allow us to enjoy the change that we want.
leawalkerblog 
They are the menace of the society, rallying on working hours, that means they are jobless, people on welfare whose paid to do things like that. Your organizer if she is a Filipino is having a mental problem not knowing how our new government fight drug problem.
These are the misinformed people who march for a misguided cause. You can’t even solve the killing here in the US why rally for our country.
I bet you’re the kind to be terminated!
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Hello Maria,
Thank you for your comment.
It is frustrating indeed. And yes, from what I read online, they’re jobless people who were paid to rally.
I hope that the Philippines will recover and we will all be given the chance to live peacefully.
Again, thank you.
Lea
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Thank you Lea for your nice write up. I can not take it away from you to like Duterte because you are also from Davao and probably you have seen and experienced the good things his administration have brought to your city.Now let me tell you why I don’t like your mayor.
My main complaint against Duterte is his disregard of due process. We are a nation of laws. It simply means that offenders and victims are equal before the law. No one is found guilty unless one is tried and convicted in the court of law. I accept that our current justice system is corrupt, biased in favor of the wealthy, powerful and influential. But that is the system Duterte has now as President. If he finds it lacking, inadequate, inefficient, he is duty bound to improve it and most of all work with it, not disregard it.That is why the killings are called extra judicial. They were done outside of the legal and established procedure.
The 2400 killed so far is the result of the combination of those killed by the police and the vigilantes. Those killed by the police, no one has ever been presented with a warrant of arrest. Police reports said they tried to knock on the houses of the suspects and then the suspected addicts, pushers or dealers fought it out with them and so the police shot them to death. Sometimes, suspects tried to grab their weapons, hence they shot them before these addicts get the chance to kill police. But you can not just accept what the police were saying. And the police never presented a video recording of the actual encounter. Everything was said and told by the police. And let me ask you, of the more than 700 killed by the police, why was it that never was there an instance, a police was hurt or killed in an encounter with the suspected addicts? Have you heard of salvaging? This is the practice among policemen to put under their protection and control people with criminal records or those familiar with unlawful activities to be their informants or assets. When these individuals under police protection become so hot and difficult to handle so that they put their protectors in danger, the police execute them and always say they were killed in a shootout. In the news recently were policemen arrested actively involved in drug trade.
The police say the vigilante killings are done by the people who belong to drug syndicates competing or making revenge to each other. The drug lords and protectors are having their runners and pushers killed to prevent them from revealing the identities of their bosses. That is correct. But let me ask you again.What happened was mass murdering of individuals. They maybe criminals and offenders but who is certain of that? There was no warrant of arrest, there were no charges filed in the courts. Is it not also the responsibility of the police and, by extension by Duterte,that these vigilantes are identified, caught and detained and eventually charged in court. But not a single one of those things had ever happened. Again this is another instance of clear disregard of Duterte of due process.
I do not question the noble objective of Duterte to get rid our country of the drug menace. I believe it is a major problem. But it should be addressed comprehensively and together with the causes like poverty and lack of jobs and opportunities. His approach is not right and most of all illegal. The people who were killed have all the right to file charges against the police for murder. But they have no money. They are all poor, impoverished, powerless and without connections very much unlike the generals and politicians Duterte named and shamed but no one has yet to be arrested up to now. They can hardly afford put food on the table and therefore much more to hire a lawyer. Hence, they just keep quiet.That exactly what happened in Davao. The hundreds Duterte ordered killed just kept quiet until Davao turned into virtual cemetery. This is the approach Duterte is thinking will work for the entire country. It will and will never work.
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Dear Ces,
Thank you for your comment.
President Duterte is a lawyer. He used to be a Prosecutor of Davao City. Therefore, he knows the law.
My take on the matter is this – he was investigated by the DOJ and the Commission on Human Rights for years. Even when he was still the Mayor of Davao City, under the previous government. And yet, nothing happened to it.
I guess, all these allegations should be brought to court and be proven. If not , then those are just rumors or hearsay.
I respect your opinion. And we being in a democratic country are entitled to say what we think. But unless proven guilty, I will stand by the President because I have seen the good that he has done to Davao City.
Again, thank you.
Lea
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The article is well written, very articulate. I pray that our people who live outside of the Philippines will rally for the good cause. I worked in a slum area around Sta. Mesa, Manila for over 4 years. It is sad that we have many poor people who are helpless and yet dishonest politicians are living in mansions, spending money that were not hard earned. I have to sell old newspapers collected from my affluent patients, empty bottles to help the slum area dwellers for their simple meals, brought them to church without slippers. My co-workers thought I was crazy. In New York, I used to teach the kids from Harlem (the ghetto)my colleagues did not like to help me, but it was a joy to have these young kids come and say thank you teacher. I do not claim to be like Mother St.Theresa, but a lot of people who have never been poor will never realize and feel the brunt of being poor. My mother taught us to perform corporal works of mercy and to share what we have even if we were not financailly endowed. My brother who was a poor lawyer worked hand in hand with Mayor Duterte in collecting taxes from the rich businessmen who were evading taxes. Mayor Duterte helped my poor brother’s family when he passed away. I have seen dirty politics when I was growing up, my uncle who run for mayor in our town gave away money, we fed the voters when they were going to the polls. You know what happened? He got zero votes. My father blamed me because I told the voters who came to eat that I was not sure if they are honest and will vote for my uncle, so may be they got upset or what but the other party gave them more money. It is so sad that a lot of our compatrriots do not remember where they came from, their skin will never be white. They easily forget their heritage that is why some of our kids do not know that they are coming from a different race. Pathetic. Let us pray hard that someday our country will be a safe place to live fo rour future generations. May I beg our country men to pray and not to cowtow to dirty politicians and bad press written by peole who will never understand who we are and what we are aiming for. Thanks for the well written article. Please continue your crusade.
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Hi Priscilla,
Thank you for reading my blog.
I got tired of reading the news, depicting the President as some kind of a monster, when he is not. Being a Davaoena, I grew up with his leadership. And we all felt safer when he became our mayor. Davao has prospered over the years, thanks to him.
Hence, this article.
Our city just got bombed a few days ago. So now, he is being blamed by those who do not like him. I don’t understand the extent of the hate some people have for him. What is so wrong in trying to fix the country for future generation. Would one not prefer living in a safer environment? I guess, the detractors prefer to just stick to the status quo and say “god will take care of our country”. It is frustrating.
I think the bombing incident last Friday night, was the 4th in the city, in 20 or so years. If not for the then Mayor Duterte, the City would have suffered more. Considering the history of Davao City.
This is exactly the reason why Davaoenos love him. He loves us more. He has shown us how to be strong in spite of and/or despite the adversities we face.
Thanks again Priscilla. God bless you and your family.
Lea
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An article from a very well informed writer..spot on …well done!
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Thank you for your comment and for reading my blog. God bless us all!
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The whole truth behind the situation in the Philippines was well said and described by leawalkerblog. Pray for the Philippines will attain the real change that has been going on for decades. Hope a good tomorrow and a bright future for our next generation.
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Thank you. Praying for the same. There is a chance that real peace may come. God bless the Philippines!
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Thank you for your well written and insightful article. Your thoughts are exactly what I want to express to the foreign journalists who sit in their offices in London, New York and Sydney and who have never set foot in the Phillipines yet can write articles condemning President DUTERTE for his actions and using the western idealistic standards of human rights to judge Asian countries. Yet in their own countries, they have whites shooting blacks, homeless people drug addicts etc. their own countries are not perfect, yet they expect the war on drugs to be perfect. Criminals who posses heavy arms have to be captured unharmed and given due process! What kind of idiots are these people. I have written to every journalist who wrote biased articles about DUTERTE and all except one ( a British scholar) never even bothered to reply to my comments. It is because they realise their allegations were based and based on biased sources.
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Hello George,
You are welcome.
My sentiments and yours are the same sentiments that 91% of the Filipinos feel.
Regardless of what others may think of the Philippines, we that live here, know what is true. And hopefully, the rest of the world will understand that criminality and corruption should be stopped before economic growth can be established.
The President has cleaned up Davao City two decades ago. Made it a very successful city from a scary and poor one. He can do the same to the whole country given the chance.
So we all should continue to speak and share what we think. Or democracy is lost forever.
God bless our country. And God bless the Filipino people.
Lea
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Thank you for writing this article Lea. It is indeed important for the less informed to hear this side of the story.
I heard Duterte’s press conference the other day, and he spoke with passion to genuinely make a change in the Philippines, his country! He compared the killings in the US and asked what is the meaning of human rights if he is judged alone for the killings in the Philippines… very good point I think.
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Hi Joe,
You are welcome.
The Filipinos support our President in this fight. We Davaoenos, have been lucky he cleaned up Davao 20 or so years ago. We have been enjoying peace and order for years already. The rest of the Philippines don’t.
So it is my prayer that what we have in Davao now, will also be experienced on a national level.
Thanks again for reading my blog. And God bless us all!
Lea
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Well said Lea… God bless our country! God bless the Philippines!
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Thank you Jane! God bless us all and the Philippines. š
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We have exactly the same sentiments,Lea…we will continue to fight for our beloved country..we trust that the President we voted for will lead us out of the dumps..God bless us all!
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Thank you Ms. Gardenia for your comment. I pray too that God will bless our country.
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Reblogged this on rovingtiger.
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Thank you @ MumsiePinx.
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that is an eye opener to those who are in the dark…well done
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Thank you for your comment. @bing
God bless the Philippines!
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I am married to a Filipino and have been to the Philippines twice. It is a beautiful country, however, even my husband who was born there was at times scared when we went to the city and kept a close eye on the children for fear that something might happen to them. I think Duterte is doing a great job and trying to make all of the Philippines a place that everyone can feel safe in. If only we could all get along and treat each other the way we want to be treated, then this world would be a better place. To some it may seem that what he is doing is wrong but if they only listen to the compassion for his people in his voice then you will know that he doesn’t care about himself and his pocket. If he is able to make all of the Philippines like Davao then the country will prosper and grow. The Philippines is like a hidden treasure that needs to be released to the world and Duterte is just trying to clean it up. I don’t see anything wrong with his tactics or his plans of action. The people love him. Unfortunately, corruption is everywhere and it takes a strong individual and time to set it right. I have faith in his strength and pray that God allows him the time to complete what he has set out to do.
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Hello Sil,
Thank you for your comment.
It is only now that Filipinos are realizing the extent of the problem. For us in Davao, we always feel safe. We walk in the streets without fearing for our lives. I cannot say the same thing to the rest of the country though. Therefore, what the President is doing now, brought happiness and gratefulness from ordinary civilians.
You understand perfectly having been here, having experienced how it is staying here. Unfortunately, those that do not know, are sometimes swayed by what is written in the news and what’s shown on TV.
That is why , most Filipinos are on twitter/facebook and other social media networks to inform the world of what is really happening here.
Hopefully, they too will understand.
Yes, the Philippines is a very beautiful country. We have beaches here that are at par with that of the Maldives , Hawaii and other places on earth. We have great and hospitable people that would go out of our way to help others. And so there is a need to clean it up before it can grow economically. This is for the good of the Filipino people and our future generation.
I am praying that one day, we will indeed succeed and Filipinos will no longer need to go abroad to work (if they don’t want to) . Because we have what everyone needs here. A beautiful and rich country.
It may just be a dream now. But it will happen one day. Thanks to our President.
Again, thank you for visiting my blog.
Lea
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Hi Maam Lea, very well said. Thank you so so much for defending our President because others are just looking at his flaws. Ako, I don’t mind what other people say about him. What matters me the most is his sincerity, true dedication and love for us, Filipinos. It is only him who brings HOPE and gives the real meaning of CHANGE for our country.
Mabuhay Pilipinas! Mabuhay si Tatay Digong!
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Hi Maria,
Thank you for your comment.
Davao City was bombed last night. And the Abu Sayyaf Group owned up to it already.
Please continue to pray for our country. And for all Davaoenos.
Thank you and God bless.
Lea
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Same sentiments here. Though the 91% you’re referring to is the current percentage of people trusting the president, right? It matters to some who didn’t vote for him. Hahahah.
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Hi Maria,
You’re right. The 91% refers to the ones who voted and trusted the President.
Thanks for reading my blog.
Lea
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Very Well said….hopefully the change will be consistent..
Prayers for those who love peace, freedom and prosperity…God bless
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Thank you for your comment. It will be. Consistent, that is. President Duterte’s priority is the peace and order of the country.
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Very well said. We need peaceful Country, we dont need this heartless people who only love their own interest in life. Those outside people in the Philippines, please leave us alone, you cannot stop us to support our President war against drugs. God Bless Philippines.
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I watch this on balitang America and all I can say .. all this people who is joining this rally don’t know anything what’s happening in the philippines!maybe you guys who’s protesting go to the Philippines and probably u will know what the truth!wrong information makes u stupid..
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Thanks a lot for saying what I wanted to say, and for saying it better. I find it so frustrating that there are Filipinos who can afford to do such stupidity here in the US. Organizing people who have no idea what’s happening in the Philippines to rally against what our new government is just very unacceptable. It’s so pathetic, and I pity their shallow minds. I was wondering how much these black people got paid by the organizers. It’s just so unpatriotic for the Filipino organizers to do it. They are the greatest traitors of our country. I want them to be declared “persona non grata” in our country.
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Hello Ferdinand,
Thank you for your comment.
The detractors of the present government is well funded. So yes, they have monies to finance and/or pay anyone to ruin the Philippines and our President.
They are so blinded by the love of power that they will do everything to oust the President.
It is so sad. The love for the Filipino people is gone, for some.
Lea
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In the Americas, they have high tolerance on illegal drug use. In Canada in particular, they provide drug users (addicts) injection sites, they even provide supplies for them to use. The demographics is different, so that’s why they don’t get us nor understand our plight because they don’t live in this country. In this same line of reasoning, they don’t have the right either to pass judgement & to meddle with decisions on how to run this country. Goes the same with the UN & other outsiders who merely source out their info from MSM media who’s either paid propagandists or have tendency to exaggerate the news for ratings.
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And your an idiot
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Hi Mark,
Thanks for your comment.
I guess you can call me that, when you already know the difference between your and you’re. š
Lea
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Well said maam ….HOPEFULLY our young generation will enjoy the good atmosphere and good Future…ā¤ļøā¤ļøā¤ļøD030ā¤ļøā¤ļøā¤ļø
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Mind your own business!we want change and drugs is one of the biggest problem in our country to be demolish!!how much did druglords paid you??just back off people!we love our President and we will support what his doing!i don’t wanna say this but all you guys are F&$@ing Idiots!!!…
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God forgive them for they know not what they’re saying. Perhaps they don’t even know the meaning of a “mass murderer”! Pathetic. We must invite them to come to the Philippines and be with the military either to catch drug users, drug pushers, drug Lords, BIG FISH DRUG MANUFACTURERS, CORRUPT GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS, MGA BANDIDO, Saka lang nila malalaman ang magandang nangyayari sa Pilipinas. Pero without these people rallying against DU30 hindi lalabas ang tunay na maayos na pamamalakad ng ating pangulo. We need these people to rally against our President, kasi ibig sabihin lang merong third party na pumupuna sa ating pangulo, whether mali ang pamumuna, kasi how can the see the correct side, kung wala silang panananaw ng darkside. Hihingi din yan ng sorry or makukunsensya or makaka karma. Kung mga walang trabaho yang mga yan, tiyak sila ay mga bayaran! – God bless them, at sana buksan ng Dyos ang kanilang mga isipan pag milagrohan sila ng Panginoong Dyos.
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These are the people that were fed with wrong information and twisted news of what’s really happening in the Philippines
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yes! leave Philippines alone. Duterte is not a mass murderer. These americans who protested in NY haven’t been to our country. I wonder how much they’d been paid. Tatay Digong is the only President in our country who has the courage to fight against drug dealers, drug lords…..
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Congrats to the writer, the message is very resounding, the majority of the filipino people do want change, do want what our president has been doing to the criminals. Why allows aliens or the few adversaries disturb the momentum that our government had been gaining. Filipinos had been suffering for so long already, as we have been abiding to the dictate of foreign people. Now that a true leader emerged, it is now the time for total change by supporting him. The fate of the pilipino people should be decided by the filipinos, not by anybody else.
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Hello Christopher,
Thank you for your comment.
With President Duterte, Filipinos now have a voice. We are represented well, despite all the negative write ups. The world will know how much PRRD loves the Filipino people. What he is doing now and what he will be doing in the future are for the good of all Filipinos. Even if the small percentage who hates him will never appreciate it.
Thanks again.
Lea
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