A step in the right direction?

June 30th Rodrigo Duterte was elected the new president of The Philippines. Yet in under 4 months, Duterte has made numerous headlines as well as causing many controversies about his leadership style. From calling President Obama a "son of a b****" to his controversial statement "Hitler massacred 3 million Jews... there's 3 million drug addicts. I'd be happy to slaughter them," Duterte has certainly become increasingly unfavorable in the eyes of many of the world's countries.  However, that seems to be the complete opposite for the people of the Philippines. With a shocking 91% support rate, there's no doubt he has the support of his people. Even comments from a Youtube video of his inauguration show how much the people love him, with people saying "You are the hope of our nation today" "So proud of you President Duterte!" "I say this with all my heart...God bless you and keep you always." etc. With having done and said so many things that would be absurd to the normal person, it seems highly shocking that he would have such a high support rate, but to understand where the Filipino people are coming from, we have to look at the history of the Philippines.

Filipino history is filled with corruption, and an article by Time explains just how corrupt it is. Examples include former president Joseph Estrada, who was sentenced to life in prison for stealing 80 million dollars during his presidency, yet he was pardoned of his crime and is now Mayor of Manila. Former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who had a vast majority of charges against her, yet still managed to be re-elected  to Congress while still under house arrest. Congressman Romeo Jalosjos, who served two life sentences for raping an eleven-year-old girl, yet was still able to be re-elected twice as well as be pardoned of his crime just ten years into his life sentence by former president Arroyo. This list doesn't stop here, however. There are numerous other stories similar to this within the Philippines. A sad reality, yet true, Filipinos have become so accustomed to this behavior that it has become almost expected of all political figures. "To outsiders, all that seems outrageous. To Filipino's, it's just politics as usual."

So how does Rodrigo Duterte stack up to all this? It's hard to say this early in a presidency, but there's no doubt that he has no problem with saying what's on his mind, as well is putting those words into action, which in turn has caused some controversies. Most notably his plan to abolish the drug problem that currently infests the country. Since his presidency, roughly 3,500 suspects have been killed through his war on crime, but not in the most humane ways. Execution methods are described as being "assassinated in public by masked assailants, killed by police without further investigation, or found as unidentified bodies on the streets," often with signs placed over them stating the crime they committed. Whether these killings are justifiable or just simply thrown under a large history of impunity is for the people of the Philippines to decide. Rodrigo Duterte is definitely not a perfect man, but I don't believe he is claiming to be one (not yet at least). One thing that is certain is that The Philippines is a country riddled with crime, drugs, and corruption, and Duterte has definitely realized that, taking it upon himself to fix these problems, in a very brash manner. Whether Dutertes actions are good or bad, it's no doubt a step in a better direction, but is he really the savior that Filipinos claim him to be? Only time can tell.