Philippines at the crossroads: What does the rise of Rodrigo Duterte say about the nation’s appetite for change?
President Aquino has warned voters that Duterte could be a dictator in the making and compared his emergence to the rise of Hitler.
Thirty years after emerging from a brutal dictatorship, Filipinos went to the polls yesterday facing stark choices, and duelling narratives for the future of their nation.
Will it be fast and furious under foul-mouthed front runner Rodrigo Duterte, who has promised to “butcher” criminals, or moderate reforms under the other more democratically minded contenders?
We were called the sick man of Asia before, but are Asia’s rising tiger now
It’s a make-or-break moment for the Southeast Asian nation, which has turned around under incumbent President Benigno Aquino with one of the highest growth rates in Asia but remains fragile with its massive poverty, inequality and insurgencies.
“We were called the sick man of Asia before, but are Asia’s rising tiger now,” Aquino said last week on a trip to campaign for the candidate he’s backing, Mar Roxas, the former Cabinet member who has pledged to continue his “straight path” style of reformist presidency.
“We have begun to walk and surely that would be followed with a run. But we couldn’t sprint forward
if we step back ... if we take a U-turn back to the style of martial law,” Aquino said as he criticised Duterte’s threats to close down Congress or establish a revolutionary government should he face impeachment or stonewalling legislators.
