The first 100 days of President Rodrigo Duterte received mixed reviews, though surveys have shown that most Filipinos are satisfied with his performance especially in the area of peace and order.
They’ve seen how the administration’s campaign against illegal drug trafficking reduced the criminality rate by half or 50 percent.
Unfortunately the President is not getting a good review from abroad especially from the US and the European Union, causing him to badmouth them and seeking an alliance with communist countries China and Russia.
In fact, the Philippines is about to close a deal to buy Russian planes and entertains the possibility of China helping us in our combat against illegal drugs trade.
The president is quite serious and takes a personal interest in the fight against illegal drug trafficking, saying it has destroyed families and the future of children who fell prey to the menace.
Duterte said there are three million drug addicts and he gets riled by international criticism for his war on drugs, telling the US and EU in no uncertain terms “to go to hell.”
While the President is losing his patience with these countries, many Filipinos are also worried about the fallout from his badmouthing of the leaders of these countries who would withdraw their aid from the Philippines.
I don’t know if we are ready to accept the ramifications of these new alliances especially after decades of alliances with the US and other democratic countries.
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The American presidential campaign is getting interesting specifically when it comes to Republican Party nominee Donald Trump who has a very bad week after the first debate.
After insulting the former Miss Universe by calling her “fat”, Mr. Trump later self-destructed when he told a reporter in an interview long ago that he can take advantage of women because he is a star and thus can grab their privates.
Yesterday morning was the second debate between the US presidential candidates in a town hall format and not a few observers are saying that Hillary Clinton has the upper hand heading into it.
Trump hinted that he will raise the infidelity of former president Bill Clinton to the debate but that was shot down by Clinton’s supporters who said it is not Bill Clinton who is running but his wife Hillary who was the victim.
Some Republicans want Trump to drop the Bill Clinton issue because it is irrelevant to the debate and may alienate Trump from the women voters.
Last week the vice presidential debate was held and Republican Mike Pence came out as the winner because he was very calm and acted as a debater compared to Democratic candidate Tim Kaine who was interrupting Pence every now and then.
Got it from CNN that Trump is bringing along with him the women who allegedly were abused by Bill Clinton on the second debate to distract the voters from the latest accusation on his behavior towards women in his reality shows.
I don’t know if this strategy would work to help Trump win the voters over, especially the millennials.