Kidapawan violence and Duterte’s rise

Think Bits

The violent dispersal of hundreds of farmers in Kidapawan, North Cotabato by police that killed at least one and injured two others marred anew the human rights record of this administration.

There are those from the local government who asserted that the rally of the farmers was instigated by the New People’s Army (NPA), but what I do know is that the farmers rallied to seek assistance from the government due to their losses caused by the El Niño dry spell.

Regardless of what inspired or who supported the farmers, the violent dispersal can never be justified.  The government and the PNP should have been more prudent in the way it handled the protesting farmers.

Unfortunately the police mishandled the situation and provoked violence when the farmers were simply asking for government to give them rice.

Lately the local government blocked efforts of presidential candidates in helping the farmers by way of assistance, and it is very difficult to fathom their refusal since it is inhuman and oppressive.

I think the national government should investigate the violent incident and hold some officials accountable because the Kidapawan massacre has caused another black eye to the Aquino administration’s human rights record.

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An alliance broken and an alliance made. This in a nutshell is the story of One Cebu’s parting of ways with Vice President Jejomar Binay and its decision to support Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte within a span of one month.

I think the alliance between One Cebu and Duterte was expected because the mayor had drawn large crowds in his campaign sorties. In Cebu, his rallies were attended by doctors.

Duterte is getting support from people of all walks of life, and so it was expected of One Cebu to forge an alliance with a candidate who is from Cebu and has the massive support of the masses.

In Binay’s case, the vice president lost valuable support from One Cebu even if he has the support of Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, Rep. Gwendolyn Garcia of Cebu’s 3rd district and Toledo City Mayor John Henry Osmeña.

I am intrigued with the way Duterte’s campaign is going because his campaign stories are shown to be quite huge in social media.

Many people have identified themselves with Mayor Duterte since they want drastic change and decisive action against the illegal drug menace, corruption in government and criminal violence, and they see Duterte as the solution to these problems.

He ranks second to Sen. Grace Poe in the latest Pulse Asia and ABS-CBN surveys and is considered a stumbling block to the presidential aspirations of Liberal Party (LP) standard-bearer Mar Roxas who used to be a friend before the campaign but is now his mortal political enemy.

Duterte’s political future is very bright and the people of the Visayas and Mindanao may decide to vote for him because they are tired of  imperial Manila’s abuses.

And there are signs that the people in the Visayas and Mindanao are starting to decide that they’ve had enough of Manila’s dominance and elect a president who hails from the Visayas and Mindanao.