Granted I don’t pay close attention to Pinoy politics, but that’s the first time I’ve heard a statesman use the phrase “putang ina” in a public, international no less, speech.
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This was just released from Rappler. My friends in the Phil seem to be divided about Rappler with 2 things clear: the older they are, the less credence they put in Rappler, and nobody trusts Maria Ressa, especially after her stint in Indonesia.
Nevertheless, if you are interested in current Filipino politics, this should be interesting (I haven’t watched it yet - it was recorded at 4:30 pm today.
Listen to it last night, and I think Malcolm Cook gave a very clean and straight forward outlook for situations in the South China/West Philippines Sea. I don’t know enough about Maria Ressa, but she gave a pretty decent interview. She didn’t try to steer the topic and managed to stay on point. Even after the conversation veered off a couple times, she was able to bring it back.
It’s frightening to think that Duterte is delivering exactly what he promised during his campaign. It should serve as a warning to those people who are just chucking off Trump’s antics as attention grabbing. The wall, the mass deportation, these kinds of people really believe in the crazy things they say.
As for the Philippines being a proxy to the US and China fight, welcome to the club, Taiwan and the Philippines are on the same boat again. Wonder if the two countries will ever realize just how similar they are.
Another thing that scares me with Duterte is how much he looks like he could be an uncle of mine… Not just his looks, but the also the vibe. Dub the guy in Taigi, swap out the Putang ina with Kan-li-nia, no one would be able to tell he isn’t Taiwanese.
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I don’t know the equivalent in Russian, but isn’t Vladimir Putin known for making similar remarks?
I’m just trying to figure out what the hell is going on now. Why did Duterte knowingly (I assume) destroy any prospect of a meeting with the US? And what was that bombing business about? I doubt the actors and reasons are as portrayed in the media.
Supposedly, “Russians lie even when they don’t have to”. Similarly, Filipinos create a storm of bullshit even when they don’t have to.
Now there are some sources that say that the speech was cut, and that the “adjetive” was not directed at Obama, but at a pesky reporter.
It does note though that Dutarte swears like a Malaysian pirate, all the time. Or a Spaniard: 3 words out of 4 are @$%^&*! 
Though he did apologize but It was really disgrace and lots of fellow country men was not happy about it.
You know, originally he kind of made me think of Mayor Clown Shoes
with a mean streak.
Recently, though, he’s coming across more as Pablo Escobar without the charm.
Mayor Ko saves lives. Duterte boasts about carrying out extra-judicial killings himself to the press. They are nothing alike.
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In case you are interested …
Duterte ordered to cancel next year’s Philippines-US joint exercises.
This was an interesting read. I was not aware of the support Duterte has from Lucio Tan or his admiration of his professor, Joma Sison. For me, it helps keep things in perspective.
Philippine police van drives at protesters to break up anti-U.S. demonstration
Man, was things really this bad in the Philippines pre-Duterte? This whole anti-US protest seems to be encouraged by the language Duterte himself has been using. Was it necessary for the police to drive a van directly into the crowd?
The video is absolutely ridiculous. The Nice terrorist attack comes to mind when watching it.
How can any human being just plough over and over again OVER someone’s body is mindboggling. That it is a cop of any sort of public authority is heartbreaking.
[quote=“hansioux, post:52, topic:89625, full:true”]
Man, was things really this bad in the Philippines pre-Duterte? [/quote]
Yes, but in different ways. A good number of Filipinos react with their hindbrains. Do something they don’t like and they’ll knife you or run you over, then walk away wondering what’s for dinner or if there’s something good on TV. The police are Filipinos, with the gubmint at their back.
Again, that’s the Philippines. Deliberately create a problem, then create a crisis trying to manage the problem.
Just curious, Finley. Do you ever fear for your safety/life spending so much time in the Philippines?
Not exactly. I try not to worry about it. I choose my acquaintances carefully and don’t interact with anybody except on the most superficial level. I rarely express opinions about anything. I avoid the police and officialdom like the plague that they are. What’s scary about Filipinos is that they can be perfectly nice and normal for years and then stab you in the back on a whim, either metaphorically or literally, because of some real or imagined slight. I have a list of stories as long as your arm about people who have been betrayed, robbed, or killed by some acquaintance who was having a bad hair day. However, it’s a reasonably small fraction of the population who operate like that, and after a while you get to figure out who they are. As long as you stay away from them, you’re just part of the scenery.
Well, that sounds like the thing to do in Taiwan when I was growing up.
I think they got the picture wrong in this
But Taiwan pulled itself up and became functional. I mean, the ol country started richer than Taiwan, received same international aid in early development and yet, ended up like Filipinas… Sniff. We can still hope…
Interesting. I had a reaction similar to Hansioux’s. It sounds like life under a repressive dictatorship, ha. I take it that the positives outweigh the negatives if you’re still investing a good amount of your time there. Or is it just more of a state of philosophical resignation?