The press, especially the establishment press in the USA etc. jumped on it: Blasphemy!
but of course, he is merely trolling them, and hinting at their hypocrisy.
They are trying to separate Duterte's lower and middle class supporters from backing him, of course.
The latest scandal here is the assassination of a couple of officials, some in our area.
Nothing new with this: being a politicians here is always risky, since political violence is alas common.
But the latest shootings are a bit suspicious: the opposition is pointing to Duterte's war on drug dealers and "dirty Harry" type killings of those who help them but will never be convicted due to a slow judicial system, but now the suspicion is that maybe it is indeed a plot to destabilize him. This (pro business) Manila Bulletin article points fingers at the NPA.
One was a rifle shot from a distance by a sniper, meaning someone trained to shoot, which is why a lot of folks point to a hit squad, probably ex military. But of course, the NPA, which has been sort of decimated in recent years, has a lot of their unemployed ex members who will kill for money. And of course, a lot of fired crooked cops also have that expertise and need money.
However, the usual way to kill the person who dissed you, or whose job you want, is a drive by shooting from a motorcycle rider, so the sniper hit was unusual and raises eyebrows: low level thugs don't have this type of skill.
but of course, even if you find the killings had nothing to do with vigilantes against drugs (two of the officials had no known drug links), Duterte will be blamed because his drug war caused a "culture of lawlessness"....and like the US Democrats, they figure if the cops stop killing bad guys, sweetness and light will break out.
Sen. Bam Aquino said the assassination of Lubigan showed the extent to which violence had become the norm.
“For violence to stop, the government must stop using force. If they keep using violence as the solution to the country’s problems, our society will not be peaceful and safe,” Aquino said.
Read more: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1008295/killings-create-climate-of-lawlessness-lp#ixzz5KiIlfuUu Follow us: @inquirerdotnet on Twitter | inquirerdotnet on Facebook
As for Duterte's "blasphemy": He is trolling the Catholic bishops of course, telling them to stay out of politics or at least get their own house in order.
The bishops here "found their voice" condemning the drug killings and reaped praise from the international press, who usually hates them for opposing abortion.
But Duterte is not amused:
Criticisms like this from the Catholic Church are something that Duterte does not relish. He blasted priests in the past for their inaction on the country's drug problem and for their supposed "hypocrisy."
heh: he must have read Jordan Peterson. (clean your room bucko)
in the meanwhile, only a few of the bishops notice that crime hurts the poor.
They mourn the dirty Harry killing of drug pushers, but not the families decimated by drugs.
The children neglected by druggie parents are usually taken care of by relatives (something that we saw in the USA also), but when the parents moved from their villages into the big cities, these kids end up as streetkids.
Like the US Catholic bishops, who suddenly discover illegal immigrants are being sent home after years of silence when Obama did the same thing. the bishops have found something they agree on: Killing people is wrong.
But you know, the the killings of low level politicians, clergymen, activists, and reporters is not exactly new here in the Philippines.
LINK LINK2 LINK3
Usually only locals and family member "know" who is behind these hits.
But the dirty little secret is that justice is often delayed for years, and often corrupt politicians end up by getting off because some court decides the case has "flaws" or the witnesses aren't around any more.
to take a well known political massacre: Those politicians behind the Manguindanao massacre are still waiting for trial...
On November 16, 2010, the international non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch issued a 96-page report titled "They Own the People", charting the Ampatuans’ rise to power, including their use of violence to expand their control and eliminate threats to the family’s rule.[60] The report links the Ampatuans to at least 56 other killings over the last 20 years, apart from the November 23, 2009, massacre.[61]
LINK... they'll get justice one of these days.
our family knows about using "trial delays" and other tactics to protect big shots who order murders.
and the ex mayor behind the hit on his rival (which killed our nephew ten years ago in the crossfire) was buried in an expensive mausoleum after a big funeral mass, complete with a Knights of Columbus body guard ten years after he ordered the hit:
The bishop can't say he didn't know: The guy was under indictment at the time for ordering the hit, but hey, he was a good Catholic and gave money to the church. (just ignore the widows and children of his victims).
Stories like this, multiplied by hundreds, is one reason the average (non elite) Filipino shrugs with the orchestrated outrage against Duterte.
So do you mourn the druggies killed or do you blame the drug dealers for being the cause of the innocent people killed in robberies, carnapping, home invasions, or by druggie boyfriends?
And the drug scourge is not limited to big cities.
Reports from our farm areas is not good: Kuya reports he has had to fire a lot of our hired farmers in the past few years because they didn't plant and harvest correctly, or would steal part of the crop at harvest time, and often diverted money he gave them (for irrigation and fertilizer) into buying drugs. Sigh.
The last one he "fired" actually was replaced because he had disappeared back to his native village shortly after he badly planted the summer crop of rice seedling. It turns out that he was involved in the drug trade, and two of his fellow drug dealers had been killed by persons unknown recently, so he decided to disappear, probably back to his native town in the Visayas.
But multiply this by hundreds, and you see the problem:
How many families are left destitute because the parents get hooked by drugs and can't hold a job?
How many businessmen lose money (and can't expand their businesses or even go bankrupt) due to drug related crime.
And how many businesses have to hire security guards because of widespread theft, meaning their business expenses are higher than they should be?
Part of the fallout of the drug problem is that when parents are drunk/drugged, the kids have no one to care for them.
Luckily, as in the USA, most of these neglected kids here in rural areas are taken care of by their extended families, but some, especially families who moved to other areas like Manila to get jobs, end up on the street.
and it's not just drugs and bribery that are harming poor people:
Wikipedia notes 1.5 million street kids who are vulnerable to be sexually abused, and many young girls seeking jobs end up as sex workers ("often by crime syndicates").
but in our modern cyberworld, it doesn't stop there:
The Inquirer has another article about the growing cyberporn business, which often includes child molestation in front of cameras.
(Second of three parts)CEBU CITY—Online child pornography has become a “cottage industry” in isolated parts of the country, according to authorities.
Parents are lured by the easy money while some children are left believing that there is nothing wrong with what they are doing since there is no actual sexual contact.
Data from the International Justice Mission (IJM), a US-based nonprofit that fights human trafficking and child exploitation, showed that more than 300 children in the Philippines have been rescued since 2011 after law enforcers stepped up their campaign against cyberpornography.
At least 133 suspects nationwide have been arrested as of April 2018—77 percent of whom were parents, relatives, and close family friends of the victims.
Read more: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1008285/the-cat-and-mouse-game-to-stop-cyberporn#ixzz5KiMll53Z Follow us: @inquirerdotnet on Twitter | inquirerdotnet on Facebook
the local quip about the Philippines: 300 years in a convent and 100 years in
Yup. that sounds about right.
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