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President-elect Rodrigo Duterte. Photo: Lyn Rillon
 ith
over ninety percent of the votes already tallied by the COMELEC's
Transparency Server, candidate Rodrigo Duterte enjoys a insurmountable
lead of more than 6 million votes over second-placer Mar Roxas. Duterte
wins by a landslide and will be the 16th president of the Philippines.
So here's the first
thing we ask that Duterte do: disband the Davao Death Squad! Sever all
ties to it, and make it crystal clear to all its members that their
trigger-happy days are over. This should be Duterte's first order of
business the minute he becomes president.
Duterte must
understand that while he was able to play fast and loose with the law,
as mayor of a far-flung city like Davao, as president he must have
everyone around him and under him, tightly reigned-in or it could spell
disaster.
As we pointed out in a
previous editorial, all Duterte has to do is look back at what happened
to Ferdinand Marcos in 1983. Marcos may have had nothing to do with
having Ninoy Aquino killed. It was most likely his underlings, his
cronies and bootlickers in the military—Marcos' own "death squad"—who
must have decided on their own that they were all better off if Aquino
was killed. And after they carried out the dastardly deed, it was poor
Marcos who found himself booted out of Malacañang as a direct result of
Aquino's death.
We say this because as
the country's next president, we honestly want Duterte to succeed. But
if those "death squads" run amok and dead bodies begin piling on the
streets on a regular basis, it will likely turn the population against
the future president and eventually derail the great plans of his
administration.
So Mr. President-elect
Duterte, congratulations! You have been given a strong mandate by the
Filipino people. Like all your supporters, we want to see reforms and
changes implemented as soon as possible. This country has already had
too many corrupt and incompetent leaders, and we are all pinning our
hopes on you. So please make sure that all those who act on your behalf
do so with honesty, sincerity, and most importantly, always stay within
the Constitution and laws of this great nation.
Published 5/10/2016 |
