Rodrigo Duterte’s Early Presidency

Christian B. Mendoza Speech 30 THX-32018 00308 Prof. Mary Jannette PinzonA Duterte subscriber Critical Essays on Rodrigo Dutertes Early Presidencyby Nicole Curato (editor)Philippine policy-making landscape is always subject to change, with the emergence of conflicting political ideologies embodied and practiced by former and current political leaders. One of the delimitate beacons in the Philippine history was the 1986 EDSA People Power alterationa nonviolent mass demonstration that sought to overthrow the dictatorial governmentn of Ferdinand Marcos. Since then, governance in the Philippines has been consistent with the reformist, albeit elitist, narrative of the liberal democratic regime (Teehankee, 2016), as opposed to the authoritarian regime of Marcos.A shift to other form of government, however, does not necessarily mean that the countrys condition would be change in all aspects. In fact, people in authority urinate failight-emitting diode to deliver on their promise s of initiating much needed reforms to conceive remarkable socioeconomic and political transformations. Therefore, the exoterics petition to bring about drastic solutions to the ills of the country was carry through by the sweeping electoral triumph of a former semipublic prosecutor and long-time mayor of Davao City, Rodrigo Roa Duterte, who now serves as the 16th and current president of the republic. create verbally by several scholars in academic disciplines, A Duterte reviewer endeavors to conceive the type of regime that the country now faces chthonic the Duterte administration. It seeks to establish the factors that led to Dutertes landslide electoral victory in the 2016 presidential elections, and to examine the store and level of support that the public has for his deadly war on drugs, which he vehemently decl ard to be the most pressing issue in the country.Moreover, the book sheds light on the legacy of American Imperialism in the country, and how it became a catalys t or one of the immediate causes to ignite a diversity among Filipino people, who have long been subject to systemic oppressions triggered by the machinations of the judgment class and the culture of elitism that it has instituted.The most striking parts of the book are the obvious manifestations of Dutertes presidential campaign slogan Change is coming. Since his inauguration as the 16th President of the Philippines last June 30, 2016, these manifestations have surfaced in ways that prompted the public to engage in political discourse over all forms of complaisant media.The driving force behind the citizens political participation is that there is someone who finally recognizes their repressed anger towards social, economic and political injustices from which they have been detriment since the prevalence of elitism emanating from liberal democracy.To counter these injustices, Duterte has acutely focused on the obliteration of the illegal drug trade in the country through his polemical war on drugs. The rampant extrajudicial killings executed by screw up police officers and vigilantes, who have no regard for the victims human rights, are world justified by Dutertes portrayal of drug trade as something that poses a major threat to society and national security.Meanwhile, a certain chapter in the book was interesting to read in a sense that it is continuously encountered by people who use various social media platforms. Written by Cabaes and Cornelio, The Rise of Trolls in the Philippines plowes the emergence of online political trolls, and its impact to promoting a democratic media in the country. This chapter also introduces mocha Uson, a key practice in contemporary Philippine social media, who has branded herself as the vowelise of the ordinary people. The opportunity to enumerate the times when she has deliberately spread bull news in social media (Arias, 2017) was neglected by these two contributors.A Duterte Reader enables the readers to be mindful and critical of the affairs unfolding before their very(prenominal) eyes, especially in an era where the proliferation of disinformation, or commonly referred to as work news, has hindered netizens from objectively engaging in political discourse online (Bueno, 2017).The book gives a panoramic view of the Philippine political history, starting from the historic EDSA Revolution to an impending shift to a federal system of government under the Duterte regime, which would certainly leave a long-lasting impact to the countrys political landscape. In addition, the book allows the readers to scrutinize the reasons why some people constantly stress their support for Duterte, or why they should not turn a cheat eye to how Duterte intends to solve these issues.Between the pages of the book is a message same to the one that went viral online last March 2018for the readers to ponder on Kapag namulat ka sa katotohanan, kasalanan na ang pumikit, roughly translating to Once youve ope ned your eyes to the truth, its a mistake to good them again. Based from the plethora of insights that the contributors have provided in this book, the readers should be able to make love this message.The book was written from a third-person point of view since the contributors wanted to discuss the factors affecting the politics of Duterte in an objective manner thus, presenting both sides of the subject accordingly. The readers could somehow agree with what the contributors have stated regarding the several affairs of the country.They could adopt the relevance of the information contained in the book when Duterte delivered his third State of the people Address (SONA) last July 23, 2018. He discussed the topics about different sectors such as businesses, conditions of the OFWs, his War on Drugs, foreign relations, agrarian sector, and tax reforms (Ranada, 2018). Some of the finalize causes of the points highlighted in his speechpersistent intervention of the American governme nt in domestic political and economic affairs, and the incompetence of the previous administrationshave been good analyzed by the contributors.Moreover, it is important to recognize the contribution that the book offers to the public since everything they have included in the book is a product of Dutertes glib public speeches, which hinge on the three primary elements of Aristotles Model of conversation ethos, pathos and logos (Timonera, 2018).As each chapter is written through nationwide research, coupled with an array of trustworthy references, the book could be included in the auxiliary reading materials for students of various academic fields, specifically students of politics or could be used by authors and researchers as their reference material when makeup about certain issues that the book failed to include. Nevertheless, the book is certainly for anyone who wants to fathom this conflicting event in the history of Philippine politics.ReferencesArias, J. (2017). A list o f Mocha Usons fake news posts. Preen. Retrieved from http//preen.inquirer.net/58185/a-list-of-mocha-usons-fake-news-postsBueno, A. (2017). The anatomy of fake news. CNN Philippines. Retrieved from http//cnnphilippines.com/life/culture/politics/2017/10/12/fake-news-anatomy.htmlRanada, P. (2018). Quick point-by-point summary of Dutertes SONA 2018. Rappler. Retrieved from https//www.rappler.com/nation/208050-duterte-sona-2018-philippines-summaryTeehankee, J. C. (2016). Weak state, lovesome presidents Situating the Duterte presidency in Philippine political time. Journal of Developing Societies, 32(3), 1-29. inside 10.1177/0169796X16654594Timonera, P. G. (2018). The rhetoric of President Dutertes speeches and the Aristotelian conception of the rhetoric and public sphere.Paper presented at 25th World Congress of Political Science, Brisbane, Australia. Retrieved from https//wc2018.ipsa.org/sites/default/files/ipsa-events/wc2018/papers/paper-101491-2018-07-01t111647-0400.pdf