Int'l political commentator praises Duterte: 'He truly cares for the Philippines and all the Filipinos'

 

“I don't want to sound taking sides, but as a political scientist and observer I can clearly say that today the Philippine for the first time in decades has a good leader that truly cares for the Philippines and all the Filipinos.”

This is what the Canadian political scientist Amir Assadollahi stated in his Facebook account as he closely observes the politics in the Philippines. Assadollahi said that within the span of one year, the Duterte administration has realized great achievements in the current and emerging problems of the country. He also noted that there were corrupt officials who were not happy with what Duterte has been doing.

 

Assadollahi also said that Duterte has respect for the transparency and democracy, understands deeply the history and the politics and is not hungry for power, and he knows what his people has been going through. “I see him as a true leader, one that is not egocentric and takes full responsibility for everything, unlike the past administrations! "Duterte is eyeing to issue an order to prohibit the display of his framed photos in all government offices," saying "he wanted government offices to display the portraits of heroes instead." To me that is a sign that shows he is better than the previous executives, and that is what all Filipinos should focus on!”, he added.

Assadollahi stressed out that it was only Duterte who addressed the pressing concerns of criminality, illegal drugs and corruption. He also pointed out that the rebels should realize that Duterte has done what the past administrations failed to do, and that is to listen to the arguments of the voiceless. It was in Duterte’s administration that the leftist handled a cabinet position.

According to Assadollahi, the problem with the rebels became worse when the past administrations ignored them and did not spared a time to communicate. He encouraged the rebels to be open for peace talks to the administration no matter how long peace talks will last. That the rebels should see the reality since they have been trapped with ideologies that their forefathers fought for.

“The interesting thing is that the minority corrupt and the criminal seat of the government see that as an opportunity to use those rebels for their own cause. Sadly, those rebels are stuck in a time bubble and too power hungry that cannot see they are being played on.”

 

Read full post below.

The Dog Mentality

"Somehow some people have stuck in a time bubble and cannot pass through the old problems caused by the Cold War Era and have lost touch with the reality of today"

Commentary: Opinion / Politics

You see, when ideologies tend to hold you back without doing a reality check, then you end up finding yourself with some old people who cannot let go of the past treacheries that they were caught up in between and the young generation that is either brainwashed by old people's ideologies or too lazy to do a full study about the past! Yes, that is someway an oversimplification of the reality of today, but somehow it is true since changing mindset is a challenge for the old people with fixed ideological values, as the saying goes "you can't teach an old dog a new trick," and when the dogs get old they lose the power they have over the pack of dog they lead, and the younger dogs fight to show who is the alfa, and we see that a lot in conflict driven regions of the world. I call that "the dog mentality." It is a form of struggle for power, and it has nothing to do with justice or being righteous.

I don't want to sound taking sides, but as a political scientist and observer I can clearly say that today the Philippine for the first time in decades has a good leader that truly cares for the Philippines and all the Filipinos. They call him the father or daddy, in which shows the love the overwhelming majority of the Filipinos have for their newly elected leader. After one year in office he certainly has shown has achieved great things, though a handful of corrupt and criminal minority seat of the government are unhappy regarding those achievements.

In my opinion, Duterte truly understands history, politics and law very well, he has respect for transparency and democracy, has even higher respect for law and order, and unlike the previous administrations he is not hungry for power, but most importantly he knows about the suffering of the people and wants to bring peace and order to the Philippines through cooperation by a truly honest intention to unify the nation and the Filipinos as one solid nation through reforms and sustainable development as well as though law and ordure under true justice and through transparency in government and businesses. I see him as a a true leader, one that is not egocentric and takes full responsibility for everything unlike the past administrations! "Duterte is eyeing to issue an order to prohibit the display of his framed photos in all government offices," saying "he wanted government offices to display the portraits of heroes instead." To me that is a sign that shows he is better than the previous executives, and that is
what all Filipinos should focus on!

Duterte wants the better future for the Philippines and Filipinos, the same things that the rebel factions have been fighting to gain in those poverty and crime stricken region. Those rebels, just like Duterte himself, want justice and wanted to make their voice heard, but before Duterte there was no one in the past administration who truly cared to address the issues related to poverty and crimes, so they took up arms and consequently that action divided the nation apart and gave more room for lawlessness, criminality, the proliferation of illegal drugs and expansion of corruption (the very first things those rebels have been fighting against for decades)! However, it is now the time for peace settlement under the Duterte Administration, however it seems like the old leaders who are leading the rebels from outside and pulling the stings, somehow either are more hungry for power or lost control of the command structure under them who are younger and have more ambitions for power who are being manipulated just
as the way they were being manipulated once!

The rebels need to realize that it is no longer 1970s nor it is 1980s and certainly it is not 1990s, but it seems like certain people still stuck in what I call as a "quantum time bubble" (a "False Vacuum" https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_vacuum ), as they are stuck in a vacuum of time with a false sense that the way to achieve things is through disorder! It is 2017, and Duterte is elected by the overwhelming majority, and he has taken many initiatives to show he is following the will of the people and giving voice to the voiceless. Something that the previous administrations avoided doing.

While for the very first time in history of he Philippines in decades we see that the new administration of the Philippines is very democratic, as "Duterte released from prison major rebel leaders, including the Tiamzon couple, who have been the de facto chiefs of the communist movement in the Philippines in recent decades."

"In an unprecedented move in Philippine history, Duterte also offered several cabinet positions to communist-leaning individuals, who are now in charge of social welfare, agrarian reform and labor departments."

"To expedite the peace drive, Duterte also introduced a new modality into the process by agreeing to discuss and negotiate several areas of disagreement simultaneously."

Those moves and many other government initiatives showed their openness to negotiate and end the unnecessary conflict that has been crippling the Philippines for decades, in which I might add is a foriegn driven and foriegn supported conflict and aimed to divide the nation through ideological differences rather than brining people together through democracy and unity. I don't believe what rebels doing is the right approach in nowadays as today the Philippines has a wise leader and not a poppet and corrupt state figurehead like the past three decades. In my opinion if all those rebels unite with the new democratic government (Duterte Administration), they could achieve their objectives through democratic process and discussions, in which will make the Philippines stronger and will strengthen the peace and security in the Southeast Asia region by becoming a model for other countries in the region with same or similar problems. Federalism is the way to go to achieve that, and the government has already a vision
on how to achieve that, and if Canada was able to create its Federation to fight against the bigger threat and keep its unity for 150 years, then the Philippines with much longer history can definitely create a much better model of federalism than Canada for themselves, one that would fit for the Philippines and its unique cultural mosaic and geopolitical location.

The opinion piece argues of the three reasons why the "negotiations with communist rebels have bogged down."

"First, intermittent clashes between rebel groups and the military have raised concerns over whether the communist leadership is fully in control of its rank and file as well as regional commanders."

"Second, there is still stiff opposition within the defense establishment, particularly among leading officials in the military, to what they perceive as excessive concessions to the rebels, who have demanded the release of a growing number of their jailed comrades in recent months."

"Third, the communist rebels oppose the government’s demand for a comprehensive ceasefire ahead of a final binding agreement, suspecting this could be used by the military as a pretext to infiltrate their areas of control."

What I see is a lot of mistrust and lack of initiation by the rebels after many decades of betrayals, but it is time to sit and talk, and those talks may take long time, but talking is better than fighting uselessly. Being a rebel to a cause means to be in touch with reality, and the reality today is that you can be stronger under unity and through federalism in the Philippines, but you have to keep your mind open for the future and change, because you cannot live in a "quantum time bubble" as I said by living with ideologies in a "false vacuum" - such way of thinking only removes the public trust and make the rebels look they have a lost cause. The interesting thing is that the minority corrupt and the criminal seat of the government see that as an opportunity to use those rebels for their own cause. Sadly, those rebels are stuck in a time bubble and too power hungry that cannot see they are bing played on.


Amir Assadollahi

A Canadian Political Scientist / Commentator (just in case the name clouded the judgment of some readers!)

Source: Amir Assadollahi

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