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Friday, October 14, 2016

So You Think You Know Philippine President, Rodrigo Duterte?

Zest Air Seat 4AThose who think President Duterte would launch a verbal attack on the US, UN, and the European Union without a ‘Plan B’ obviously do not know the President well enough. On second thought, it is even possible that Duterte’s word war could be his ‘Plan A’? For those of us who closely observe the President’s moves, we came to realize that his seemingly impulsive actions are actually deliberate.
Let me set the record straight before continuing.
Although I am close to people near the president’s circle; I don’t know the president personally and even those who are close to him will never claim to be able to predict his next move. Why is this? It is because the president likes to remain unpredictable. If he is unpredictable, how can I – or anyone – claim to understand him? To clarify: I don’t claim to understand the man, but we can see the result of his moves and by reviewing his game it helps us understand his game-plan as we study the steps he took to achieve the eventual endgame.
Duterte alone knows the endgame, and in the process he creates diversions and feints to mask his real intentions; that is the hallmark of a true master. A few weeks ago, I about wrote of one of Duterte’s moves which I thought was masterful and I am glad that my assumptions were later reaffirmed by no less than former National Security Adviser Jose Almonte in one of his recent speeches.
One of the obstacles to our economic progress were the three wars being fought:
  1. The communist insurgency.
  2. The separatist movement.
  3. The Abu Sayaff terrorist group.
Duterte The ManBy making peace with the Communist Party of the Philippines, the New Peoples Army, and the separatists, the president was able to use our military resources to concentrate on his fight against the Abu Sayaff Group. Defeating if not containing these terrorists will strengthen the country’s position against the rise of Radical Islam. Mainly, ISIS. The intention of his peace move with the Communists was not clear before, and the President was even criticized for making peace with the New Peoples Army. Although now, it is indisputable that we are starting to see its fruits.
Let us now fast forward to his recent attacks on US, UN, and the EU.
Good chess players understand their opponents strengths and weaknesses, as well as their own, before making their move. And surely the President had taken into consideration how the US, EU, and UN might respond. It’s no secret that the US doesn’t like Duterte, and surely the president knew that the US, & UN would make a weapon of the human rights issue against his anti-Drug campaign so as to make it fail.
A few weeks back, President Duterte made an unprovoked verbal tongue lash at US President Obama, the UN and the EU. The moment he did that, the Yellow Dye #5 just couldn’t not resist the opportunity to make it an explosive issue. They hyped up the story and started raising the alarmist bells predicting the economic downfall of the Philippines. Then out of nowhere the announcement that the President would be opening lucrative trade deals will China came out in the news. The Philippine Star announced that on October 20th. The President will leave for China to discuss trade, infrastructure, and other deals. And with those announcements, who do you think are now salivating over those possible business deals. And the billions of dollars in trade revenue?
In hindsight it looks like the US, UN, and our very own Yellow Dye #5 Cultists played into Rody’s hands. So was Duterte’s word war simply PLAN A. While the lucrative trade deals with China are PLAN B.
The Yellow Dye media hyped up an economic doomsday scenario for the Philippines, and by doing so gave Duterte the blessing to do business with China – a nation who they perceive as the enemy – so as to save the Philippines from an economic downfall.
I think what Duterte wants is for the Philippines to get the best possible deals from both China and the US. By playing the China card against the US, the President can now leverage better arrangements. And that is why I believe that for once, the Philippines has a leader who is not pro-US or pro-China but simply pro-Filipino.

http://thestagnantfilipino.com/2016/10/so-you-think-you-know-philippine-president-rodrigo-duterte/

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