President Rodrigo Duterte poses with a military assault weapon Photo: governance.neda.gov.ph emember the 1965 hit musical “The Sound of Music?” Just as her superiors in the abbey worried aloud about Maria, we too have serious misgivings about our current president Rodrigo Duterte. As best we can deduce, he is not cut out for the job. Four years into his six-year term, he has little to show in terms of the country’s progress and development. Instead, he has managed to terrorize the citizenry because of his poorly thought-out and chaotically implemented war on drugs. Sadly, illegal drugs are as readily available today as they were four years ago. All Duterte managed to do was kill-off thousands of poor, defenseless drug addicts, while the wealthy triads, their pushers, and dealers remain mostly unscathed. Listening to Duterte’s speeches, one is subjected to a rambling stream of often incoherent thoughts—unless he is reading a prepared speech. One can assume that his thought processes, as well as his steps in problem-solving, are disjointed as well. The most fitting analogy of Duterte we can make is that of a senile old family patriarch who is tolerated by his friends and family for his coarse language and crude behavior. In most cases, such a patriarch’s authority will have long been curtailed by his relatives or those close to him. Unfortunately, in Duterte’s case, he still holds the reins of power. This makes him unpredictable and dangerous. Wittingly or unwittingly, Duterte is doing significant damage to the country—damage that may last long after he is gone. The country’s reputation, for example, has already been tarnished. Long known as a land of smiling, friendly people, the Philippines is now the land of extrajudicial killings and vulgar speech. Filipinos deserve better; a lot better. Members of Congress and the Judiciary need to grow a backbone. They need to stand up to, and rein in this president who is behaving more and more like a despot. Filipinos should have a leader they, and the rest of the world can look up to. Published 2/8/2020