The upcoming 2022 elections could herald a brighter future for Filipinos. Composite graphic: PNL. Photo: Lowy Institute / Getty Images. he International Criminal Court (ICC) appears set to investigate President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs. It looks like the Philippine president has painted himself into a corner yet again. Human rights advocates are closing in, and demanding answers. But Duterte appears to have nothing to say—even his raison d'etre: stopping illegal drugs, has failed. Those drugs are as readily available now as they were before he started his drug war. It's not that no one warned Duterte about his wrong-headed endeavor. No less than Cesar Gaviria, the former president of Colombia tried to offer him some advice. In an article for the New York Times in 2017 titled “President Duterte is repeating my mistakes,” Gaviria publicly warned Duterte not to go through with his planned drug war. Having lead Columbia—the land of deadly drug cartels—during the early 1990s, Gaviria knew what he was talking about. Duterte's equally public response was to call Gaviria an "idiot" for "lecturing" him about the Philippine drug problem. Well, four and a half years after Gaviria penned his New York Times opinion piece, one can now ask, who's the idiot? Most likely not the former Colombian president. He was right all along. Duterte's stubborn, often wrongheaded, myopic perspective has certainly not served him or the country well. As Senator Richard Gordon noted, in a recent YouTube video "nobody talks to you [Duterte] in international conferences" intimating that the Philippine president has become a global pariah. If Gordon's observation is right, this does not bode well for Duterte's upcoming speech before the United Nations General Assembly in New York. For many of his countrymen, Duterte is an embarrassment. For decades Filipinos have pointed to their national hero, Jose Rizal as the embodiment of their ideals—intelligent, well-read, and respected across the globe. Duterte, on the other hand, falls short in every regard, say his detractors. An old Scottish proverb says "you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear." So to expect anything more from the current president will likely be an exercise in futility. Filipinos simply have to move on and elect a new leader in 2022. Someone who will move the country forward, raise the country's standard of living, and put the Philippines on a path towards peace, prosperity, and democracy. So vote wisely fellow Kabayans, and guard against "dark forces" that will try to rig the next election for their own selfish agenda. Published 9/21/2021