Authoritarianism won’t work for us. Only a competent state can lead us to modernity

Davao’s Duterte was wise to withdraw from the presidential polls, though he was rising on the strength of his reputation as the Mindanao “strongman.” Significantly, he has been keeping pace with the survey leaders among ABC voters.

Duterte’s rise reflects people’s dissatisfaction with the corruption of the bureaucracy and the generally poor quality of government. But it’s not “a leader who rules by the exercise of threat, force or violence” that we need; and not only because leaders who govern without constitutional restraints end up unavoidably oppressing their peoples.