FRANCISCO S. TATAD
President Rodrigo Duterte is now the most powerful President in the nation’s history—more powerful than the late former President Ferdinand Marcos ever was at the height of Martial Law. This appears to be the confident view of many political observers and well-known CEOs. This is because where Marcos needed to declare Martial Law to impose authoritarian rule, DU30 has done so without declaring Martial Law. He has done and is doing anything and everything he wants to do simply by insisting that his motive is “pure,” and that the end justifies the means. And there’s been nothing and no one to stop him.