Duterte’s stand-up comedy act (Suca) (Part 2)

At the outset, Duterte served notice that his SONA would be about a radical departure from orthodox methods of running a government. What he could only do during the presidential campaign as outright propaganda, now he could actually practice given the awesome power of the presidency completely in his hands. When, for instance, he said he would kill anybody who would break the law, this time around it is no longer just a threat but a reality. Based on daily reports, the country is deemed to be experiencing extra-judicial killings at the rate of 10 a day since day one of the Duterte presidency. A latest incident in this regard is the killing of 6 men linked to Mayor Rolando Espinosa, Sr. of Albuera, Leyte and his son Erwin, whom the mayor had reportedly admitted to be engaged in the trade of illegal drugs. Before the incident, the elder Espinosa had surrendered to Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Ronald “Bato” de la Rosa, who had threatened to carry out a directive by President Rodrigo Duterte for Espinosa to be shot on sight if he did not give himself up. There has been no admission on the part of the mayor that he was, as alleged by the President, a protector of drug lords in Eastern Visayas. All he did was turn himself in to the police in order to avoid the Duterte order of “shoot on sight.”

“I want to live,” the mayor told the media as the real reason for his surrender.