Elections outcome: The rule of law or the gun

The greatest upset in Philippine presidential elections this past May 9 has been the phenomenal 90-day campaign by the then little-known mayor of Davao City in Mindanao—Rodrigo Duterte, a one-term congressman but mayor for more than two decades. He rose to national prominence three months ago by being his own true self.

However bombastic, crude and frightening his threats to impose autocratic rule and kill without trial may have been, one thing is sure—it worked and more than 16 million Filipinos approved and voted him in as presumptive President.