On the President’s Orders

Please watch Frontline’s documentary “On the President’s Orders”.  Why is Duterte waging war on his own people? What does it say about the nature of conflict in the Philippines?  What does it say about dictatorship and democracy, authoritarianism and other topics (civil liberties/civil rights)  and leadership covered in chapters 1,4,5, 8 and 12 (or any others)?What kind of leader is Duterte?  What surprised you about this story?

On the President’s Orders Answers

President Duterte is waging war against his own people because he thinks that drugs is the source of all evils. With drugs, people have increased confidence to commit crimes. It affords them greater moral perversity. For Duterte, his anti-drugs campaign is what catapulted him to the presidency in 2016. He thinks that his bloody drug war has received moral ascendancy and legitimacy because of the significant support he obtained in his election