If I was a Filippino living in the United States, I would immediately self-deport. Not due to the rising tide of nationalism and the ascendancy of the God-Emperor to the Cherry Blossom Throne, but simply to bask in the sheer awesomeness of President Duterte:
At least seven members of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte’s security team and two soldiers were injured in a roadside bombing ambush by suspected Muslim militants. The attack took place ahead of the president’s planned visit to the south of the country, AFP reported citing the president and the Armed Forces.
An explosive device planted along the road detonated when the presidential convoy headed to Marawi, the capital of Lanao del Sur province on the island of Mindanao, the second-largest island of the Philippines. “The truck carrying the president’s advance security detail was hit by an improvised explosive device,” Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said, as cited by Reuters. “There was no firefight.”
Lorenzana said that he advised Duterte to cancel his visit to Marawi, scheduled for Wednesday, as the situation is “still not under control.” The president chose to ignore the advice. Never one to take the easy way out, the combative Duterte said that “The advice was to postpone. I said no, I will go there. And if possible, take the same route,” the president was cited by Reuters, and added that “Maybe we can have a little gunfight here, gunfight there.”
I am confident that President Duterte’s response to the attack will be temperate, restrained, and proportional. Between Putin, Trump, and Duterte, it appears that the nations are beginning to produce strong leaders worthy of the challenge of the times.