The Philippines looks pitiful in its quarrel with China over several groups of islands in the China Sea and East China Sea.

We don’t have ships which are a match for those owned by the Chinese if the confrontation becomes a shooting war.

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The ships we have are not only hand-me-downs from the United States which are of World War II and Vietnam War vintage.

They are also so old they should have been mothballed a long time ago.

David defeating Goliath happened only in the Bible or in movies.

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We need the US now more than ever in our problem with China.

Let’s forget our pride, our sovereignty: False pride was the undoing of many people and nations.

We need Uncle Sam to run to when push comes to shove.

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At this point, only Rodrigo Duterte or Joseph Estrada (should he decide to run again for President) can give Jojo Binay a run for his money.

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Interior Secretary Mar Roxas would suffer a humiliating defeat at the hands of Vice President Binay if the presidential elections were to be held tomorrow.

Let’s talk about why Duterte, the Davao City mayor, is a match for Binay.

He will surely get the Visayan vote or those of Filipinos who speak Cebuano.

Cebuano-speaking Pinoys, who are more regionalistic than the Ilocanos, compose the majority of all the country’s ethnic groups.

Most of the Visayas region and practically the whole of Mindanao are Cebuano-speaking. That’s half of the country already.

We are not even counting the Filipinos from other ethnic groups who will surely vote for Duterte because they admire his guts.

Filipinos like their leader to be a tough guy.

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Now let’s talk about why Duterte could be an excellent president.

He has competence to govern the country.

Running the country is like running a city on a much bigger or macro scale.

I can say without batting an eyelash that Duterte is the best city mayor in the country today.

Duterte has the political will to implement laws to fight graft and corruption.

He would order the arrest of a friend if he saw that his friend had violated a city ordinance on smoking.

If this is the way he deals with a minor issue, how much more on major issues like graft?

If he was able to clean up Davao City of criminals, he can do the same for the whole country.

If he becomes president, there’s a big chance the insurgency problem will be solved because he is in constant touch with the New People’s Army, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Moro National Liberation Front.

Having a genuine heart for the poor, Duterte might be able to solve the country’s poverty which is the root cause of insurgency.

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Now, let’s talk about why Duterte cannot be president.

He doesn’t want to run, period.

No amount of pleading—even from this writer who’s very close to him—can make Rody Duterte run for the country’s highest post.

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Airlink International Aviation College is adamant in punishing its students who didn’t go on an excursion to Cebu by making them report to the school during the summer vacation.

The excursion, which cost each student P28,000, was unnecessary and illegal as it was not included in the schedule of school fees.

The students who went on the Cebu trip were all exempted from the final exams.

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