Duterte presidency could be concern for US

I am wondering how Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s rhetoric against criminals registers with the United States government, which has been monitoring the country’s human rights problems.

The US state department continues to look into the developments in President Aquino’s promise to uphold human rights and prosecute violations thereof. The United States uses human rights violations by state actors, like the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police, as basis for restricting military assistance.

Duterte’s “I will kill you” message to criminals somehow reminds me of American ventriloquist Jeff Dunham’s masterpiece puppet act, “Achmed, the Dead Terrorist,” which is famous for always yelling, “Silence! I kill you!”

Duterte’s brash talk and possible link with the Davao Death Squad (which the New York-based Human Rights Watch had condemned before) and his relationship with the New People’s Army might stir great concern in the United States if he wins next year’s presidential election. We have every reason to be wary.

—ROMERO R. VALENCIA, vr.romero@yahoo.com