Tell it to Sun.Star: Duterte and the Marcoses

EVERY time President-elect Rodrigo Duterte does something or makes a statement that does not sit well with some people or a sector of our society, who in turn criticize him, he always defends himself by saying that the over 16 million Filipinos that voted for him gave him the license to do so.

Well, Duterte may be right, but not in all cases.

There is no denying that Filipinos have long been victims of unscrupulous and predatory politicians who lack the fortitude in exercising the political will to stop corruption in government, fight criminality and control the proliferation of illegal drugs in the country.

Filipinos embraced Duterte, who is famous for making Davao City a safe and livable place because of his unorthodox and unconventional leadership, and made him what he is today for the sake of the country and the struggling populace.

We wanted a firebrand as president and, as expected we are seeing changes in the way he wants this nation to go, which seems acceptable to most politicians and tolerable to many Filipinos.

Unfortunately, Duterte failed to understand the past and seems calloused to the sufferings of Filipinos during the dark years of the Marcos regime.

While justice is being done to the lives of Filipinos with Duterte at the helm in battling corruption, criminality and illegal drugs, sad to say that we also see a disappointing and disturbing injustice to the lives of many who suffered the atrocities committed by the dictator during the martial law years.

That Duterte is giving more importance to his relationship with the Marcoses, especially to the losing vice presidential candidate, Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. , rather than being sympathetic and considerate to the feelings of the many Filipinos who to this day carry the scars of brutality inflicted by the dictatorial regime, is painful and disheartening.

Duterte may not know it, but he will have more success and pleasant relationship with the people, if he decides to unburden himself from the Marcos yoke around his neck.

Duterte owe everything to the Filipinos and they deserve more profound respect than what he is according the Marcoses now.--Jesus Sievert

Child labor not bad

What is child labor? if you are looking from the outside it would seem like it looks very bad but if you were that young person that wants to work, it looks very different. Child labor is a situation in which one is forced to work at hard labor and have no say about it.

If a person who is underaged wants to work, who are we to try to block him or her from doing so? Do you know that most people who had to work at a young age becomes better earners for they had learned the value of money from a young age?

Look at all these small businesses run by people from Vietnam, Korea and China. They are today running most of the small business in the western world, for they had learned from a young age.

If we would let young people work as long as its not forced labor, it might do more good than bad. Lets move our employment age to 15 with parental consent and with light duty work and leave the legal work age at 18 years of age.

I was a child laborer when I was young working in a banana plantation in Hawaii and see where I am today.--Alfredo Acopan

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