Donald Trump and Rodrigo Roa Duterte have reached what is called their Watergate Moment very early in their presidencies.
Watergate is the term that describes a series of clandestine and often illegal activities that led to the resignation of Richard Nixon in 1973. The name “Watergate” and the suffix “-gate” have since become synonymous with political and non-political scandals in the United States, according to Wikipedia. In later versions of political “gates”, they didn’t necessarily result in the ouster of the ruling power but only in a severe crisis that leads to substantial loss of credibility and eventually legitimacy to rule and thus inspiring military plotters.
Trump’s job approval has been eroding since he assumed the presidency on Jan. 20, 2017, hitting a low point of 40 percent on Feb. 10-12, 2017, after a three-day average high of 46 percent on Jan. 23-25, 2017, according to Gallup. His average disapproval rating among various polls is 50.6 percent (as high as 57 percent by Pew Research). Since Trump became president, majority of Americans have not liked what he has been doing.
Duterte’s, meanwhile, keeps steadying, if not rising incredibly. The veteran Davao mayor is the most popular Philippine president today. Duterte’s approval and trust ratings are both at 83 percent during the last quarter of 2016, according to Pulse Asia.
Trump’s Watergate Moment came following revelations Lieutenant General Mike Flynn, before he became the national security adviser, made a phone call to the Russian Ambassador in Washington DC Sergey Kislyak advising him not to react after President ordered on Dec. 29, 2016 the expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats from the United States as part of the sanctions against Russia for alleged US hacking activities. Under a US law, it is a felony for a private American citizen to interfere in US government sanctions against a foreign government.
When the Flynn-Kislyak call discussing the sanctions was leaked on Jan. 12, Flynn denied it. Trump’s press secretary Sean Spicer, also denied it on Jan. 13. Vice President Mike Pence similarly denied it on Jan. 15. On Jan. 23, three days after Trump’s inaugural, Spicer again denied it. However, the then acting attorney general, Sally Yates, whom Trump later fired, revealed on Jan. 23 to
Donald McGahn, the White House counsel, that indeed sanctions were discussed. Flynn’s lying made him open to Russian blackmail.
Trump fired Flynn on Wednesday, Feb. 15, after only 23 days in office. Flynn’s sage is only part of the story.
What is yet to be revealed is who ordered Flynn to talk to the Russian ambassador. Is it true Trump’s campaign staff were coordinating with the Russians for a negative anti-Hilary Clinton hacking during the presidential campaign? Is it true Trump has investments and financial dealings in Russia which is why he is pro-Putin and refuses to disclose his tax returns? Is the US now under a Trump-Putin dictatorship?
Note that because of internet revelations about Hillary in the final weeks of the campaign, Trump managed to win over the Democratic candidate by just 79,000 popular votes in three pro-Democratic states (Michigan by 10,704 or 0.2 percentage points: Pennsylvania by 46,765 or 0.7; and Wisconsin by 22,177 votes or 0.8 percentage points), enabling him to snare 304 Electoral College votes against Clinton’s 227, despite her winning the popular vote by 2.86 million votes—62.980 million (45.94 percent) vs. 65.845 million (48.03 percent). America is the only democracy I know in this world where one becomes president by losing the popular vote.
Trump has replaced Flynn with a much better man, Lieutenant General H. R. McMaster, a fire-breathing war-fighter and free thinker, according to The Economist. “He is stocky, bullishly charismatic and as a young tank commander in the first Gulf war was decorated for his battlefield prowess. After bumping into an Iraqi armored column, Mr McMaster’s troop of nine American tanks destroyed 80 Iraqi tanks and other vehicles without suffering a single loss,” gloats the magazine.
Meanwhile, President Duterte’s Watergate Moment comes with revelations of a retired Davao policeman, Arturo Baririquit Lascañas, 56.
In a press conference held Feb. 20, 2017, SPO3 Lascañas disclosed that he was part of the Davao Death Squad and that he was involved in several incidents of killings during the time of Duterte as mayor for 23 years of Davao City.
The killings included the raid that resulted in the killing of alleged drug lord Allan Tancho, the bombing of a mosque, the killing of a kidnapping mastermind a Mr. Patasaja and his family; the ambush and killing of anti-Duterte Davao broadcaster Jun Pala for a fee of P3 million, and the deaths of his (Lascañas’s) own brothers—Cecilio and Fernando—who were allegedly involved in illegal drugs.
Lascañas’ allegations prompted the New York-based Human Rights Watch to call for an urgent United Nations investigation into the Duterte administration’s illegal drugs killings to uncover ultimately responsibility for those crimes.
“The disclosures also suggest possible motivations for the Duterte administration’s moves to launch a politically motivated prosecution of Senator Leila de Lima, who as chair of the Commission on Human Rights in 2009 launched the only official investigation into the Davao Death Squad killings,” HRW Deputy Asia Director Phelim Kine said.
Outrageous is the killing of alleged kidnapper, Patasaja and his family. He was intercepted in his Ford Fiera in General Santos City, with his wife who was seven months pregnant, their five-year-old son, his 70-year-old father-in-law, and two helpers, a man and a woman.
The six were brought to a Davao quarry. Someone ordered “erase all” and that the killing be “clean.” “Here, evil prevailed,” Lascañas muttered. The entire family was killed with a .22 caliber with a silencer.
The two largest newspapers and this paper headlined Lascañas’ revelations, indicating the gravity of the allegations. Erase all, clean and silencer. Duterte’s options are clear.