President Duterte has upset the Opposition gameplan once again. It was planning a protest by some Catholic bishops, leftist organizations, human rights activists and Catholic school children whom they had brainwashed to disrupt the president's SONA and gain foreign media attention. It was to coincide with human rights hearings by the US Congress to condemn Duterte of EJKs and with random attacks by NPAs on security forces to hit back at martial law. Joma Sison, who no longer wields control over the NPAs due to his prolonged stay out of the country, is using martial law as a pretext to threaten President Duterte. Well, the president called his bluff and said if it is war they want it is war they will get. We are now seeing a concerted effort by the LP, druglords, leftists, human rights activists, ISIS-supported terrorists, reactionary bishops, oligarchs and big business interests threatened by change, to come together in a final push to dislodge Duterte. I had predicted this would happen.

I say let's meet their challenge headlong and finish this battle once and for all.

The president has a 82 percent trust rating according to the latest opinion poll. The vast majority of Filipinos are behind him. So are the AFP and PNP.

Fully aware of the president's popularity, Congress approved his request to extend martial law till the end of 2017. The vote in the House was 245 ayes and 14 nays, in the Senate 16 ayes and 4 nays.

In Mindanao, the vast majority favor martial law. So do the majority of netizens who expressed their opinion on social media. In fact, they even want it extended to the whole country. Many others want to go further by giving the president revolutionary powers.

As I had written before, giving extraordinary powers to the president is a matter of trust. Judging by his high trust rating at present, I am not surprised more and more people want the president to wield those powers.

I had also said the Opposition would do well not to tax the president's patience. Let them continue with their foolishness and the sledgehammer fall. The Opposition, due to its stupidity, has laid a trap for itself. Sorry na lang. When it plays those kind of games it must also be prepared for their consequences. That is how the cookie crumbles. As the president had warned many times, don't fuck with him.

All credit to Mr. Jose Alejandrino, his article was copied in Benson Bautista's Facebook wall, dated July 23rd, 2017.

https://www.facebook.com/benson.bautista.31?fref=search

susansantiago