Duterte Woos Army as Opponents Warn of Discontent in Ranks

Bloomberg

28 September 2016

Five months after his landslide election victory, Rodrigo Duterte can’t stop campaigning. Yet rather than courting Filipino voters who put him into office, he’s now giving out handguns and G-Shock watches to soldiers.

Duterte has given almost half his public addresses as president to a military audience — far more than his predecessors. The 71-year-old leader’s refreshed stump speech includes promises to double troop salaries, improve health care for soldiers and secure modern equipment.

“Clearly he is trying to curry favor,” said Joseph Franco, a research fellow at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore who previously worked for the chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. “Duterte is aware that toying with the AFP would be a very bad idea.”

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