Duterte was always a concern to me because of his human rights abuses. Yes, they targeted drug dealers, and drugs went down. They amounted to summary executions. I've seen reports that a large number of innocents were executed by cops, while chasing the drug dealers. But those reports were anecdotal. I haven't seen any reliable statistics (maybe there aren't any?).

Yes, they amounted to EJKs, with all of the attendant problems. And there was one journo trying to keep track, but it's impossible. So it's a combination of increased gun deaths per 100k and overall increased deaths, and I lost track some time ago. I don't argue that it didn't work, because it seemed to. That's not condoning it, but Camobodia tried it and it didn't work. I'm sure someone is writing that Duterte's war was a failure.

I was also concerned about Marcos. While Ferdinand is gone, Imelda is still there. I feared she might get a toe-hold in the administration, and we'd end up with another seizure of power**. But that hasn't happened, and doesn't look like it's going to happen. We were in the Philippines in January, and things seemed to be OK. The Jeeps were still running, even though supposedly they were banned while we were there because they have no pollution controls. Even though we were well outside the touristy areas much of the time, everything seemed calm and safe.

Things do seem to be OK, but with Marcos a certain amount of corruption has returned and people seem to be waiting for Sarah, Duterte's daughter, to get elected and be tough.

Lee Kuan Yu's criticism of the Phils was that they were a soft and forgiving culture. His culture isn't. He got tough with the socialists who caused chaos, but at the same time his government sponsored businesses - and he was tough there, requiring that they make money. Singapore Airlines is one. Lee's dream was to be part of Malaysia, but that failed. The S in Malaysia is for Singapore. There was too much ethnic strife. Malayans don't like Chinese, but Chinese are highly influential. Singapore is partially socialist, but the Brits characterize it as a benign dictatorship. It works, no one disputes that, but they do execute drug sellers who have X amount or more. Punishments for drug use increase in harshness.