Filipinos will suffer from Duterte’s war

Filipinos will suffer from Duterte’s war

Anybody will kill Duterte’s rivals or opponents by accusing him of being part of a drug mafia (‘Philippines drug war death toll at 1,800’, Gulf News, August 24). Such things might bring temporary improvements, but in the near future these extra judicial acts often cause disasters for the country, especially in the long run.

We have suffered from this same ideology imposed by a hardcore military dictator. In the 1980s, because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and in the name of help and support for Afghans, our public supported extremism at that time. Later it brought suffering and now after almost 16 years of continuous battles, we have improved our law and order and gun control again. It was at the cost tens of thousands of lives sacrificed, as it took a long time to change the mindset of a generation born into such ideology.

From Ms Mirza Waqas Baig

UAE

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Opposite effect

In a country ravaged by natural disaster and inexplicable pain and human suffering and loss, the aim should be to enhance the value of life. Killing instead of incarceration will have the opposite effect.

From Mr Jonathan G.

Dubai

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Now it’s a problem?

You really don’t get the point after all. May I remind you that those who were killed are not law abiding citizens? During the previous president’s reign, many innocent people were killed on a daily basis. Most of it was due to drug-related crimes. In the current president’s reign, the people being killed are hard criminals.

People go crazy over what the media tells them. When innocent people were killed, nobody batted an eye, but when criminals pay for their crimes, suddenly humanitarian concerns are on the table. Are we really that naive?

From Mr Lordson M. Destura

Abu Dhabi

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No credit for Duterte

The Philippines getting top marks in migration is credit for the previous president – not the new one (‘Philippines get top marks in migration governance study’, Gulf News, August 24). President Rodrigo Duterte has nothing to do with it, he has only been in his position for two months.

From Ms Jocelyn Ogalinola – Tejada

UAE

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Helping Filipinos

What makes you say the present president did nothing about migrant workers? Did you know that in his first two months as president, his policies on Offshore Workers (OFW) and migrant Filipinos are more helpful than the previous presidents? I’m talking about foreign policies of the past and present presidents.

Who are you to discredit our president on policies for migrant workers where he recently made policies that can help OFWs. He recently overhauled the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA( to help OFWs to get faster services. He just recently helped the OFW in Saudi Arabia to repatriate and uphold their rights to receive their benefits. He just waged a war on illegal recruiters who are involve in human smuggling and recalled some diplomatic government officials who are not performing their duties.

So tell me, does Duterte get no credit?

From Mr Nolito Halos Morden

Dubai

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Shaking hands with the devil

Syria’s President Bashar Al Assad is an evil leader (‘India throws its weight behind Syria’s Al Assad’, Gulf News, August 24). He killed his own people and now India supports him. We are shaking hands with the devil.

From Mr Saif Saeed Abdul Rahman

UAE

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Rents will drop more

Rents are already overinflated, supply is outweighing demand and with the dropping price of oil, the job market is tight (‘Dubai rents continue to fall in July: new data’, Gulf News, August 24). Until these factors are balanced out, rents should continue to drop. Landlords should be fined for attempting to increase the rent above the Real Estate Regulatory Agency (Rera) index value of the property.

From Mr Cam McDonald

UAE

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Affording increases

It seems that every month one family in my building is leaving because the landlord keeps asking a 10 per cent increase for renewal as per Rera index.

From Mr Tariq Anwer

UAE

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Problems can be solved

The recent move from Indian legal experts favouring the abolition of suicide attempts was a welcoming one (‘Legal experts favour abolition of law against suicide attempt’, Gulf News, August 22). Most of the suicide attempts are due to financial stress after borrowing money and paying high interest rates. The government should monitor the private lenders over charging higher interest rates to the common people, farmers and others. The main cause of the suicide attempts are borrowing, a failed love or cast discrimination. Every citizen wanted to live, but due to pressure beyond their control, they tend to take a fatal decision. I am happy this move has come from experts, it will help people who failed in some aspect of their life to realise it’s not the end.

From Mr K. Ragavan

Bengaluru, India

Security using ATMs

There were many reports these days on the fraudulent activities in ATMs, especially those that have happened recently in the Indian state of Kerala. On my recent visit to Kerala, I was surprised to see the increase in the number of ATMs across the state, some of them with inadequate security. In this context, I have a few suggestions to minimise the robberies of these sorts.

Why can’t the central agencies, such as the Reserve Bank of India, directly take up the responsibility of installing ATMs for all the banks? Instead of keeping separate machines for the numerous banks, we may go for A single machine that can be operated by the customers, irrespective OF the banks, as all the machines do the same operations. This will reduce the number of machines and can effectively tighten the security of such machines.

Late night operations of the ATMs should be disabled. Those who require money, may withdraw the same in advance. More online operations should be encouraged with enhanced security for the online transactions.

In addition to the pin number we use for the withdrawal, make it mandatory to enter a one-time password that can be sent to the registered mobile phones for getting cash directly using the ATM.

Above all, the public should have general awareness on the overall security measures that should be followed while using an ATMs.

From Mr Rajeev Madhavan

Sharjah

So many loopholes

I totally agree with Mr Roy Simon, it is very difficult (almost impossible) to avail of the so-called Credit Shield benefit upon losing a job (‘Complaint: Job lost and can’t claim credit shield’, Gulf News, July 14). This so-called Credit Shield has so many loop holes allowing banks to find innumerable excuses not to pay the customer.

My husband had a similar experience wherein over the years we had paid close to Dh13,000 in Credit Shield payments, but when my husband actually lost his job and we wanted to avail of this benefit, the banks only made us run pillar to post and we finally got nothing.

Sadly, the banks have no transparency and they exploit the customer. We as customers have nowhere to look for help. Our experience wasn’t with the same bank as mentioned by Simon, but the outcome was the same and we got nothing – not a single penny from the bank.

Please, if you are paying for a Credit Shield with the expectation that you are protected in case of unseen circumstances, please make sure you are putting your money where you will get it back.

From Ms Pearl DeSouza

UAE

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