The words from the final poem of Filipino national hero José Rizal seem increasingly apt today: “Farewell, my adored Land, region of the sun caressed, Pearl of the Orient Sea, our Eden lost.”

This week, in another striking act of authoritarian idiocy, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte shut down the nation’s largest media broadcaster, ABS-CBN. It’s further proof that Duterte seeks a legacy of shame similar to that of his personal hero, the corrupt 1960s-1980s era president, Ferdinand Marcos.