I WOULD like to apologize to everyone I have called an idiot for believing that Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte deserves to be president of the Philippines in spite of his womanizing, his potty-mouth and his homicidal bluster.
On reflection, there is in all of us a kind of idiocy that causes us to resort to extreme options in the face of intractable problems or severe aggravations. Call it jumping from the frying pan into the fire. Call it suicidal or masochistic. Or call it something we will regret in hindsight. But at the point in time that the idiot in each one of us is ticked off, who the hell cares.
Sluggo Rigor, who publishes and edits the Filipino-American Bulletin, a newspaper in Seattle, Washington, must have thought that I myself had reached the tipping point, when I wrote a column item entitled, May Angal!!!??? Circa 2015.
“May angal?” is Tagalog for “Any complaints?” which is what the neighborhood toughie tells you to your face when he bullies you, knowing you can’t do anything about it.
My piece was a litany of instances of impunity, incompetence and insensitivity on the part of the Aquino administration that have left the citizenry hurling unprintables at the President and his key officials. In each instance, this administration’s response – or the message communicated by its inaction – has been the equivalent of, “May angal???!!!”
Sluggo was so upset himself that he suggested launching a contest that would urge Pinoys in the Philippines and overseas to submit “May angal???!!!” incidents attributable to the Aquino government. In fact, Sluggo started it off with his own long list. I promised him that I would use his piece in one of my columns.
At any rate, the kind of frustration felt by Sluggo Rigor and I and many otherwise intelligent folks has stirred the inherent idiots in us. Some have already succumbed to their idiocy as shown in the latest Pulse Asia and SWS surveys on presidential preferences.
Even assuming that the surveys were flawed, the emergence of Duterte as the first choice even among socio-economic classes ABC (who are supposed to be more financially well off, better educated, more enlightened and better informed) cannot be dismissed. These folks are fed up and don’t care if Duterte is Beelzebub himself. As far as they are concerned, he will at least solve their problems – and let the devil take care of the rest.
They seem to think that Duterte is offering not one silver bullet but an arsenal of silver bullets that will – if we are to follow their logic – extinguish criminality in all its permutations (the drug menace, particularly), cleanse the government of graft and corruption, infuse the bureaucracy with competence and efficiency, provide the business sector with a safe and secure environment in which to grow their enterprises and, as a result, create job opportunities which will, in turn, bring about the much-sought inclusive prosperity that will guarantee a bright future for every Filipino family.
This fantasy is naïve and obviously born out of desperation and Duterte has been milking it, vowing to make it all come true over people’s dead bodies. Take it or leave it. To use an American idiom, it’s Duterte’s way or the highway.
Blinded by their frustration, they fail to see that Duterte’s way will bring the country to the edge, where vigilante justice is the norm. They also fail to see that there are other ways to achieve their elusive goals without giving the funeral parlors a windfall.
Duterte’s admirers have even likened him to Lee Kwan Yew, conveniently overlooking the fact that Singapore never resorted to extra-judicial killings even while being authoritarian and very tough in dealing with official graft and corruption, sending bureaucrats to jail if perceived to be living beyond their legitimate means.
Lee Kwan Yew and his new government also set an example of strict morality, civility and urbanity – a stark contrast to the vulgarity and low-life bluster of Duterte.
Duterte’s fans and admirers talk about “the need to enforce discipline” among the citizenry, forgetting two things: (a) they themselves make up the citizenry and should learn to discipline themselves without a gun being cocked at their temples, and (b) there is a difference between a disciplinarian and an executioner.
As Mayor of Olongapo, Dick Gordon was a disciplinarian. He enforced the kind of civic discipline – including traffic discipline – that we in America automatically observe, like making a full stop at stop signs, even in the dead or night or in the middle of nowhere.
An online write-up about Gordon as Mayor of Olongapo states: “When Dick Gordon was first elected, Olongapo was known as ‘Sin City’ for the rampant prostitution and rowdy night clubs in its infamous Red Light District, populated by GIs from the US naval base in nearby Subic. Under his leadership, Olongapo became a ‘model city’ through his innovative programs such as raising police accountability through ID systems, proper health and sanitation, waste management and the strict observance of color-coding in public transport.”
And then, of course, there’s Gordon’s unmatched track record of raising Subic from the ashes and converting it into a bustling Freeport – through volunteer effort and not at the point of a gun.
Vice-presidential candidate Leni Robredo was right when she reminded Duterte that Naga City, under her late husband, Mayor Jesse Robredo, was considered one of the most business-friendly and livable cities in the Philippines, with poverty and unemployment significantly lower than the national average, with a successful housing program that alleviated rampant squatting, and with greatly improved levels of literacy and sanitation.
Did Robredo have to do it with a death squad? Not at all. He applied governance by consensus, empowering the citizenry through the Naga City People’s Council. For his sterling performance, Robredo received the 2000 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service.
Indeed, without belittling his achievements in Davao City, Duterte does not have a monopoly of effective governance. There are many others who have either matched or surpassed his performance without being vulgar and homicidal, from Albay governor Joey Salceda to former Marikina Mayor Bayani Fernando, to former Puerto Princesa Mayor Edward Hagedorn, to Iloilo Mayor Jed Mabilog, who ranked 5th among the Top Ten World Mayors in 2014.
Vice-President Jejomar Binay who was Mayor of Makati for over two decades, was ranked 4th among World Mayors in 2006, and managed a deficit-free government throughout his entire tenure while providing educational, health care and other social services that became the template for other progressive local executives. And during the incumbency of Mayor Junjun Binay, Makati was one of twenty world cities that matched the stringent 37120 ISO certification in 2014, and one of only nine rated platinum. The certification was given to Makati by the International Organizational Standards of Geneva, Switzerland, for meeting 98 out of 100 indicators intended to measure a city’s social, economic and environmental performance.
With due respect to those who are completely sold on Duterte, his way is not the only way – nor is it the best. ([email protected])
