Edi wow, ikaw na ang magaling, ikaw na lang kaya maging Presidente?”
You’d think that this kind of reasoning would be limited to Facebook comments or Twitter barbs.
You’d be thinking wrong.
No less than the Philippine president and perennial social outcast everywhere outside of the country, Rodrigo Duterte, said as much a few days ago, when he categorically stated that he would surrender police power to Vice President Leni Robredo for six months.
Vice President Robredo, who by the way deserves our congratulations for being a two-time Vice President election winner in the same elections, had commented that Duterte’s war on drugs has been ineffective and needs “tweaking.” VP Robredo may as well have said that Duterte’s war on drugs needs “twerking,” because no amount of tweaking can possibly fix something so fundamentally broken and so breathtakingly lopsided as Duterte’s fake ware on drugs.
Maybe they can go to Sen. Tolentino for some pointers on that “twerking” part.
Naturally, Duterte almost immediately took back his offer, claiming that he never offered to surrender anything. Because, of course, our nationally-elected gas lighter would. It is typical Duterte. Say one thing one day, say something completely different, even polarly opposite, the next day. Or say one thing and then let Presidential Spokesperson Sal Panelo give his “interpretation,” which would be everything except what Duterte actually said.
VP Robredo, for her part, has handled Duterte’s fumbling deftly, pointing out that there would have been no need to pass the buck had Duterte’s war on drugs actually been successful. After all, if Duterte’s war on drugs worked, what would Duterte be giving to Robredo to fix?
I expect Duterte’s propaganda machinery to go into overdrive over the next few days, with spins of how Duterte was so “gracious” in offering VP Robredo a chance to prove herself right (even if she was just echoing Duterte’s own words on how his war on drugs is a failure), or how Duterte’s “laban-bawi” offer was “strategy” to throw the delawan off (which to be fair is plausible; after all nothing throws off rational people than irrational actions), or how Duterte is just the Best President In The Solar System.!!!
Sorry DDS trolls, no Undas vacation leaves for you. Don’t complaint to me over my social media accounts, I don’t make your rules. But hey, at least you get holiday pay.
Perhaps, the most revealing aspect to this whole brouhaha is how easy it is for Duterte to becomes instantly defensive and abrasive when his failures are brought to the fore.
Ultimately, Duterte has no one to blame but himself. It was Duterte who made these ridiculous promises, all within his irrational where-on-earth-did-that-come-from timeframe of “3-6 months.” It was Duterte who kept acting tough and making himself seem every bit the problem solver that he isn’t. It was Duterte who promised heaven for Filipinos. And the DDS bought into the hype and propaganda.
Ironically, it is the rest of Filipino society, the rest of us who aren’t so easily sold on hype, who are the ones now clamoring for Duterte to deliver on his promises.
Yet, whenever we do, the DDS are quick to respond with:
“Edi wow, ikaw na ang magaling, ikaw na lang kaya maging Presidente?”
Sana nga. If nothing else, 20,000 Filipinos, whose only real fault was being poor and defenseless, might still be alive.
