‘A thousand memes bloomed, as they say, all heckling and making fun of the cowardice of the President — the complete opposite of his successful image and branding.’
WE all know that Rodrigo Duterte is an unconventional president. Even as Candidate Duterte back in 2016, he captured the attention of many Filipinos due to his unique way of speaking. One observer would put it as uncouth, and another would characterize it as frank. However you chose to view it, it is this shoot-from-the-hip characteristic of his public statements that made such hot copy for media; you just knew that he would utter something outrageous that will send people in a frenzy, whether for him or against him.
And perhaps, his partisans would argue that the President’s spontaneous and very off-the-cuff style of speaking is what endeared him to his political base in the first place.
This style and manner, of course, is appreciated differently when one begins to govern.
We’ve seen in many instances that the President tends to announce certain policies, positions, and opinions perhaps without the benefit of running it through his Cabinet and advisers. That is, of course, his right and privilege. To be clear, he doesn’t have to run his statements by anybody, and can change executive policy at the drop of a hat. Politically, however, it does make for a very chaotic situation where his advisers have to run interference in case the President utters something unexpected in public.
Take this case of the debate challenge issued to retired Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio by none other than the President himself. Quite obvious that Carpio’s scathing critiques of President Duterte’s subservience to China in the West Philippine Sea issue has gotten under Duterte’s skin, which resulted in this O.K. Corral-esque challenge.
Duterte himself said: “Itong Carpio naman, sulat nang sulat ng mga decision para sa kanyang utak lang. Isa ring ugok itong…Bak…Supreme Court justice. Pareho man tayo abugado. Gusto — eh gusto mo mag-debate tayo?”
At this point, you could almost hear a collective scream of anguish from the palace by the Pasig River, as well as the simultaneous slapping of faces to desks. “Why?” they must have said. “Why must he go there?” Though it must be said that the President’s behavior in this case shouldn’t have surprised anyone, especially those who work for him. Even as mayor of Davao City, Mr. Duterte was fond of gambits like this one, as it often asserted and reinforced his brand of bravado.
Unfortunately, Carpio stepped up to the plate swiftly and unequivocally took the President up on his challenge. And, as he did when Waldy Carbonel (as well as Bono Daza, I’m told) dared to take up his challenge to a duel, Mr. Duterte simply did not show up. His acolytes will then proceed to make excuses for him, as they do now. “Nothing beneficial to the Filipino People will come out of it,” they said. “Whatever he says will have an effect on public policy and may be covered by executive privilege,” crowed another. “He’s President and Carpio is just an ordinary lawyer,” tried the other.
Assuming for the sake of argument that all these points are valid — shouldn’t these have been considered by Duterte himself before he even opened his mouth to challenge Carpio?
Or, in true Duterte fashion, it’s just another case of shoot from the hip and never mind later.
I can imagine that his acolytes and allies must have come down in droves, in a bid to prevent the President from embarrassing himself any further. Better to suffer the temporary indignity of backing out than to thrust the President into No Man’s Land with Carpio. Who knows what will happen there?
One wonders, dear millennials and fillennials, what kind of impact this development will have on President Duterte’s “Tapang at Malasakit” brand. The hashtag #DuterteDuwag trended on social media mere minutes after the backing down was announced by Malacañang, and no amount of spinning from his mouthpieces could quell that particular characterization. A thousand memes bloomed, as they say, all heckling and making fun of the cowardice of the President — the complete opposite of his successful image and branding. Oh, how grating this all must be to the man who was called “The Punisher,” to suffer all this heckling and riotous laughter at his expense.
Of course, it remains to be seen whether President Duterte will take a hit in the surveys or not from this debacle. It will, however, magnify the chinks in the armor of the Punisher; he is not as brave or courageous as most people thought. “Umaatras pala,” they will say.
Perhaps a lesson all us voters should take away from this is to really take a deeper look at those who will again court us for our votes less than a year from now. Once again, they will come knocking, promising the stars and the moon. Our collective task is to look beyond the promises made, look beyond the songs and dances, and ask ourselves: does this person deserve my vote?
