Technically the campaign period for the 2016 presidential elections has not started yet, but even now the Philippines is seeing the candidates make their presence known on print media, broadcast media, social media, and other forms of communication. Among the candidates who are seemingly attracting the most attention nowadays are Liberal Party (LP) standard bearer Mar Roxas, and Davao city mayor Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte.
Both Roxas and Duterte have their own collections of sound bites, quotable quotes, promotional material, statements of “plans” and other things to keep them in the consciousness of the voters. I guess the term “competing for market share” is somehow appropriate in this context.
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The results that each of them has gotten, however, have been wildly different. In Roxas’s case, it seems that the more he opens his mouth, or appears in media, the more he turns off the voters. Duterte, on the other hand, can pretty much say and do anything at this point, and he’ll still have supporters gushing over him and hanging on to every word that he says.
Why does Mar Roxas get ridiculed for what he says and does, while Digong Duterte does not? The simple answer is what leadership guru John Maxwell calls “The Law of Buy-in”.
The Law of Buy-in simply states that: before people buy into what you are presenting to them, they have to buy into you first.
What makes people buy into someone? Credibility. If we were to summarize all the factors that word would most definitely be one of those used.
To a growing proportion of the electorate, Mar has simply lost whatever credibility he had in the first place. People will forever associate him with the bungled and politicized government response to typhoon Haiyan (“You are a Romualdez and the president is an Aquino”), his utter cluelessness with the Mamasapano incident (and his usage of the non-word “misencounter”), for example. As if that weren’t enough, he has made statements in interviews that rubbed people the wrong way. How can anyone forget one of his statements about the bullet-planting scheme in Manila International Airport (“Kung nagpasok ka ng contraband sa airport, paano naging problema ng gobyerno ‘yun?”), and his “isteep by isteep” comment which earned him the ire of the Bisaya-speaking populace who perceived him as making fun of their accent.
Digong, on the other hand, has earned and continues to earn credibility due to the results he has gotten in Davao. Davao residents have nothing but praise for him and the way he applies an iron fist to tackling crime within his city. Whether or not one agrees with his methods (Etta Rosales from the Commission on Human Rights certainly doesn’t), one can’t argue with his success.
A big part of what forms credibility is an intangible called authenticity. It is this authenticity that enables people to form some sort of connection with you. Consequently, once this connection is formed, it is what enables people to buy into you in the first place.
Mar Roxas, quite simply, appears inauthentic in the eyes of the people. He is trying to be something he isn’t. He’s trying to appear as if he relates to the common tao when in fact he’s a haciendero, a member of the landed oligarchy here in the Philippines. Parang pilit ba. As a result, anything he tries to do makes him look awkward and condescending. In addition, as a friend of mine said, nagmamalinis siya (he’s trying to make himself look squeaky clean, or he’s trying to wash himself of his stink). As a result, any picture of him doing everyday things will merely cop him more ridicule.
Digong Duterte, on the other hand, is perceived to wear his real self – warts and all – for the whole electorate to see. Depending on one’s perspective, he will be seen as “merely being honest” or “unabashedly and unapologetically boorish”. He is not afraid to do in public what many Filipinos do in private anyway – be it pepper his sentences with cuss words, or admit unreservedly about the number of women he has at any given time, or to make passive-aggressive and/or provocative statements left and right.
Perhaps we can say, then, that Filipinos have developed an authenticity and bullshit detector, however crude one may perceive it to be (hey, it doesn’t work all the time, look how that worked out with current president Benigno Simeon “BS” Aquino). Mar just makes it ring out loud; Digong does not.
As a final note, perhaps something we can look at, that is in a way related to credibility and authenticity and making a connection, is what Mar and Digong induce in the electorate.
Duterte seems to induce a repressed desire in Filipinos to take the law into their own hands and eliminate those whom they find undesirable for whatever reason, and those who disagree with them.
Mar, on the other hand, induces vomiting.
And now the current chapter in their head-to-head battle is now over myths. Mar is asserting that Davao’s safety has been a myth, while Digong has been hitting on whether Mar can really considered a graduate of Wharton. They’ve even thrown challenges at each other to engage in a sampalan (slap fight).
Philippine politics may not be much different after six years under the Aquino administration, but it has definitely lost something again. In the previous election, competence and qualifications were thrown out the window. This year, it seems that manners, conduct, and common decency will be the ones to leave.
More popcorn, please.
А вы, друзья, как ни садитесь, все в музыканты не годитесь. – But you, my friends, however you sit, not all as musicians fit.
If Mar Roxas , is a graduate of the Wharton School of Business, why is he so dumb?
Maybe, he graduated at the bottom of his class. The Dude has no common sense. He is a renowned Ass KIsser of Aquino.
All he did as a government official was failures. The results of his works are failures. Mar Roxas management approach, produced negative results.
He did not contribute anything in his tenure, except his large ego to succeed Aquino. And, continue the evil works of Aquino. The “Tuwid na Daan” , made the Philippines, the Basket Case of Asia.
Hi Haydie!
Nice to see you make a comment that adds no insight to the discussion. We have come to expect as much from you, and it makes us laugh. Roxy Boy might be an incompetent-just like you-but the difference is that he’s made you his little bitch and you, well, you’re Roxy Boy’s little bitch.
So please, keep being a hot-headed little bitch for all of us here: we’re too busy looking good and enjoying the show.
Oh, and bring us some popcorn while you’re at it, you little bitch!
You are the Ass Kisser of Mar Roxas.
You two little bitch should stick to the topic and stop kissing each others ass.
@Rolland Torres:
I may be incompetent, like Mar Roxas. However, I am sure, I am not a Thief, like him. Mar Roxas made the Typhoon Yolanda Relief Funds disappear in thin air.
Even to this time, the people of Leyte, where the fund is to be used, have no houses, basic necessities, etc…because Mar Roxas Stole the Typhoon Relief Funds.
Little kaloy,
Pinoy please, if you’re going to write in English, at least have the good grace to do it correctly. From what we can see here, you’re a dumb bitch with no sense of grammar. But really, you’re just too funny: it makes us all laugh to see a monkey like you fuck up the language so spectacularly. Keep it coming; we’ll be right here, laughing at you.
At least you got my message right even my grammar is not correct
Mar Roxas like Grace Poe is a traitor
Studied in the US …
Claimed to have graduated in Wharton …
Claimed to have worked as investment banking executive for 7 years …
Mar Roxas invested his financial portfolio in Chinese small and mid cap
Mar Roxas returned to Philippines after trying 7 hard years as investment banker after realizing more money can be had in one year in the Philippines than 7 years as investment banker in the U.S.
IT IS FUN IN THE PHILIPPINES.
If Grace Poe is DQ’ed
Filipinos are left with Du-30, Binay and Mar Roxas
If Du-30 is DQ’ed,
Filipinos are left with Binay and Mar Roxas
Between the two,
I prefer Mar Roxas.
If Mar Roxas self-DQ himself because of falling numbers
Filipinos end up with Binay as uncontested President
Binay’s number will shoot all the way to the bank.
And the loser?
Of course, The Filipinos!
Filipinos are naturally losers.
You forgot to include Sen. Miriam Defensor- Santiago.
Why Filipinos should vote for Mar Roxas
GRACE POE is definitely absolutely lying about her residency. Numbers do not lie, people do
DU-30 decides who lives who die without due process
BINAY they claimed he stole but they cannot prove it. Filipinos should stay clear from Binay until proven otherwise
Filipinos are left with MAR ROXAS. Mr. Nice Guy. Mr. Clean. Wharton. Investment Banking Executive in New York. Annointed by Benigno Aquino as his SUCCESSOR. OMG! SUCCSSOR! WoW !!!
There is a glitch, though! KORINA SANCHEZ !!! I do not like her. She’s sleazy shady. If I do not like her you should not, too !!!
I have never been wrong in my life. So you should trust me and my instincts.
Two extremes, both questionable. Filipinos seem to like extremes, and not like middle ground.
Roxas is an asshole. Plain and simple. Everyone knows it.
Mar Roxas is a Thief. He stole the Typhoon Yolanda Relief funds. He will steal thru: DAP , PDAF, Pork Barrel, etc..if he will be elected President. Aquino is a Thief, Mar Roxas his sidekick is a thief, also.
The big question is- which should the people choose:
A) a thief, or
B) a thief-killer
Isn’t murder a bigger sin than robbery? Well not so fast…
It depends. If what was stolen was a billion pesos of relief goods that led to the death of a hundred starving typhoon victims, then stealing is a weightier crime.
mr. kit tatad, why don’t you just lobby for free hospitalization and medicines for pilipinos whoever will be the next president of the philippines instead of being an attack dog for grace poe. grace poe is born in the philippines and whoever her parents are, japanese, chinese, etc, she’s a natural born pilipino born in philippine soil. she passed her 10 years residency more than that since birth preceding ‘such’ election before she went to the US for further education. do not take out the word ‘such’ as in ‘preceding such election’ in the constitution. she is the change every pilipino is longing for including you.
Filipino president with American first gentleman And American citizen children….only in the Philippines
Prof. Contreras’ analysis of the popularity of the 5 candidates is one of the most accurate:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XT-8iJojTo
“na-cucutan ang mga tao kay …”
“anong klaseng lason ang gusto mong inumin?”
“sawang sawa na…”
When you’re socially awkward, you’re isolated more than usual, and when you’re isolated more than usual, your creativity is less compromised by what has already been said and done. All your hope in life starts to depend on your craft, so you try to perfect it. One reason I stay isolated more than the average person is to keep my creativity as fierce as possible. Being the odd one out may have its temporary disadvantages, but more importantly, it has its permanent advantages.