The recent media attention on the APEC and ASEAN summits has been a welcome reprieve from all the relentless energy- and time-wasting Senate investigations and hearings that front-page-hungry grandstanding lawmakers and politicians have been battering us with all year round. At least we get a break to see our president with the biggest who’s who in international politics.
Two goals that Filipinos strive for in life are
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- to gain respect and
- to attain a convenient/comfortable life.
And these are the very things President Duterte has been delivering at a heated pace since he came to power.
Respect here is not just from among fellow Filipinos, but moreover that in the eyes of the international community. Seeing our president rubbing shoulders, talking eye-to-eye, and shaking hands with the world’s most powerful leaders: Trump, Abe, Xi and Putin, just makes one proud to be Pinoy these days. It even makes us wonder and dream of the possibilities – could we as a nation become one of these superpowers some day? Well at least Trump thinks we’ve got “location, location, location!”, the three rules in starting a brick-and-mortar business.
A move to a more convenient life is most evident in his feverish push to erect much needed infrastructure (build, build, build campaign) across the country. We are finally seeing the fulfillment of our dream of having a train line (Japan-sponsored subway) connecting the main international gateway (hopefully to be renamed back to MIA) to the city center. Visitors will begin to respect Metro Manila as a functional city at par with those of the rest of our tiger neighbors.
Having tasted the international limelight and favor with Duterte’s brand of tough leadership and strategic diplomacy as well as seeing hard-earned taxes go into tangible empirically verifiable highways, bridges and rail tracks, Filipinos sense that change has indeed come. It now becomes increasingly difficult to see how any of the Yellows can even hope to get reelected in the next round of elections. We still get reminders of BS Aquino’s incompetence as he makes “palusot” and does finger-pointing over his gross mishandling of the Mamasapano debacle. Will anyone in his/her right mind still vote for the likes of Yellow-feathered Bam Aquino, Sonny Trillanes, and Riza Hontiveros?
Anyone who has finally tasted living in a luxurious princely estate will by no means entertain the idea of ever going back to living in the slums as a pauper surviving on pagpag. With every point gained by Duterte in his fight to give the best living conditions for his people, the more Filipinos get revolted by the thought of being led by another incompetent Aquino or shameless Liberal Party politician again.
Recall Ninoy Aquino’s jab at the infrastructure that Marcos built: “makakain ba ng mga tao ang mga infrastructure na yan?” It’s a shame someone with that kind of mentality devoid of common sense is erected a statue and venerated as a hero.
If anyone in Congress moved to have the EDSA shrine demolished and replaced by a more worthy emblem of heroism such as one honoring the fallen SAF44 who were abandoned and left to be massacred by Mr. “stand down” BS Aquino, I bet hardly anyone will oppose.
Finally President Duterte has dispelled all fears of Martial Law, the erstwhile bogeyman the Yellows loved to dangle in their “Never Again” scare tactics just to keep their Yellow tale alive. They can no longer draw a huge crowd for an anti-ML rally, given the fact that our soldiers and policemen empowered by ML liberated Marawi to protect our people rather than commit the abuses and atrocities the Yellows always feared would happen. In agreement with Enrique Razon‘s keen observation on dictatorships, Filipinos now realize than iron-fisted leadership brings results – and fast.
Having someone with common sense at the helm will definitely help turn the tide in the war against incompetence and corruption which were allowed to flourish and plague us these past 30 years of Yellow rule. Eventually, it is good ol’ common sense which will usher in the respect and comfortable life we have longed for. Common sense and integrity (rather than noisy self-entitled demands for respect and rights) will trickle down from the top to the lowliest citizen of the country – that’s how dysfunctional cultures get changed.
Zealous revolutionary advocate of bringing back common sense for the common good in a land of dysfunctional and delusional zombies.
Ninoy Aquino, Jr. is not a hero. He is a fake hero; a political opportunist and a traitor to our country. It is shame to erect him a statue. It is even more idiotic, to build a shrine of EDSA, a phony revolution, perpetuated by the Aquino Cojuangco political axis, to keep them in power .
At least, Pres. Duterte, has now the respect of international leaders. A respect gained from both powerful leaders, like Russia’s Pres. Vladimir Putin and U.S. Pres. Donald Trump, is a big accomplishment of Pres. Duterte. I congratulate him, for doing good work. I also congratulate Foreign Sec. Alan Cayetano and Palace Spokesman Roque, for doing a good job. All those who worked hard to make this APEC summit a success, deserve my appreciation. Thank you for making our country recognized in the international community…
The APEC summit was a success; inspite of the trouble those “Hakot Demonstrators”, did, during the APEC summit. The AquinoTards, do not want our country to progress !
this guy has the ‘RESPECT’ of who? What do you expect the leader of a country to do when facing the leader of the host country? it is a far cry from ‘RESPECT’ and more like a mere ‘Formal Cordiality’ between leaders that need to seem civilised when the eyes of the world are upon them.
One can be cordial and respectful at the same time. That I believe was what these powerful world leaders accorded PDigong during the ASEAN. If they would have wanted to show disrespect instead, wouldn’t they have not opted to boycott and not come at all? After all they have their reasons for not attending. And who would blame them? We have a “killer” President. But, they came, with full regalia. If that is not respect, I don’t know what is.
RIGHT, SURE, OK…..
Its nice to dream,I guess. BUT the Philippines is a laughing stock country of the entirety of S E Asia and has been for decades now. The country could have been and probably should have been(but ISN’T) a powewr-house but the fact that a handful of politicians stole everything that wasn’t nailed down has seen to it that the country remains a shit-hole mess…. and this has been the sad reality of the situation for decades as well.
RESPECT ? OK, sure, but the country is far from anything but a 3RD ,bordering on 4TH, world country.
And since when did the Philippines become the laughing stock of Southeast Asia? PDigong’s Administration? And it’s ok for you? Are you a Filipino?
since the late 1970’s…and its only gotten worse since then, there is no modernity in most of the country….many still have no in-door plumbing …..need I keep going? 30%+ of the populace lives on less than $2/day…I can keep going…..the standard of living is on par with Bangla-Desh(BANGLA FRIKKIN DESH !)…..Filipino’s living abroad identify themselves as anything but Filipino’s……I can keep going……
all of this, and much much more, could have been(and should have) prevented as the country had every opportunity to become a nation like Japan after WW2…BUT NO !!!
I don’t want to burst your bubble, but in my opinion, and based on some personal readings from respectable sources (and whether you agree with me or not), the Philippines reached its golden age of infrastructures and economic boom in the late 1970’s towards the early 1980’s, during the Marcos martial law years. Our country went south when Cory took over. FYI.
Ok. The Philippines you said is the laughing stock of Southeast Asia. Do you have anyone in mind to blame for this supposed to be sorry state of our country?
If you don’t stand for something you will fall for anything.
mga baboy kasi mga putan ina mga dilawan
Super Yes no more YELLOWTARDS AT ALL . ASHAME TO THEM.
Only stupid LP followers made an outcry over Duterte’s triumph for the Presidency…and they could not accept to date..