It is the Opposition that has been causing the distraction from Day One of the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte and not, as Boo Chanco asserts in his PhilSTAR column “Distracted leadership”, the president. According to Chanco, “Duterte has always been distracted since the start of his term. There has been little decent policymaking on matters other than the economy, but that is thanks to Finance Sec Sonny Dominguez.” This follows a September 10 Fitch Solutions analysis “expressing concern Duterte’s administration will be distracted by politics as we approach our presidential election season. Fitch thinks political distraction is a threat to policymaking in the near term.” Trust the lazy “journalism” of people like Chanco who so uncritically lap up what they google.
Chanco should check his facts. The President made it clear he knew nothing about economic policy. This is why he leaned on Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez to accept the Finance portfolio and head the Cabinet’s economic cluster. You can’t complain about the job he’s done. It’s Congress that’s been sitting on enabling legislation for the economic recovery strategy. Recovery is now the operative word from development, since the pandemic struck. It’s so easy for Chanco to generalize and lump politicians into one category, if they’re not palatable to the Yellows. Ping Lacson being in favor of stricter national security measures is immediately a “Duterte enabler”. But then, isn’t the Anti-Terror Bill timely now that the US has pulled out from Afghanistan? What is wrong with the National ID System given that the new normal is digital? Wouldn’t it facilitate the distribution of social amelioration for the poorest Filipinos and facilitate the public’s transactions with government?
It is this kind of mindset that leaves the Opposition mired in quicksand. Add to this the fact that Vice President Leni Robredo still can’t make up her mind about what post she will run for. How can she “unite” the “anti-administration forces” if she isn’t decisive to begin with? Manny “Pac-Man” Pacquiao running for President, which he announced yesterday, is not etched in stone. He may still reconsider. At this point, it is hard to believe that Koko Pimentel and Ron Munsayac have him eating out of their hands. His nomination is a farce. It is more of a coronation which is what triggered the split in PDP-Laban to begin with. If Pacquiao is prepared to part with his hard-earned billions, Pimentel, Munsayac and Bernard Peralta will surely have their wallets full by the end of the campaign. No more Birkin bags for Jinkee!
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Pac-Man’s acceptance speech yesterday was replete with traditional rhetoric and motherhood statements. Unfortunately, “kalam ng tiyan” is not enough to win the Presidency. He may be popular as a boxer, can muster enough votes to win as Senator, but the Presidency is not an automatic win. Pacquiao will have a hard time during the debates. The Filipino is not stupid to entrust the highest office of the land to someone who doesn’t have the experience and the educational background. They know that if he wins, he will be nothing but a sock puppet for his handlers.
Government and the private sector should really sit down in a summit and thresh out the strategy moving forward. The private sector is stingy about testing. They have no choice if they want their businesses to run. Both will have to agree on a common ground for digitization. It’s time for the Opposition to stop being the prophet of doom and gloom. They don’t even have alternative strategies so how can they claim they can do better than the administration? We should remember what happened after Cory succeeded Marcos. It’s easy for Chanco to blame Duterte but he wasn’t President before he won in 2016.
Since the opposition is as lazy as fuck, their gamble is their propaganda will sell to the youth and millennials who make up 40 million of the estimated 62 million voting population. Thus the current campaign to rile them up. Get them angry. Appeal to their emotions. Hit them with the ol’ “good” versus “evil” narrative. We boomers who are martial law babies have seen this all before. We were the guinea pigs for this experiment and we fell for it during that time. This is why we are telling you now not to fall for it. There will be hell to pay if you do. The opposition doesn’t give a shit about your future. They only care about theirs. Use god’s gift of discernment and freedom to choose wisely. The opposition is actually the devil in disguise. Better the devil you know, than the devil you don’t.
Cook wide reader political crackpot music afficionado old soul out-of-the box thinker aspiring writer tech geek gearhead
People will be hesitant to vote Pacquiao because he exudes the same clueless aura as Joseph Erap Estrada and Alma Moreno. He’s trying to pull off the same act as the former while he comes off as the latter. On the other hand, not everyone from the centre and liberal lefts are willing to support him because he spouts bigotry and counterprogressive views here and there. He’s particularly homophobic while majority of the PRs, staff and leaders of the Opposhition are gays and lesbians. There’s a huge disconnect.
At this rate, I’d rather vote for Pamatong than Pacquiao, but I heard that the former has passed away recently. ??
#KhayriWasHere
pacquiao being a billionaire means he’s much better at life than you. your denigration of him holds as much value as the dirt on his shoes.
Kawawa naman itong si greengrin na mukhang pera. While you’re at it, you should go and worship Pablo Escobar too. Epal ka e.
P.S. Baka hindi mo makuha kung bakit nadawit si Escobar. Research ka ha?
pacquiao made his money legally idiot. next!
greengrin and Khayri, be civilized in your comments, no need to insult each other. This is one reason why it’s so hard to find civilized debates. Why are you guys being rude in the first place?
Vince McMahon is a billionaire but WWE is an awfully shit product. All Elite Wrestling is a better wrestling promotion.
Money can’t buy happiness.
you are free to watch whichever fake wrestling promotion you prefer idiot that wasnt the point. although its funny you havent outgrown wwe yet hihihi i stopped around 10 years old
that pacquiao rose from abject poverty to being a billionaire (in this country) through sheer hard work is impossible to comprehend. its probably more likely to be hit by lightning multiple times in a lifetime than to start poor and make yourself into a billionaire in the philippines. if he can impart that work ethic/perseverance/life attitudes to our youth, we’d be world beaters.
Ayusin mo grammar mo. Ikaw ang nagmumukhang timang dito. ?
I imagine MP as President will be very busy filing Libel cases against critics in Radio, Print, TV and Social Media left and right like a punching combo. He might turn out to be the pound for pound Libel Suit Champion for his lawyers will be carting reams and reams of complaints to the courts. For someone who doesn’t flinch when fists are flying, he certainly is onion skinned when it comes to criticism and reacts like they are a punch to the gut. Even his wife is tone deaf when it comes to criticism. What will he do when millions complain of not getting their promised condos? Sue them all for Libel?
not really. you are free to criticize, just don’t make up a false statement to destroy a man’s name/reputation. the distinction is easy to recognize for those with a modicum of intelligence.
Did you learn that lesson the hard way, Maria Ressa? ?
I wouldn’t imagine that happening but I’ll say this about libel. Criminalizing libel and cyberlibel is really a horrible idea. Libel and cyberlibel should only be a civil offense because criminalizing those will just encourage hypersensitivity in the gov’t. Gov’t officials who are arrogant or hypersensitive would sue anyone who criticizes them for libel even if their criticisms are legit or valid. If a gov’t official can’t handle criticisms, then he should resign because a democratic gov’t official should be able to handle criticisms.