The Fourth Quarter 2021 Social Weather Survey report reveals that “93% of adult Filipinos” are “entering the New Year with hope rather than with fear.” With 2022 being an election year, these figures could be interpreted as an indication that Filipinos have confidence in the abilities of politicians most likely to be elected next year. This is also important insight for Opposition camps that are using fear and hate as cornerstones of their campaign.
This tweet by Chief Yellowtard “Economist” JC Punongbayan pretty much encapsulates the Opposition hate campaign.
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By asserting that if administration presidential candidate Bongbong Marcos wins the election on May 2022, the Philippines will be a disaster area over the next six years, Punongbayan is demonstrating an intent to crush the hopes of the 50+ percent of Filipino voters who plan to vote for Marcos. Surveys conducted by more than a few reputable polling firms have consistently yielded figures that affirm this prognosis and even notable “thought leaders” of the Opposition camp have expressed dismay over the failed campaign of their preferred candidates.
The fact of the persistent formidable lead of Marcos and his running mate Sara Duterte combined with the general positive outlook a large proportion of Filipinos hold for the future should prompt reflection among Opposition partisans, specially influential ones like Punongbayan. Is it really wise to be belittling — even insulting — the personal preferences of a huge bloc of voters that their campaign ought to be taking all efforts to engage with and possibly even convert?
For that matter, whatever partisan camp one may happen to associate with, what value is there in painting a hopeless picture of the future? Elections are supposed to be an exercise that attracts hope — hope that the next leader will carry on what worked well over his predecessor’s term and hope that he or she will break further ground to build upon all that. To summarily write off that hope for political ends is the work of the sort of people who routinely fail to understand the whole point of democracy.
The whole point of democracy is that certain decisions that are of national consequence (such as who gets to be president) are entrusted to voters. Who or what attracts the most votes determines what happens next. If, as Punongbayan predicts, a “catastrophe” awaits the nation if the people’s choice wins, well, so be it. That’s just democracy being democracy.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
JC Punongbayan reminds me of these same fear-mongering Facebook Anti-Marcos groups. It’s nothing more than a political grifting. Do they even care about Philippines? I highly doubt that. They would rather watch the country burns and walk away. Even if what JC Punongbayan predictions are true, well..It is Democracy after all. If BBM fails then the next one after him is for better or worst. It is what it is. There’s really nothing to worry about this New Year anyway..except JC and his allies of course.
These people have no conviction. Response is limited to their own crowd. See how far it gets them.
Don’t look is a good movie actually. It’s a mirror of what is US now. But comparing the government’s initial response to the Pandemic is inaccurate. US is more f@cked than our country in terms of handling the Pandemic.
Don’t Look Up is a good movie but I think it is more of a soft disclosure to the sleeping masses with what could exactly happen not just to a country but to the world.
Ever wondered why the rich been buying up all these properties with bunkers in New Zealand? Why some of them want to leave Earth for Mars?
Whatever color-coded politics we all have or still have in 2022 will be the least of our problems once the real shit hits the fan. I sincerely hope that everyone has been prepping at least regardless of what you believe in.
We’re still stuck with the same old narratives in 2020 that when the actual catastrophe happens we will be forced to deal with it whether we like or not and obviously this planet actually has been more active and may do some irreversible changes that we will be forced to adapt, that it will be too late to realize that eventually it was never about public health but prevention of migration because they see mass migration as another kind of disaster as well.
Here’s my take on it.
JCP is misguided. We have not even reached close to parallel Don’t Look Up’s scenario of how we treat information/news/facts… though it is possible for us to get there… with people like him telling other how they “should think” and/or “should feel” about issues instead of sticking to facts.
The antivaccination side in our country had more to do with mishandling of Dengvaxia by the government (no need to point fingers on which administration it was because it was generally just the Philippine Government… full stop). And that is what is causing the hesitation in the general populace.
Were we told not to look for information by our government? I don’t think so. I do believe the general gist of it is for information not to be twisted to cause panic/fear.
Now, I’m not saying the Philippine Government handled it perfectly. They have a lot of shortcomings, but saying it mirrors Don’t Look Up is laughable and it’s proof positive the person who said it didn’t even understand what he was watching and simply wants to brute force his “narrative” for a point.
Something someone irresponsible would want to do for those who simply rely on 140character tweet or a headline reading, instead of going in to the body/meat of the text/story.
So… I guess we can only feel bad for him. That is how the person has grown accustomed to his soap box/platform. Kind of sad to a degree knowing full well he is properly educated and aware about things called satire, nuance, facts etc.
At any rate, here’s to a hopeful 2022 to everyone.
We may not agree on every thing but there are some things where we will find common ground. Cheers!
Marcos apologia would be hip for its own good.
Here you go again, littering the blog with this same “Marcos apologia” this and that. We get it, no need to repeat it like a broken record. It has nothing to do with JC’s fear mongering, you git.
Is that prediction of catastrophe based on his proper education? No sane person is listening to the non-arguments anymore.