If nobody’s noticed yet, there is a common denominator argument used across the board in the Philippines’ national “debate”, and that is that politicians on the other camp are “power-hungry crooks” out to “steal from Filipino taxpayers”. Whether one is a Yellowtard, a Marcostard, a Dutertard, or a commie terrorist, the argument is that or the other or both and every influencer is a “paid hack” — a.k.a. bayaran — on the payroll of one or the other crook or cheat.
Such is the easy way one can summarise the stunted debate amongst the Philippines’ so-called intelligentsia — a blanket exercise of accusing the other of political agendas and intent to defraud. In such chatter, one would be hard-pressed to find a point in even listening much more participating. All we see are assertions and accusations built upon layers of unsound assumptions and not much else.
If we are to step back from all that, it would seem that Filipinos only have one pathway ahead that leads to none other than the inevitability of being mere consumers milked by an elite class of savvy political operators and capitalists. Note the term savvy. “Greed” and “crookedness” are overly judgmental terms that can be replaced by that simple term. In a free market, savviness is what wins in a game where money is the only true and objective scoring mechanism. The former two terms are just flavours of the latter third.
| SUPPORT INDEPENDENT SOCIAL COMMENTARY! Subscribe to our Substack community GRP Insider to receive by email our in-depth free weekly newsletter. Opt into a paid subscription and you'll get premium insider briefs and insights from us. Subscribe to our Substack newsletter, GRP Insider! Learn more |
Ultimately, democracy — like the free market — is a playing field. The best gamers win and are the ones who get to rake all the money in. Filipinos are just the proverbial ball one kicks around. Where the ball gets kicked to the most determines who wins.
This is exactly the reality what The Noted One describes in his recent Inquirer piece, “From meltdown to showdown”. In his column Manuel L Quezon III summarises the strategies of the two titanic clans currently stomping through the playing field…
[…] the Marcos-Romualdez method for achieving political success is to play the long game, combining relentless pressure with overwhelming force while exercising strategic patience. In other words, the boa constrictor style of political operations. The Duterte style is shock and awe: explosive brinksmanship to intimidate opponents into backing down or backing off, zeroing in, when needed, on specific enemies to clobber in order to make an example of them. In other words, the silverback gorilla style of leadership.
Within that frame, Quezon, the sportscaster, issues his halftime analysis…
President [Bongbong Marcos] figured out something the ex-president [Rodrigo Duterte] and the Veep [his daughter, Sara Duterte] still haven’t figured out: how to innovate and learn from past mistakes. Having never lost before, and never experienced being challenged and defeated, the Dutertes may lack what it takes to win.
It’s simple, really. The camp with the best strategy and the most disciplined players stand a better chance of winning. As Quezon points out, the Duterte camp (and the community of “influencers” buzzing around it) possess neither. One would think a country that appoints itself the distinction of being the world’s “best” basketball players would get that.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
@benign0: In the House QuadCom hearing FPRRD defended his actions as president saying that he had to do what he had to do because of his love for country.
At present, he chooses to destabilize the two-year-old plus Marcos administration and the country through his seditious pronouncements inducing the military to take action (that will benefit his vice president daughter and probably himself included), inciting the people to rebel in their Maisug rallies and spreading fake news through their DDS vloggers and propaganda media, SMNI.
To be fair, Mr. Duterte has done some good things during his presidency, but, having said that, can’t say the same for his vice president daughter. Sara should take responsibility for her actions and shouldn’t evade from accountabilities.
I suppose nation-building is not only all about the war on drugs. It takes more than that.
Are the Dutertes’ love of country, in the process, destroying their own legacies? What’s your take on the recent events unraveling?
Agree wholeheartedly. Former President Duterte ended an era of OA wokeness and the primitivist influence wielded by the Roman Catholic Church. Unfortunately Duterte himself was turned into the object of a rabid cult of personality by his supporters who then went on to assume that his daughter also has, by birth, entitlement to the same following.
In the process, the Dutertards themselves now come across as no better than the Yellowtards. We see this in how their arguments are framed by their personal loyalty to the cult and not by sound logical arguments as one would expect from a modern 21st Century people.
In short, Filipinos have once again proven that their intellectual bankruptcy transcends partisan lines.