The circle of “influencers’ surrounding former President Rodrigo Duterte and his clan, which includes current Vice President Sara Duterte, need to shape up. The cult of personality approach where everything is an appeal to emotion — personal loyalty, patriotism, regionalism, and the all-time greatest hit, utang na loob (debt of gratitude) have all become passé. Yet these comms relics continue to be flogged by the “Duterte Die-hard Supporters” (DDS) mob.
Strip all the shrill emotionalism from the “issue” of the former president’s “plight” in The Hague under the thumb of the “International Criminal Court” (ICC) and we are left with a few sensible things to work with top of which is the questionable nature of the ICC itself and its manufactured jurisdiction as a “court” to reckon with and, as such, the sketchy circumstances surrounding how a Filipino citizen — a former chief executive, no less — was simply packed up and handed over to a foreign colonial power.
But then even discounting the formidable critical mass of “international law” and the Global North powers that enforce it, Duterte is a difficult man to defend. Foremost is his own predisposition to self-incrimination. He is first to not just admit but boast about his homicidal approach to law enforcement encompassing his gigs as Davao City mayor to President of the Philippines. Philippine Presidents, after all, are all the same in the extrajudicial manner with which they kill anyone they perceive to be a threat to their feudal clan. The sensible ones, however, do so covertly. Duterte wasn’t — and isn’t — as subtle nor as discrete. Neither is he as sensible.
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Those are the key facts surrounding this latest circus. The “content creators” buzzing around this clown show should then work with these factual input and stop their incessant rosary rallies of delivering tired DDS slogans ad nauseum. Work on building sound arguments and educated scenarios and enough of the batang yagit, Joan Of Arc, and Rudy Fernandez narratives!
Perhaps a tad too vulcan for the OA Fipino mind? Fair enough. Maybe a bit of emotional icing can be slathered over the propaganda cake. Consider then that the Philippines now has the distinction of being the only Asian country that voluntarily handed over a former head of state to a former colonial power. Nakakahiya, right? The perfect touch for a society motivated by hiya and not much else.
The perfect time for strategic innovation is now given that the “thought leaders” of true enemy here — the Yellowtard-Communist Axis — are showing no signs of strategic competence in story telling either. Are the Dutertards up to the job? As always, abangan ang susunod na kabanata.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.