Why I am voting for Grace Poe, and not for Binay, Miriam, Roxas or Digong (Part IV)

RODRIGO DUTERTE

Ohhhh, this would be fun.  Until it is no longer.

Let me start by saying that I like Digong as a person.  I don’t like spending an inordinate time around people I hardly know but I don’t mind spending time with him, talking about life, picking his mind, laughing unabashedly about jokes that we can share privately.  I don’t really drink but I will gladly be his bottle buddy.

I also admire his simplicity and lack of interest in material things.  All government officials should be like him in that respect.  Though I disagree with him opening his mouth without the benefit of prior brainwork, I don’t find any problem with his brash, tough and often kanto boy language.  I even find it a refreshing counterculture in a world that puts too much premium on polish and form.

I also admire what he has done in Davao, which many dream will be replicated in the entire Philippines. He walked the walk, and talked the talk. Feared, respected, revered – that’s who he is in Davao.  And Davao is relatively safer, more progressive and more conducive for living, than most Philippine cities. That, I give him.

Why I am not voting for Digoy?

I will not talk about his womanizing or his macho stance on anything that concerns gender and sexuality, or his beef against the church.  I will however talk briefly about two issues: federalism and his cozy stance towards China, before tackling the meat of my objection against him, which is his bloody roadmap to peace and order.

Federalism or feudalism?

Duterte is so sure that the only way for provinces, especially the most poor, to inch their way up the economic ladder is by switching to federalism where the local government has more control over its funds. There is even a slick animation about how federalism works doing the rounds of computers, drawing raves and "Oo ngas" from impressed viewers.

In theory, yes it is an alternative worth exploring.  But does it guarantee effective and good governance? Hell no!

Not when the same faces will occupy the federal state. In case it has escaped you, most of the poorest provinces are ruled over by the same faces, with the same surnames; who else but the same trapos, the political families, the people with guns and money to secure prime positions. Para lang ginawa mong official ang mga "kingdom" para sa mga sakim para lamang lalong payamanin ang mga ito dahil mas malaki na ang perang hahawakan nila.  At ang mga taong mahihirap na dapat maiangat ng pederalismo? Walang nagbago, mahirap pa rin.

It is not the form of government that ails the country.  It is the people tasked with running it ruining it.  Unless part of Duterte's pledge of switching to federalism comes with a vow to eradicate the cream of the crop of politicians skimming money from the people, particularly those on the provincial level, nothing is guaranteed. But last I heard, he is busy hobnobbing with them in his sorties, building ties and courting votes. So yes, change the form of government, retain the same bloodsucker, same old, same old results.

Made in China ties

This is going to be short.  There are issues that you can be practical about, and things that you fight for no matter what it takes.  The territorial dispute between China is non-negotiable.  The West Philippine Sea, and the islands and resources therein, is ours.  China is stealing it from us.  You don't reward a thief with the loot he stole from you.

Duterte is willing to do it. In fact, he sees it as the most sensible thing to do.  He treats our sovereignty like he treats lives, something that you can be practical with.

Lust for bad blood

The promise of absolute peace of mind resonates well with the Filipino forever looking behind his back for a real or imagined attacker.   Duterte has not made it a secret how he intends to make good on his promise – by pouring blood on the streets using overwhelming force of the police and military on anyone suspected of being a criminal.  I don’t think he is bluffing.  He did it in Davao, and he intends to do it all over the Philippines.

If police data can be trusted that over 90% of Philippine barangays are infected by illegal drugs, then there’s also that probability that you, yes you, will hear commotion, shouting and then gunshots one night, then wake up in the morning with a pool of blood being lapped up by your neighbor’s dog.  Or maybe by your own dog.

If you are lucky, you may even catch a glimpse of the “criminal” still lying where he fell, his eyes looking at an empty space as flies check out where the bullets entered and his brain matter exited.

If you are luckier, you may even have your young son or daughter with you; perfect occasion for you to teach a life lesson when your kid asks you why it had to happen, because then you will lovingly reply: “That what happens to the scum of society, baby.”  Not unlike perhaps to what Nazi sympathizers told their children when they were asked why their Jew friends and their family were being herded to trains at gunpoint, to be gassed and thrown to a heap of cadavers the way the dregs of society deserved to be disposed.

Chances are you might even personally know this dead scum.  And he was not that bad a person. In fact, he was nice to you and your kids.  He even had children of his own whom he also loved like you do yours.  And his children, now covered by his blood, are wailing because they lost the man they most loved.  Go ahead.  Tell them.  Their dad deserved to die.  Your vote was his execution order, remember?

Giving the police and military the power to extinguish lives is frighteningly dangerous.  We’re talking here of men in uniform not exactly known for their discipline, or their thoroughness in their investigative techniques. If today you ask an ordinary person what they think of the police, I’m sure he wouldn’t be faulted to say that he does not trust him, what with reports of men in uniform involved in all sorts of crime – drugs, robbery, kidnapping, and what have you. And now they are given the license to shoot -- suspects, personal enemies, business rivals or anyone who gets in the way will all be fair game. Dead men can’t talk. They will all be lumped together as bad people ordered by the president to be killed.

Guns for hire are making a killing now.  But wait till Duterte sits and the underground industry would have to hire additional hands to keep up with the demand.  What’s stopping people with deep personal grudges from hiring them to settle a score?

It would be a free kill season once Digong’s crime killing spree begins.  Now who is going to investigate hits not made by the official government death squad, the police?  So are they going to roll out and review their list and say that this and this are not in their target, so this must have been a crime?  Yup, that is going to happen.

And will the public cry foul when a dead body surfaces?  Or would they lump any dead person with a bullet in the head as a necessary sacrifice for the common good, never mind that this cadaver belonged to a husband whose wife simply wanted him out so she could run off with another man? Or vice versa?

It all boils down to this. Something must be terribly wrong when a candidate proposes to make state-sponsored killings of its own citizens an official government policy and many voters are actually gladly, frantically and desperately rooting for it.  I am no longer questioning its logic, but I am seriously wondering about its sanity.

All this, as they say, for the good of the country.  Really? Ask Duterte supporters why they are voting for him and most of them will acknowledge that it is for their and their family's peace of mind? Since when has a personal fear become the nation's?  And since when has murder multiplied by the thousands become a recipe for peace of mind?

Who ever said that the Philippines lack people who are willing to give up lives for the country does not know anything about how it now works.  There are millions of Duterte supporters willing and excited to do that, as long as somebody else does the dying.  And this includes plenty of Bible-quoting citizens who, before Duterte's presidential run, would profess in their social media accounts how God is mighty, powerful, loving and forgiving.  I am not too familiar with the Bible hence there must be some fine print hidden in the appendices about special cases when killing people en masse is justified.  Or perhaps, this is just a case of separation of the church and state. Tsaka na muna ang pangaral ng Panginoon, eleksiyon ito hindi review nang sampung utos.

I'm sorry.  Maybe I just don't love my country enough.  Or maybe I just don't care about peace of mind enough.  But I just can't entitle myself with the power to say that I have the right to live, while others are not just valuable enough to live another day.  That's what a vote for Duterte is. That's not what my vote is about.

Why I am voting for Grace Poe, and not for Binay, Miriam, Mar or Digong (Part III)

MAR ROXAS

Poor Mar Roxas. He is reduced to an absurd caricature by memes created and shared by people whose anger for anything yellow surpasses their ability to think objectively.  

I believe that Mar is a decent guy, a stickler for structure (which can be good or bad), and someone who can be trusted to keep his hands off public money (And the collective eyebrows of the anti-Mar brigade shoots up).

He however has two weaknesses that are too humongous for him to overcome.  First, he belongs to a party. Second, he is Mar Roxas.

The Daang Matuwid catchphrase is weighed down by the many inconsistencies of its results over the past 5 years that repeatedly pushing for it renders it as an empty, or at best an unwieldy mantra.  I admit that the Aquino administration, despite the noise and scorch-earth conclusion of its detractors, has made significant headways in many areas of governance, including the promotion of tourism to local and foreign wanderlusts, filing of arbitration case in disputed territories and  – yes, the fight against graft and corruption particularly in DPWH where roads and bridges to nowhere and the 20% kickback were once standard and widespread practices.

But alas, good news is not news to the Filipino.  What’s news is DOTC mishandling MRT/LRT lines and miraculous bullets appearing inside passenger luggages at the airport, Deaprtment of Agriculture issuing import permits to smugglers and smugglers having their way at the Bureau of Customs, LTO collecting fees for non-existent stickers, plates and licenses, to name some of the spectacular blunders that make the prospect of continuing on the same road such a difficult sell.

So where is Mar in this mix? Unfortunately, right in the middle – the guy obligated to convince people that what is not working is actually working, or will eventually work given more time.  Tough pitch for any man to pull off; and I see only one way Mar doing it.  But he should have done it a looooonnngg time ago.

He should have risen above the muck and acknowledged the administration’s shortcomings, then swiftly moved to right the ship, starting with the obvious -- letting heads of people central to the Liberal Party, like Abaya and Alcala, roll. 

But no, Roxas is a team player, a loyal ally through and through that he would allow a workable ship to be needlessly weighed down by useless tonnage instead of throwing them overboard, saving the ship and making it perform better in the process.  He could have done it a long time ago and made a better impression of his leadership and decisiveness but, unfortunately, Mar would rather go down with the ship than cross personal ties.  And so now here he is, the pitiful receptacle for all the boos and brickbats of his friends’ misdeeds.

Another critical flaw that Mar cannot overcome is that he is Mar Roxas, part hacendero Roxas, part business mogul Araneta.  He studied in the best schools, worked for the best institutions, before finding his way to plum positions in the government.  Through it all, he has built a reputation as an effective suit with an array of X and O solutions he learned in the boardroom.  Nothing wrong with that except that Roxas has not learned the art of connecting with the masa who view suits as either their employer, their snooty neighbour or unreachable townmate, and sometimes their oppressor.

His handlers know this all too well hence the desperate moves to package him as an action star/fine gentleman character that won’t hesitate to do the dirty work – all these while a bloke with a camera happens to be conveniently by to preserve the selfless act for posterity (Insert your favourite meme here of Mar directing traffic, carrying a heavy sack of produce, almost killing himself riding a motorcycle on dirt, eating simple food with bare hands, and the list goes on).

 

Alas, connecting on a personal level is difficult to artificially manufacture. It’s like your stiff teacher cracking a joke and you forcing yourself to laugh at it just because it would be awkward for both of you if you did not. Pilit eh.   And this is no more evident in the viral video of Mar trying to spark a fist bump into an exploding firecracker with an obviously bewildered tyke. If Mar was wired with the masses, he would have realized that fist bumps, let alone an exploding one, are only familiar to those with regular access to the internet or cable TV where they can see hip shows featuring hip characters like Baymax, or ball games with players who show pleasure or approval with each other that way.

Oh, poor Mar. You’re a good man who became a joke because you are who you are.

Why am I not voting for Mar?

As far as qualifications go, I admit he paid his dues.  And his hands are clean. Pakibaba po ang kilay.  Kung lumalangoy man siya sa pera ay dahil pinanganak siya sa pera. Yung bahay ng pamilya niya ay nandun sa Araneta Center na nagkataon din namang kanila ding pag-aari.

He will make a “good time” president, like his predecessor and friend PNoy, which means he will also inherit his noisy detractors and adding some of his own.  But inevitably, there will be bad times -- another Yolanda, another earthquake, another Mamasapano, another catastrophe where people would look for strength in their leader.  And Mar the good time president will go back to his natural self, digging for Xs and Os and thinking that everything can be thought over using conventions and structures, instead of showing himself to be a leader that empathizes, assures and inspires.  

Sorry, Mar is not that president.

As exemplified by his handling of the Romualdez meeting at the most crucial time of the Yolanda tragedy in Leyte, the highly structured Mar will demand to be right more than he would want to be decisive.  It’s like someone telling him, “Sir, we need to go over the mountain ASAP so we can rescue survivors.”  And he would calmly reply, “Wait, did you say mountain? We need to confirm if it really is a mountain. Call Mr So and So and have it measured.  If it’s less than 2,000 feet then it is just a hill.  Until we have that straightened out, we will not scale the mountain, or the hill.”

But a Mar Roxas presidency is not fatal.  Filipinos have shown time and again, sympathetic president or not, that it will rise above the water, ruins or ashes and fight some more.  But it will be more divisive and hurtful than ever.  And that is not the way to build, unite a nation already in a terrible state of disunity.  

A Mar Roxas presidency will be Part II of Aquino’s.  Only, it would have more hecklers and detractors. God knows how much we need less of that and more of showing support and empathy for one another. Roxas is not cut out for that.

Why I am voting for Grace Poe, and not for Binay, Miriam, Mar or Digong (Part II)

MIRIAM DEFENSOR SANTIAGO

First of all, she is sick.  But even if she was in the pink of health, I would still not vote for her.

Miriam touts herself as a no-nonsense, incorruptible public servant, who is a master of the law and a diety of pickup lines.  The latter a talent which earned for her a slew of followers from the youth sector who lap up her jokes like she invented comedy.  She also thinks that everyone not agreeing with her position is stupid.

Miriam is a product of consistent self-promotion.  Be angry all the time, and she becomes no nonsense. Call everyone who does not agree with her stupid and she has an intelligence level all to herself.  Mingle with and entertain the young crowd and she becomes their darling, champion and savior rolled into one fuming beast.

Why am I not voting for Miriam?

For years I have taken note of the political scene and observed who is on whose side during times when true colors can be revealed.  And from what I have seen, Miriam has shown time and again that she is not incorruptible. Sorry guys, that’s true.  In fact, she is as trapo as they come; not hesitating to take advantage of situations that would benefit her or her family, at the detriment of the people who she claims to serve. 

Miriam has made a name for herself as a person with encyclopaedic knowledge of the law. However, if the doctrine “Those who have less in life must have more in law” is to be followed, then she has shown in critical moments that she would not hesitate to manipulate the law to benefit the high, the mighty, and the privileged.

Her young voters, enamored by her endearing combination of humor and feistiness, are too young to remember that not too long ago, Miriam was allied with corruption-personified Gloria Macapagal Arroyo -- practically lawyering for her and her ilk in the Senate as they got involved in one putrid controversy after another. Hello Garci and ZTE? Guess on whose side Miriam was?  Why? Because GMA enlisted her husband as a cabinet secretary, which goes to show that her and her family’s interests supersede any others’.

More recently, Miriam was former chief justice Renato Corona’s main defender in the impeachment court, interpreting the law to favor a man who betrayed his sacred duty as the foremost abider and defender of the law by having huge amounts of money (in peso and dollar denominations) that couldn’t be possibly supported,  let alone explained or justified by his declared sources of income. (His recent death does not change that narrative)

Oh. And she also uses her senatorial budget to rent an office in her very own building. Why? Because she can, and it is not illegal.  Delicadeza is not in the legal system but it is expected from someone who claims to be incorruptible.

But her most recent and perhaps most blatant betrayal of the Filipino people is her choice of Bongbong Marcos as his vice-presidential running mate.  Miriam is always claiming that she would bring change and yet she chooses to promote a candidate that represents a family that is very much responsible for the rotten system that we have now.

Miriam is not going to win, but her greatest contribution might be BBM's ascension to a heart beat away from the presidency.  One young facebook friend wondered aloud, if BBM was really corrupt, why would Miriam choose him as his VP?

I am just shaking my head when a vote for Miriam is now being touted as a vote for principles. She was given enough chances to show how her legal expertise can be of use to the many, instead she time and again chose to abuse it protect  the high and the mighty.

Yes, I find her jokes and even her funny at times. But no. She does not get my vote.  I hope she doesn't get yours too.

Why I am voting for Grace Poe, and not for Binay, Miriam, Mar or Digong (Part 1)

I know many of you would be asking Bakit Poe?, or think that, knowing how I  usually frame my thoughts, that I would negate the headline and debunk it in the end.  But no.  It is as clear as stated. I’m voting for Grace Poe and I’ll tell you why, and also why not for any of the other candidates.

I am not emotionally invested in Poe the way some supporters of other candidates are so I can firmly say that this is a product of thinking much more than feeling.  In fact, I want to get this vote done and over with the soonest, so that Filipinos can go back to what is more important, which is trying to be better for themselves and the people around them, including those whom they don’t know, instead of bickering about who among the candidates will wipe out all the problems of this benighted nation.  None of them has that omnipotence.

Every presidential candidate not named Binay brings a core of advantages to the position (Binay is simply rotten to the core), as well as baggages that will hamper his/her effectivity once in office.  My choice ultimately boils down to which weakness will not be fatal to the country in the short and long-term, and whose strong points will move us forward, closer I hope to a progressive and more humane tomorrow.

The mudslinging is so harsh in this campaign season that it is difficult to surface for air without getting hit.  I am not going to throw dirt here, but I will discuss the dirt that has already surfaced for each candidate, including Poe,beginning with the candidate with the most dirt attributed to him -- Jejomar Binay.

JOJO BINAY

Binay represents everything that is wrong in Philippine politics.  He lies, cheats and steals. And that’s just for breakfast.  It becomes an eat-all-you-can if you factor in the voracious appetite of his family members turned “public servants.”  Jojo has made working in government such a lucrative deal for his family that future generations of Binays will live princely lives if their loot is not recovered soon. And given the short term memory of pinoy voters, it is not unlikely that part of this ill wealth will be used to win back power someday, complete with the tall tale that the Binay years were the golden age of public service (shades of Marcos here).

I don’t blame Jojo for going all out for the presidency because he knows that, whoever wins,  it is almost certain that he and his family will spend daily prayer meetings in jail.  So he is pinning his liberty on the hope that enough poor people will believe his tale of a better life once he becomes president.  Unfortunately for him, it seems that he is now closer to Bilibid than he is to Malacanang.

So I don’t need to explain why I am not voting for him, as I would for other candidates.