Viewpoints: “Inday Sara for President”
Analysis and Opinion
by Lance Corporal X
When Inday Sara beckoned him, “Come here, sir… ” and commenced pummeling the Court Sheriff of Davao in front of onlookers and the media, I knew she’d be a great Filipino president. No other incident in the Philippines perfectly and poignantly encapsulates the state of affairs there than when Inday Sara beat the crap out of the local Sheriff.
All elements of why the Philippines is so screwed up can be found in that single incident.
Landless squatters getting kicked out by some rich Chinese businessman or corporation. Plus, a dirty judge or Sheriff or both, having been paid off by said Chinese businessman and corporation. I don’t know what transpired behind the scenes. If there was no corruption involved, then it’s about legal interpretations that always favor the big dude instead of the little guy.
What usually happens in the Philippines is the local elected official is also on the take and will turn a blind eye.
But not Inday Sara. That eviction day, she inserts herself between the squatters and police, who are about to come to blows, a real bloody riot situation in the making, and stops it. She orders the Sheriff over and punches him repeatedly for not listening to her plea to delay the eviction for at least 2 hours as they await an appeal decision from another judge.
With all the political manueverings in the Philippines, common sense and common decency usually get ignored. Judge Carpio could’ve delayed, Sheriff Andres could’ve done the same. But I’m sure because of Jaime Uy, his corporation, his connections, status, both judge and Sheriff felt compelled not to delay any longer. Whatever their reasons.
Inday Sara had enough. Sometimes the best way to convince another person who lacks common sense is a punch to the face, or two, or three, or four. I’m not advocating for violence, just pointing out that Machiavelli was right.
And this is the whole balancing act. Love. Hate. Tapang. Malasakit. Right. Might.
Might when done in the service of a bigger Right, like what Inday Sara did, is justified. Not legally maybe, not even ethically but in the bigger scheme of things, if that Sheriff or judge learned their lesson that day and stopped evicting squatters in that manner. Then Mama Mary and Jesus would totally agree. A few bruises to the eye to save lives is sanctioned in the Bible I’m sure, look up Ezekiel 25:17 (actually the “Pulp Fiction” version is from the opening scene of Sonny Chiba’s “the Bodyguard”, but still relevant to the above incident).
I have no doubt that Sheriff Andres and Judge Carpio learned their lesson that day. The hand of God can sometimes be painful, even murderous.
But the question specific to this blog is if Inday Sara has learned her lessons, and does she have what it takes to be the next President of the Philippines. But if we can already agree that from the above incident, we can deduce both that Inday Sara’s heart is in the right place, that she is tough, and that she is caring.
That there is already enough to qualify her. IMHO.
The question now is does she have the logistics, infrastructure and support to ensure her presidency is streamlined and effective? Given that every incoming Filipino president since Cory has to constantly start from scratch with no real lasting legacy or institutional continuity, really.
Inday Sara already has a leg up. VP Robredo, if we judge her based on Cory and GMA, we can already forecast that a bunch of dudes there will have another field day. She has neither infrastructure nor support. The Pac-man was convinced by a Born Again pastor that God wants him to run for the highest office. I’m sure he can be convinced plenty of times again by other dudes in the Philippines with real power, not just the Biblical variety. Marcos has both infrastructure and support, but not as expansive as what Inday Sara will have. Plus he’s not malasakit, like at all.
Now let’s superimpose VP Robredo, Pac-man and Marcos on that same situation in Davao.
VP Robredo would probably want to talk it over whilst bulldozers plow homes. Pac-man would probably drive his Lambo over and punch the Sheriff, but knocked out, the Sheriff won’t feel the sting of being punched by a girl in front of everyone, will probably feel flattered being punched by his idol, no lessons learned. Marcos for sure won’t even show up, too busy admiring his mom’s paintings and shoes. Remember, there was an element of urgency in that incident.
Of course, I don’t know what they’ll do in that situation. But we already know what Inday Sara did. And that’s her resume, all the CV necessary really. Tapang at Malasakit. Strong and Caring.
Will she continue her dad’s EJKs? South China sea? Economics? Pandemic? I don’t know. But at the end of the day, we all . . . whether in the US or the Philippines . . .vote with what we feel in our gut. My gut tells me Inday Sara will make a great president. Precisely, because she has an intuitive knowledge of power and how to effectively express it in the Philippines. With a kind heart, plus the right network, she will surely get a lot of things done.
What would you have done in that situation?
__________
Photo from MindaNews
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The Society of Honor by Joe America 
Looks and smells like nepotism to me.
Harkening back to Machiavelli’s prince in the age of despots and monarchies is a regression from our modern concept of democratic governance.
mid 17th century: from French népotisme, from Italian nepotismo, from nipote ‘nephew’ (with reference to privileges bestowed on the ‘nephews’ of popes, who were in many cases their illegitimate sons).
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Micha, not if she’s voted into office. If Filipinos especially that 27% early polling turn out for her, then by definition not nepotism.
I’m very curious about her relationship with her mother, and more about her mom as a practicing Jew in the Philippines. that just blew my mind, but no further info. Only that there’s a synagogue in Makati i think.
The other is her economic team pick, for example will she be open to MMT; and what Inday Sara thinks of Biden’s money give away, I hear we’ll be getting another $1,400 soon by summer. But then prices are going up.
Inday Sara has the common touch, but will she have the savvy to hear out abstract and divination type thoughts. I don’t know. But its not nepotism, Micha, if Filipinos choose her. She just needs
to choose smart advisors. Whether that part leads to nepotism and/or cronyism. I dunno.
@Micha,
Do you still think BBM is a juggernaut or unbeatable?
Seen zone. Never mind.
Politicians we have seen are just carrying out the, uh, age-old tradition of kinship politics, all that bowing and scraping as those politicians see themselves as warlord chieftains.
This is like saying, I saw the Red Sea parting, therefore I believe in Moses. But what happened thereafter? His followers danced around false idols, and Moses threw down the tablets God gave to him. No, enough of the Duterte penchant for violence and theatrics!
Danding, then
the Jews returned to Israel. Except for Moses. In your analogy, Inday Sara would be Joshua, who took the Jews into the promised land.
Moses = DU30
Joshua = Inday Sara
Haha. Clever leap of faith there from Moses to Joshua! But seriously, somebody can write an equally long blog post about that punching incident while professing a completely opposite observation. Inclination toward violence is a Duterte family trait. A dangerous trait, for the rest of society.
That’s what Ireneo just did directly below. Wanna try an opposite observation? Maybe one more sympathetic to Judge Carpio? or the Sheriff? or Mr. Uy? Let’s see if your observation trumps mine. That is the whole point here, Danding.
danding, I share your sentiment po and have enough of the dutertes, the president father, the daughter mayor and the son who is vice mayor, a dynasty in the making.
duterte once said sara is drama queen and has penchant for theatrics. binugbog ang sheriff herself knowing full well her husband is renown lawyer, her father is influential mayor and between them, she can do no wrong. she has short fuse and went for the punch up. she and all that people behind her (see pic) mga tauhan niya vs the lone sheriff? masunurin ang sheriff head down, and did not tell sara, you want me? how about you come here?
sheriff was putting into effect the mayor’s ordinance, people to be evicted. sara could have talked to the sheriff and asked for everybody to calm down, instead of acting like disgruntled paratrooper itching for punch up.
like her father who has committed our country to china’s debt, sara has likewise committed dabaw to chinese machinations. stood guard and welcome chinese airforce refueling in dabaw, same with chinese navy. aircraft of other nations also refuel in dabaw, but not as often as the chinese. what’s the chinese fuel bill? ah, secret. maybe, that is why sara cannot account for the missing millions committee on audits ask her to provide paper work.
I see it a bit differently. The demolition was to take place in Agdao, known in the mid-1980s as Nicaragdao, home of the right-wing Alsa Masa militia. That group was founded by Col. Franco Calida, brother of the present ugly SolGen. Occasionally a Scout Ranger officer named Delfin Lorenzana came to visit the meetings of that group. The not yet Mayor of Davao who was later to mobilize the Alsa Masa and make them the Duterte Death Squad or DDS was still an inutile prosecutor. Inday just protected her clientele.
He father similarly beat up criminals his cops had caught in front of the camera. With his goons around nobody dared fight back. Why should she be better than her father?
Whether she knows the squatters, I dunno, Ireneo.
“Inday just protected her clientele”, or constituents , which an elected official is supposed to do.
But Inday Sara wasn’t beating up criminals, she beat up a Sheriff which from my research turns out more like Sheriff of Nottingham, and nothing at all like American Sheriffs over here.
Filipino sheriffs are basically just the errand boys for judges there. So in a way Inday Sara was also punching judge Carpio (which again is an in-law of hers, small world).
Why should she be better than her father? now , there’s the rub! The point to all this. And why Joe asked me to write this blog.
IMHO, because she was never close to her father. All the cheating, not being there for the family, his style of politics, she is anything but her father, though she is loyal. I read last year she was here in the U.S. at the invitation of the State Dept.
So I gotta feeling Americans are thinking they can deal with her. Will she deal with them is the question.
Now you have to make your case that Inday Sara will be the same or worst than her father. All evidence point otherwise.
When GMA came to power in 2001, I had such a bad gut feeling that I thought guys, not my problem anymore, let’s compare notes when this is over. I mostly ignored Philippine politics for nearly a decade. OK, Trillanes, Fernando Poe, Trillanes again, Ondoy..
I am going to do something similar if Inday Sara wins in 2016, if the Philippines thinks it needs a different flavor of that political dynasty which dates back to Cebu days, fine.
Historical analogy: douchebag Henry VIII had daughters Bloody Mary – and Elizabeth.
Even further back, the English saw the Welsh country noble Henry Tudor (Henry VII) as a promise after York and Lancaster had torn the country apart in the Wars of the Roses.
What is interesting also is that Shakespeare, whose plays about tyrants are seen by some as veiled protest against the policies of Henry VIII, was most probably pro-Elizabeth.
Well, she was ruthless in a good way, eventually. To each place its own lessons I guess?
I mean 2022. I know your argument is the same line Dutz won by: “the elites don’t care enough, we need a tough and caring national chief now na”. “Let’s go by shortcuts, institutions don’t work” instead of fixing broken institutions..
My argument was that
they were too broken in the first place, in place of broken institutions, DU30 was needed. thus the still like 90% approval rating, Ireneo.
For for others, they were perfectly working democratic institutions, like for Jaime Uy. Different optics, but 90% is kinda a deal, Ireneo.
Yeah, I know. Probably most Filipinos aren’t yet where the West or advanced Asian polities like Japan, Sokor, Taiwan or even Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia are. They can relate better to a national chief than to a broken “Apparat”.
Like a monarch of old, Dutz has his informal circle of advisers, bypassing formal institutions. The IATF today is like the kind of Ministers Kings had in the 15th century.
From there to something truly modern and efficient, how long will that still take?
That’s the difference between the Yellows and what I’m proposing here, Ireneo, its that that 90% aren’t un-evolved. They , like that Inday Sara pummeling the sheriff , are just fed up.
If they were fed up with DU30, the support would’ve waned but it didn’t. And since our epic debates here , with edgar (RIP), chemp, you, Joe, karl, Micha, etc. etc. I think i was right all along. Don’t mean to be epal there, lol!!!
But not because DDS are retarded. They are getting something in return. no buyers remorse, like at all, Ireneo. That’s what the Yellows have to figure out, why no buyers remorse.
Don’t go down that hole, of explaining away DU30’s popularity as Filipinos are just not evolved enough to pick a good leader. They shook the core of the Philippines. Now figure out why they think and still think DU30 is doing a good job.
Really analyze it. I can go so far from where I’m at, both culturally and geographically.
We can try for a start with this debate:
https://opinion.inquirer.net/140000/far-safer-now – Frankie Sionil Jose says it’s far safer now and is refuted by a columnist.. and answers:
https://opinion.inquirer.net/140072/f-sionil-jose-responds
“Your editorial ‘Far safer now?’ (5/7/21) refuting my statement that it is much safer now is backed by so many figures which I don’t have. All I can say is do send your reporters around Manila and ask at random people their opinion. Do the same in the provinces. I am sure my statement will be confirmed.”
Now if I still could, but I guess I am too far removed now, I might go undercover and try to get a feel of why the street apparently thinks that way. If Sionil Jose is indeed right. What shapes that perception, is it real or just a comfortable illusion. I have no idea, really now. Are the facts based on badly gathered data or is Sionil Jose deluded? Huge gap there.
From the past debates, I’ve always said, at least from my time there, that all this shabu was gonna end violently one way or another. I mean all bargirls were on it, Ireneo. Taxi drivers. All the stand-bys, sigas…
If you were some working stiff and you had to be awoken in the middle of the night because these addicts were causing a ruckus , or if you’re working somewhere in the the ME or EU, and your kids were getting into fights, or using themselves.
It’ll catch up. So I agree with Mr. Jose, that’s something that cannot be statisticized, that’s more a qualitative , feel kinda truth. Worries add up. To the point where a DU30 who promised blood, he ran on that platform, Ireneo. DU30 was needed.
And the kicker of it all was that the guy delivered. Blood ran wild. And he’s at 90% approval!!!
Well, most people anywhere in the world will go by subjective sense of safety.
The street example I tend to go by is the drinking ban around the Munich central station which before the drinking ban was a kinda wild place for many people.
I didn’t have issues with that as I have always had good instincts, knew not to confront the drunks who obviously had taken other stuff as well, usually outcasts of course, but the incident that hit the local papers was a 38 year old man beaten into a coma.
Now if that young man was the typical Munich professional who is far more sportive than me, he was physically a cut above those wrecks, but one should never underestimate how wildened the desperate can be, how further they will go than those with less to lose.
Now the approach here was more methodical and civilized, not killing those who struck anxiety into commuters passing a major junction point. It was drive them out, double the beats especially during certain critical hours, introduce a new municipal security force with truncheons, martial arts backgrounds and stab-proof jackets to back up the State and Federal police as well as the Munich transport security personnel who before only managed to chase them from one place to the next. The approach worked.
Yes they probably drank elsewhere even before quarantine, but the sense of safety is because they are no longer seen where lots of people pass during their daily grind.
My sense of what happened to the adik in the Philippines – same-same. Scared to be seen and killed so gone into hiding, so people feel safer. But not gone, problem not solved. Same here but without murder, which in my view is better. Just my two cents on that.
Exactly, Ireneo.
And the hope here is that Inday Sara will be more amenable to the Munich strategy (Western advancements really). Remember addicts went to jail voluntarily in fear of death, they didn’t just disappear.
But to her strategies and policies, not only in policing but in everything else. I’m just saying that there pummeling tells a lot about a person. Where one’s heart is. So maybe, she will be better than her father, but if we believe Mr. Jose, she’ll only add on to an already great achievement. Thus must continue it.
Was Mr. Jose a Yellow before, or was he a new convert to DU30’s achievement? in public safety. That was a good read.
Well, Mar Roxas’ PNP was working with the Bavarian State Police on Western-style professionalization, but that program was suspended from the Bavarian side in 2016 due to the human rights aspect Dutz violated.
When I hear about buy-busts in the Philippines that is the approach over here to getting the big fishes, one reads about it in the papers, and it seems they use old-fashioned and new (The Wire style surveillance work one hears) Police intelligence to get there. Mar Roxas’ Lambat Sibat program did catch some big fish, and probably was the local adaptation of Western style police work, though I admit I know too little of that stuff.
What Mar Roxas may have lacked is that the approach here is possible because in most places here, beat cops do an excellent job of keeping drug dealers and junkies from actually making neighborhoods unsafe. Munich central station a recent exception.
In fact Munich central station was the first time public safety issues in Bavaria reached anything close to what already is in a lot of German cities. The approach to solving that was partly copied from what Hamburg did 20 years ago.
Now if one looks at the Philippines which always has been substantially less safe than anywhere in Western countries or advanced Asian countries, it seems Roxas and the Liberals simply overlooked the street. As you know I am not for Dutz’s barbaric ways. But a successful liberal strategy might have to integrate aspects of modern law-and-order conservatism on the short term, coupled with social democratic aspects a la VP Leni, to get the Philippines to “Singapore”. No I don’t think more of Dutz’s approach will work. It has lead to mayors, judges, labor organizers, farmers etc . dying and leads to “Liberia” a la Charles Taylor. But listening to the street and finding modern, working solutions could be the only way Liberals find a way back. But are they ready for that discussion? Dunno.
Ireneo,
I was just thinking to add to Mr. Sionil Jose’s perspective.
One thing that struck me with bargirls/KTV girls over there was that like 90% of them had toes what were really spread out. Pinky toes especially were really developed; unlike us in the West who wear shoes everywhere, I surmise they are from the province where they ran around bare foot as kids.
Reading also Col. Logico’s barefoot running blog, I don’t know if he ran barefoot as a kid, but being an officer’s kid, I’m sure he would ‘ve grown up pretty sheltered.
But because he’s now running barefoot, I’m thinking he’s got a better feel for the ground now. So that saying go a mile in somebody’s shoes, i’d go further and add if you can get your pinky toes (the tiniest one) so developed you’d probably understand the stuff going on on the ground better.
Have a better sense.
I ‘m sure Mr. Sionil Jose doesn’t walk or run bare foot, as those girls in bars/KTVs, but he’s got a ground sense, that’s also really well developed, I’m curious now knowing he’s actually a well loved novelist there, how he develops this sense.
This is connected to the queries i’ve just asked below to mundski, hopefully Logie or others would also chime in.
Maybe being over 90 makes the difference with Sionil Jose. Up to the 1950s different kinds of Filipinos lived basically next to one another in many places.
Gated communities started in the late 1940s for the rich only and for the middle class construction of such subdivisions, now usually called villages, took off in the 1970s.
Jose did write something last year where many a writer colleague roasted him for lack of empathy https://www.philstar.com/opinion/2020/07/13/2027529/how-nations-die
You can also look at the good fathers whose sons went sour. Cayetano, Angara for example. Sometimes they go the opposite direction. I think Sara Duterte-Carpio needs to be considered for herself, not her relatives.
Well, it will definitely be her father’s network, she’ll be utilizing.
The other questions we’ll have to divinate is if Inday Sara will be indebted or unnecessarily loyal to said network, that PhD dissertation about the worst in utang loob, will she suffer from that. Or will she knock some sense in people if they are going astray.
That’s why that example is really important of Inday Sara losing her temper. How close was she to that in-law judge? to go against him, because a punch to the Sheriff is technically a slap to the judge’s face.
Then I’d also be interested in the diplomacy and damage control to mend back bridges after the deed was done. I know the squatters were relocated. But how did Inday Sara make amends with people she offend— was it groveling or was it more like
now you guys know what I’m about, mutual respect typa mending. Not I.O.U. from weakness.
Thanks. A number of people on the FB discussion have focused on her comment in 2019 that honesty is not needed. She’ll have to defend that.
sara is lawyer, and once shared bank accounts with her father pre2016 presidential election is what I recall. numerous bank accounts and some in cebu mounting to 90millions? there was contention then about waiving bank secrecy laws that duterte vehemently opposed. and refusing still until now.
hence mayhap sara’s comment later, honesty is not needed.
Oh, that’s the background on the honesty remark? Hmmmmm. Big issue. I find the video that LCX provided fascinating. Soft-spoken but with a glint of steel stiletto in those eyes. If her mother raised her, we should learn of her mother’s character.
her mother is wheelchair bound now, wrack with old age and probly reliving the gestapo years: all the killings and bombings and cutting off of heads in mindanaw, the kidnaps for ransom, the rebel friends of duterte released from prison and having dinner in malakanyang, the revolutionary tax duterte proposed for his rebels friends, etc, etc.
sara’s mother had her marriage to duterte annulled; too many women duterte has, his marriage vows may just be a piece of paper but the vows carried a weight only the court can void.
and had the mother gone back to live in israel taking the kids with her, she did not. too much bombings in israel as well, hell with the palestinians, the hezbollah, hana masrawi, and peace is just as illusive.
I understand sara is close to her father, much closer than the father’s then partner and privy to the fathers extra curricular activities; sara being lawyer and complementing the suppposedly prosecutor father. shared many things in common, politically and financially. sara once played victim and said she too was raped, her father duly laughed her off, drama queen kuno, dabaw is safest place how could sara be raped?
I once saw on national t.v. sara and son accompanying duterte on state visit to china somewhere around 2017? I cannot forget sara’s blue dress (same color as monica llewinsky’s of the bill clinton affair). the state visit was supposed to last for 4days but drastically cut down to 2days. could well be that president xi was not pleased to see the two generations of dutertes in china, mayhap the trip was for xi to give blessing for the propagation of the duterte dynasty.
it was then reported the dutertes spent the remaining 2days in hongkong when hongkong was still peaceful, b4 the democratic bombshell broke lose.
Ah, thanks for that profile, k. I suspect her relationship with her father is fairly normal, respectful and obedient child who bristles when told not to do something, or told to do something. Her mother gave her the intellectual wit (see honesty video) and verbal agility.
I remember the China trip. Awkward. She did not enjoy that, is my sense. Ship out of water.
Thank you kasambahay for pointing out the Duterte – China connection. In terms of foreign interference from Beijing, it’s 2016 all over again. Or, it’s actually worse. Now as the father is utang na loob for the (barely effective) vaccines provided by the mainland, the daughter won’t do anything to offend the Party. Actually, the daughter will be a more effective installment for the Party, since she’s able to conduct affairs with a veneer of humaneness and is obviously less senile than her father.
Sara Duterte-Carpio’s party was formed in 2018 as a regional party aligned with several other parties that fielded a slate of 2019 Senate candidates including a couple of plunderers, Angara, Villar, etc, etc. Which explains why Angara does not speak out much on anything but basketball. Here’s the wiki write-up with all the gory details.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugpong_ng_Pagbabago
Thanks Joe. Just to clarify my other comment: By the Party (capitalized) I was alluding to the one with headquarters in Beijing. The one Party that reigns supreme in an increasing number of issues. Not only in the Philippines by the way.
I think this is the basis of that misquote, Joe. It’s an interview, where Inday Sara was asked are candidates required to be honest.
And she said something like , if you’re in office yes, but not if you’re still a candidate.
And it seems the reporter and Inday Sara were talking past each other. a bit of gatcha journalism. It seems she was trying to articulate this,
If its another quote with different context, please correct.
Ah, great, LCX. That’s the one. This is a case where the video catches her striving not to laugh out loud as she acknowledges, basically, that candidates make stuff up. In a way, she is being so honest that she got in trouble for it. Well, that takes care of that objection nicely. Shakespeare puts the icing on the cake.
You are doing a great job of helping me accept that Duterte-Carpio is a legitimate candidate, not a flake. The common objections coming from the yellow camp seem not to bear out, although there’s a lot to work through yet.
This objection came up on Twitter this morning:
“Inday Sara has a baggage she’s bringing to the table: her influence peddling lawyer husband… can not recall the details but he was representing a business that came to the attention of a senate hearing abt a monopoly…history repeating an Arroyo presidency?”
Well, I’m researching this as I go too, Joe. And although I started out simply as contrarian, devil’s advocate, the more I dig the more I like.
Agree, the Yellows disdain for her is unwarranted, mostly lacking in substance. I wish we had more policy vs. policy type compare and contrast.
As for her husband, I’m realizing he’s both the ex Ombudsman’s and ex act. Chief Justice’s nephew.
His aunt , Inday Sara’s aunt-in-law, was appointed to SC Philippines by GMA, along with a Justice Callejo Sr. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romeo_Callejo_Sr. who Inday Sara clerked for.
So Inday Sara I think would be close to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conchita_Carpio-Morales , since they’d have been in the same building. Now I don’t know how long she clerked for Callejo, but
I’d like to get their input as to Inday Sara’s character, and also how good a legal mind she is.
Excellent pursuits. Thank you. So she is as likely to be influenced by the good side of the Constitution as the bad. Really, we need to view her for herself, not as President Duterte II.
Or Henry VIII after Henry VII, Charles I after James I. England first deciding our nobles have failed, let’s get a Welshman, then a Scot. Finally realizing they might as well let Parliament really take charge and make Kings irrelevant.
The Philippines may yet be at that stage of its development, though as Mark Twain said history never repeats itself, it just rhymes. Yeah, one never knows unless one tries.
Well said Sir. The idea that Sara (without H=hope) is the salvation and ohh so good is very mislead and actually borderline deluded. Uy’s are very close to the family and we all know how important these things are to the Duterte’s
Thanks LCX
Thank you, karl. I was actually writing this complex article about Virtues and Constructor theory, that would’ve taken a week, and how Inday Sara will galvanize the Philippines. But after reading that article you shared last, I was like man this is too complicated, just go for the gut.
Are you voting for Inday Sara now? If only to defeat Marcos.
Still no.
If Leni would not run and Trillanes does, Trillanes .
Opposition must vote on the opposition candidate not the lesser of two evil Admin bets
That’s like a Mar and Poe situation in 2016.
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1431190/trillanes-denies-dividing-opposition-with-2022-presidential-bid
This only means that the opposition is divided and is looking for the one to blame for its divisiveness.
Come on opposition, we do not want to continue griping and yapping for another six years.
Poe was blamed for not giving way to Mar and vice versa.
For now Trillanes said he will run if Leni will not run, hopefully he will do the right and best decision if and when Leni decides to run for president.
despite all the nasty things said about him, trillanes is not afraid to put his hand up for presidency. no one in the coalition is putting thier hands up, so if trillanes got in early, kudos to him. he has declared himself open for the top job, good. he’s not shy about it, good again. he’s straight to the point and does not mince words, good 3x.
I hope voters follow trillanes’ example and register early and not wait for deadline.
and now that trillanes has declared his presidency, he can plan his moves and counter moves, have both his plan a and plan b in place.
it’s admirable that trillanes is willing to give his spot to leni, if.
I will only believe trillanes is being divisive when the founder of 1sambayan, carpio, say so himself and not some journalist out for sensational stories.
F*** this sh!t
This is exactly the kind of crap that got us Rodrigo for these 6 miserable years. Hasn’t anyone learned a thing. This is a DUTERTE. Another would be tyrant who plays to the audience. A Johnny come dandy who is hero to the poor. It’s the same tiring old crap that got us Erap, almost got us FPJ, and now Rodrigo.
Whatever Sara had in her heart of hearts when she punched that sheriff doesn’t concern me. It’s the impunity of acting on fiat that does. You tell me her heart is in the right place so she is justified to disregard all laws. WRONG! We are trying to build a nation of Laws. I understand the point that some rich dude is trying to get himself the land by probably bribing or corrupting the system. But what led to that system is precisely what we’re trying to prevent by establishing uncompromising laws. And besides, Sara being mayor, could have easily found a relocation for these people. Why didn’t she? Ah… because she’d lose all these votes to her name?
Your essay is fine at face value. Except it is predicated on the idea that this will always be nation whose laws are inutile. And that’s exactly what we’re trying to fix. The only way forward is to elect someone who will show respect for the laws and exercise enough political will to enforce them. And you suggest we vote someone who has already shown her contempt for laws? No sir.
“We are trying to build a nation of Laws.” That’s the crux of your comment, Logie.
Until such time as it becomes one , anything goes right? Just like the Wild West over here, Wyatt Earp did worst things. Took it real personal.
But until you actually have a nation of Laws, IMHO examples like these have to viewed with more sympathetic eyes. If might was used for right, then its okay.
Now if you jump to Inday Sara continuing more EJKs, that’s an argument I’d like supported, Logie.
Sara and EJKs are something that may or may not exist. She may, or may not, be hiding behind laws, we don’t know. But what we do know that she has enough gumption to flaunt her disdain of the laws. The question is are we willing to take the risk knowing she has the ability go above the law? Her intention in the Sheriff incident may be correct in the eyes of most. But what is our guarantee that her heart will always be on the right? Besides, what is right? What is wrong? There are always two sides to the same coin. One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.
Only the law can bring order to such chaos. And while it isn’t perfect, there should be something we can subscribe to. We definitely cannot allow one person’s sense of right and wrong to be our guiding principle.
I prefer to think that we are already past the Wild West era. But if we aren’t, then we have to start sometime. William Bonnie (aka Billy the Kid) had the same motivation as Wyatt Earp. Both were fighting for someone’s rights. Another point of similarity between the two was both initiated a bloodbath from the vendettas.
Achieving what we want is a long haul. But if we don’t start somewhere, sometime, we will never get there. I would think that these 6 years have taught us that enough is enough. The risk of another Duterte far outweighs the limited benefits anyway. Why go for someone who may, or may not, rule fair and true? We should go for one that is sure to do just that.
Fully agree, yet somehow “yellows” managed to lose a lot of Filipinos who had lost their faith in the formal system of government and its laws, with Dutz not necessarily Wild West or Wild South but a corrupted version of the datu system of old which goes by personalistic solutions implemented by a Mayor, not uncommon in the Philippines if one looks at the reputation of Mayor Alfredo Lim of Manila, for instance, or 1950s warlords.
People in more developed nations usually have faith in the clockwork of modern institutions as they work for them. The question is, what is being done to move forward on that in the Philippines? How to convince a nation full of hard-headed people?
taumbayan will be convinced when time comes and they will go to the polls even before the sun is up, and with patience they will pila and wait for their turn to vote; amid the promises of better tomorrow, vote buying and fear mongering.
at the moment pre-election, we’re just talking and not killing one another, getting to know one and all, and sizing.
god willing, when the time to vote is nearing, many of us will be going to church and asking for heavenly guidance. as usual, there will be bombings, bloodshed, misery and distrust.
hard headed people, stubborn people, they know what they want. and my hard headed wish is there will be no more duterte or marcoses in malakanyang. they have already squandered people’s goodwill and dont deserve another chance.
“…WE DEFINITELY CANNOT ALLOW ONE PERSON’S SENSE OF RIGHT AND WRONG TO BE OUR GUIDING PRINCIPLE…”
This for me is the most essential point and the reason why our laws and democratic institutions are failing.
Thank you Logie Kinko.
We haven’t asked this question, what if during the sherif incident, the mayor was a male and not a woman? And threw real punches? damaging punches? All caught on video. Would the story have been different? Will we have this discussion. Just wondering
That was my hint about Pac-man’s response (knocking out the sheriff), mundski. It would’ve totally played out differently, like if Paolo hit the sheriff.
Mainly, because the expectation for women in power over there is that its Maria Clara time, ala VP Leni, GMA , Cory, etc. etc. they are suppose to just smile and give stern looks when something goes awry,
because you know politics and power is the perview of men there.
But when you see a woman hit a man, from a position of power, but also from a perspective of caring, here she wanted no one hurt so residents could be relocated w/out incident.
Taking the sheriff to the hospital (but essentially kidnapping him, separating him from the scene) was also a good touch.
The crux of my interpretation of the whole incident is that she knows how to elicit fear. I’m sure she won’t be punching anyone anytime soon, mundski, just not practical counter productive even I’m sure she realized, but that ability to strike fear and love is a huge difference from other women of power there.
“I eat death threats for breakfast” (RIP) typa strength, and she’s showed since that incident how well she can play this game of thrones. That incident was just window to her character. Inday Sara’s evolved exponentially since.
Hmm.. Will asked this question on FB just shortly after Dutz came into power: “Do Filipinos really need to be raised with fear just like dogs are?”
Rizal wrote that those who submit to tyranny love it, and are likely to become tyrants..
I don’ want to take away antyhing from Sara’s intentions of caring for the people but I just can’t take this any further than someone in position who lost temper, and let her hands go. because something did not go her way? I understand there can be much more to it than that, but I’m not ready to bet on such unknownables or unverifiable for any of them, Pacquiao, BBM, Trillanes, Leni etc
The ablity to elicit fear is way down my list of traits my president should possess anyway. Duterte has already proven this to be ineffective, including other similar populist leaders ,right?
Ireneo, mundsky,
elicit fear not from the people, but from other Filipinos of power. So the dogs (per Wil’s analogy) are those Filipinos of power, not the people.
The difference I’m talking about is if VP Leni, can do that. Because wasn’t that the issue with Cory and GMA. Same dudes (or different dudes ) with power got to run amok.
Action movies which include class conflict as part of the plot, rich-vs-poor, and with such black-and-white morality the lower classes — actually, the older generations who grew up with FPJ and Estrada movies, and even some GenXers who had Robin Padilla movies in their diet — would go for the underdog.
Actors such as Revilla coming from this genre of movies have capitalized on it by brandishing themselves as moral figures, however their hands are already deep into vats of corruption.
Thank you Logie! You spoke my mind.
And thank you Lance for this read, was quite a ride. Appreciate the perspective.
She has worse governing experience than his father. Pattern recognition is human’s best trait, let’s use it. Inday Sara pummelling the sherrif is Duterte pouncing his chest over his willingness to kill, and implementing the idea. Did she do it out of sincerity, out of care, or was she merely doubling down on his father’s tactics? I just wish we can simulate Marcos Pacquiao and Sara handling the country as presidents. I will bet Sara will not be any good, and can potentially be worse than Duterte. We don’t need one who waste time on utang na loob and feeding of her patrons to ensure support/control. In short, we don’t need another trapo. We don’t need another uncontrollable train wreck who acts on knee jerk reactions. Let’s get back on the slow gradual straight up progress train, without the pompous grandoise of instant dramatic changes through shock and awe.
And if there’s anyone in this country who would be willing to continue Duterte’s EJK, the best bet is Sara Duterte.
like father, like daughter, both have short fuse and like riding on motorbikes, leaving others to choke on their dusts.
I kinda did a pseudo simulation of VP Robredo, Marcos, Pac-man, I shoulda added Trillanes too. He’d probably just ask the squatters if they have any dragon tattoos and digits to decode.
Ray S, you’d also have to account for DU30’s 90% approval.
kb above, brings up a good point what if that Sheriff was on orders from her father? or her office? But the scenario if you study it closely, Inday Sara was making phone calls, to the judge to the Sheriff to police, etc. And she did give a stay order.
So it wasn’t just the pummeling, but if you remember Inday Sara essentially kidnapped the Sheriff and brought him to the hospital. The solution was simple, the Sheriff insisted on demolition, judge was nowhere to be found, separate the Sheriff from the scene.
The elegance of her thought process is beautiful almost, like that Alvarez ouster. A lot of her patterns or ways of doing things, MO if you will, is hidden but from what little I can discern, it seems like her problem solution, pattern recognition skills is off the hook, Ray S.
That’s why I said intuitive. She understand power plays, that’s why its important to figure out what happened afterwards, what transpired. Because if I was that Judge Carpio i’d go all the way up to the supreme court.
But everything was ironed out.
As for continuance of EJKs, like I said to Logie, make that argument. I’d love to hear it.
I disagree with how you think Trillanes will fare as president. The trolls and propaganda have gone down on him hard for years and sullied his image beyond recognition. Everyone sees him as a barking dog. But could it be he’s fearless and loud only because he’s clean? And isn’t he of the most prolific senators? People should try harder and imagine what he’ll actually do and how he’ll fare when, in a troll free world, he gets elected as president.
The Philippines has reached a stage where competence is seen as merely “book-smart” and theoretical, lacking the effectivity of street-smart “diskarte”. See also Sionil Jose dismissing facts in favor of the buzz on the streets.
Now of course LCPL_X is street smarts par excellence so I know where that cowboy is coming from. Question is, how to convince the man on the street competence works?
Maybe too little was done to confront the trolls and convince those in the middle?
Hello sir I will be one to suggest if Trillanes does actually run for president, that he pulls an information campaign to disprove and clarify many of the trolls propaganda and unfounded stories. Maybe to dust off some of the dirt. Trolls anyway may not play a big of a role in 2022 than how its power was abused in 2016? I don’t know.
And to convince everyone by painting Duterte as the representation of this “street wise” diskarte we’re all fond of venerating, and show that it didn’t work and will not work IMHO. It could be that “diskarte” is overrated ,and that it’s easier for any experienced “book-smart” competent, and honest public servant to catch up to the “street smart guy’s abilities, than the other way around? I’m just saying we don’t need another one with tons of unknowns and red flags
You just appealed to pattern recognition, mundski. Trillanes pattern is that. Always barking up the wrong tree.
If he really wanted that tattoo allegation substantiated, he should’ve gotten some KTV girls to get Paolo to take off his shirt, then have them take pics of said back tattoo.
But that’s not the point, he as a senator should know how to grand stand, honestly it was like that Ironman 2 senate committee scene, in which Gary Shandling’s character asked for the Ironman suit, to which Tony Stark emphatically said no.
Trillanes does seem to bark like a dog at times, but it’s more like an attack. Fearless right? Because honest people with nothing to hide can afford to be fearless. If he becomes president, he may stop barking altogther, since there’s no one to bark up to. He gets to be top dog, and gets to working. He has the reputation to work like one too (a dog?) if i’m not mistaken.
Fearless is fine, mundski. But being strategic, knowing when to do things, timing, etc. that’s the stuff of leaders. Sure, he’s kept himself outside of prison unlike D5. But I ‘m getting the sense that Trillanes is again getting himself outplayed by no other than Inday Sara (we’ll see, i could be wrong). that Inday Sara is setting her sights on BBM, like that’s her target (collaterals as VP Leni/Trillanes). She’s seeing a more expansive field. Now like Logie said, I don’t know where that leaves us… a Thanos infinity war event, or will she be more like the good Galactus (life giver) from Ultimates,
I dunno, but my point is Inday Sara looks big, a big event personality. She’s not barking.
@Logie,
No worries. Nothing disparaging there.
I agree with everything you said above by the way. But I’m a realist. Not so much an idealist.
“Why go for someone who may, or may not, rule fair and true? We should go for one that is sure to do just that.” Boom. So who is it?
Then the next question is if that rule of law person, can he/she get others to play? that Tapang of that Malasakit ditty comes to play. Correct?
But if your point is anyone but Inday Sara, then you’re playing with a different set of rules to the very one you’ve just postulated.
If you look at all the new Supreme Court justices over there, every single justice seems rightfully there, like whether it was DU30 or Mar, or Poe, or BBM, they’d be there. The only justice that seems hand picked is the guy from a law school in Cebu City.
And if you look at his stats, he’s not like the other justices. I think, he was Inday Sara’s pick, and that may divinate some stuff for us, Logie. But like you say, we just don’t know, but one’s gotta make a choice.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgardo_Delos_Santos <<<
Re realism, here is a lecture by Col. Logico where he introduces the realist, liberal and constructivist schools of state.
Slightly related as my view of society is more constructivist. Yours is Hobbes while the Liberal view is Rousseau. Dutz has quoted Hobbes at times I think.
Mine’s actually more John Locke, man’s state w/out gov’t is actually pretty ho-hum. People get tired of violence, but violence is there as tool to get everything back to ho-hum. That’s the homeostasis, ho-hum. Which means somethings really quite amiss in the Philippines that its populace thought DU30 was a good idea, and still a good idea.
Violence is an aberration in nature.
Pardon this very late reply. It couldn’t be helped.
You ask a fair question. The short answer is Leni Robredo. The reasons being that she encapsulates most, if not everything, I choose in a candidate. And she has the track record to show for it. But given that she hasn’t announced, then I am constrained to support whoever the United opposition fields. Which I believe touches your other point: that of anyone but Inday Sara.
My rejection of Sara is still consistent with my stand. As is my rejection of any candidate fielded by the administration. Whether it be Sara or Bong Go or whoever, I cannot help but see the same cast of characters that have brought us to this sad pass. As you yourself said, Sara will definitely employ her father’s network. And that is basically another Rodrigo Duterte nightmare. Add the fact that Sara has control of the lower house. Unless majority of those seated now get beaten next year, then she can dictate to Congress. Same with the Judiciary. She will inherit a court that is beholden to her namesake. Put together, if she wins, she will have dictatorial powers right off the bat.
Of course it is fair to say that she may not be her father. But then again, I can also invoke the same. Whereas her father was indolent and genuinely looking to retire peacefully, Sara may actively and aggressively plot for dictatorial rule. Whereas her father lacked the appreciation for sophisticated maneuvering, Sara has already shown that she could change the House leadership at a whim. Twice. The argument that she could be a wiser, kinder, and more moral leader who will exercise judicious use of power has the same merits as she could be a younger, more energetic, and more ruthless version of her father.
In the end, this is still all speculation. But my decision to reject her is based on fact. And that is what you cited in your article. Where you choose to see someone who stood up for the poor, I choose to see as someone who took the law into her own hands and dispensed justice as she saw fit. Now, you tell me: how is that different from the EJKs of her father?
I know that we both want the same things. I just opt for a more conservative and safer approach to get it. Safer in the sense that that objective may fall by wayside during the next administration, but it wouldn’t be altogether abandoned. Which, from experience, is something that the Duterte cabal are wont to do.
Thank you for the exchange. You have a pleasant day, Sir.
“Where you choose to see someone who stood up for the poor, I choose to see as someone who took the law into her own hands and dispensed justice as she saw fit. Now, you tell me: how is that different from the EJKs of her father?”
Because no one got killed that day, Logie. That makes all the difference.
Everything else you said , I agree. More data is needed, and that’s where journalists come in, but they are too busy covering lifestyle columns.
I agree Sara will employ the same network of people. That’s more than enough reason.
some inheritance sara will get from her father. if president, methink sara will not be too mundane to dirty her hands as punching anyone, though she could send armed personnel in full battle regalia to the job for her, and flatten all.
@LCX,
Thanks for having composure, even when others including me lose composure when reacting to you.
No worries, karl. I poke, its what I do. So FYs and TYs are just the same for me, tells me I’m connecting one way or another, best feed back both. But you already know I mean well. And I you. Passion. its a funny thing, karl.
Okay, it’s midnight here now. Gotta sleep. I think we got a lot of stuff done, covered all the big things.
Let’s focus on these two next:
1. Will Inday Sara continue EJKs?
2. Is Inday Sara a bridge builder?
Watch this, I thought it shed some light on her character:
Enjoyed the video, LCX. Thanks. Done by Rappler.
Bullshit.
Assaulting a sheriff and not being prosecuted for it was a gross display of political elite privilege and impunity—and precisely what should have permanently disqualified her from public office. She should have gone to jail.
It is bullshit in terms of American norms or the ideals of civility and law, that’s true. But it’s actually culturally correct, which is one of LCX’s main themes. I recall when I first came to the Philippines and was introduced to campaigning Philippine style, with kidnappings and physical violence. I was friends with one barangay captain candidate and the son of the other candidate, a lawyer well connected politically, was my neighbor. One night I was sitting on a bench near the beach when two thuds hit the sand about 20 feet away, followed by the noise of the gunshots. Being highly brave or stupid, I ambled over to my neighbor’s beach cottage where he was drinking beer with two cops with automatic rifles. We chatted a while and worked things out. It’s different here.
Kidnapping, assassination, and political violence is also culturally correct in Myanmar, Brazil, and in Putin’s Russia.
Should we, as a nation, just settle for the lowest common denominator here?
Micha, you think those things didn’t happen during PNoy’s time, GMA, even Cory? Those things happened and continued to happen. Will continue to happen. Most rich folk there and politicians or both had their hand hidden, DU30 was just transparent, even promoting it. That’s the only difference.
My point, things have been pretty low already. Sure, better than Burma maybe. But same neighborhood.
You’re not really appreciating Inday Sara, Micha. Logie above is on to something.
I think Run, Sara, Run and 1Sambayan is her pincer manuever. Yellows are so caught up on defeating Sara, that they don’t even realize they’re in a pincer kill box. Remember this scene from Chris Nolan’s TENET? that’s it.
That’s a failure of imagination.
That we have tended to normalize these things is a revelation in how low and dystopian we have become.
No, of course not. But it eez what it eez.
I suppose one can choose a candidate best suited to the current conditions or one who will seek to build a modern state. Aquino was the latter, showing that the current state is very powerful. Sara Carpio-Duterte seems to be the former.
Manolo Quezon once Tweeted this: “the Commonwealth [1935] was modernity with a nod to tradition, the New Society [1972] was tradition with a nod to modernity – 2016 was the periphery finally taking over.” So the barangay culture you mentioned won back then.
It is no wonder as it is the political culture most Filipinos have experienced and understand instinctively. Too bad for those of us schooled in modern expectations.
VP Leni is also from the “barangay political culture”, just more of its community aspect than the conflict and coercion aspect Inday Sara represents. Of course VP Leni gets the modern state better. Well, Nancy Binay also gets it better than her father did.
All just part of the synthesis of original Filipino tribal culture and the Philippine state.
Agree with Logie, Inday Sara could be better or worse than her father. This is akin to my analogy of the sisters Bloody Mary and Queen Elizabeth, who will she be more like. And the question is, what kind of Philippines would she leave behind by around 2028?
Agree on the similarities of VP Leni and Inday Sara’s training grounds. If the two combined they’d be formidable, then they can kick out the Marcoses from the Philippines once and for all.
Send them all to Antarctica. or Siberia.
Both VP Leni and Inday Sara are also crafty , IMHO. Unlike Trillanes who seems to bumble thru the simplest of things. Like that dragon tattoo fiasco, you don’t have to be a genius to understand how criminal investigations work, you ask questions you already know the answers to. Trap ’em. That’s grand standing.
The Yellows seem to think this is just about Inday Sara, and fail to realize that for BBM this is all or nothing. Realistically 2022 is BBM vs. Inday Sara.
Marcos vs. Duterte. Thus, Inday Sara is 1Sambayan.
Joe,
Aquino’s major shortcoming is that he governed very conservatively while carrying the flag of the Liberal Party.
Yes, the Liberal Party is conservative and leftists are liberal. But the ‘shortcomings’ observation suggests that he should have achieved more, and it is this broadly ingrained dissatisfaction that led to Duterte. “Appreciation” seems absent in the dialogue.
6 years is a long enough period if you have a clear transformative vision for the country but it is dismally short if you only have a turo-turo approach to progress and will require a complicit designated successor to continue implementing the tip-toeing agenda.
That Roxas failed to step into the plate (thanks in part to at least a couple of own goals) is because the masses are literally starving for change while he could only mouth fealty for more of the same.
Rodrigo, in contrast, offered bold populist declarations which turned out to be largely empty as well.
And therein lies the tragedy of the Philippines.
Agree entirely.
Totalyl agree with this
Pandering to the masa with populist rhetoric and theatrics while bending over for elite support and foreign pera have long been hallmarks of Philippine politics.
I call bullshit.
Father and daughter Duterte should have been jailed long ago. They’re just cut-rate baduy promdi elites, and far worse for the Philippines than the traditional snob elites.
Filipinos are very good at fooling themselves. Foreigners who make excuses for that do Filipinos no favors.
So you’re a BBM supporter then?
Non sequitur.
One need not be a BBM supporter to say No to bullshit.
DDS etc. = bullshit.
BBM = bullshit.
No rationalizations.
So who you for then?
At this point, I’m for the ghost of Rene Requiestas.
“They’re just cut-rate baduy promdi elites, and far worse for the Philippines than the traditional snob elites.”
Sharp description of those hoodlums from Davao.
They took advantage of what the public then saw it as the poor triumphing over the rich with such a strong(wo)man on their side.
https://globalnation.inquirer.net/196205/fwd-duterte-to-china-ph-wont-withdraw-ships-from-wps
After 5 years of being a lameduck on wps, he wants to show that he is no lameduck. Maybe for Sara’s sake.
sara will owe him, may utang na luob yang anak and to pay for the utang, anak will do anything the father will ask like maybe, update and enlarge the father’s narco list, lol! also not cooperate with ICC and refuse to hand in supporting ejk documents, resurrect chacha o federalism and maybe overturn the recent palawan plebiscite.
she is her father’s daughter!
I am not voting her. No way!
sus, ang tabang at mala-ahit, the father and daughter duo. wait a week or two and the father will change his statement, again.
will not withdraw our ships? more like our ships have been there and will stay there whether the father likes it or not. he’d be shamed if our ships refused his order to withdraw, better if he goes along with the flow.
the secret verbal aggreement made with communist china made the father late and hesitant in coming onboard. naunahan siya ng mga patriots natin, took it upon themselves at isinulong ang sovereignty, manning the sea; habang the father was missing in action, maybe busy drying his nails, lol!
as for the dutiful daughter, she’ll observed the secret verbal agreement. the coaliton wont; they dont know the details of the secret agreement and wont be so observant or obedient.
if the father wants continuity of the secret agreement, his best bet is to relinquish the presidency to his daughter.
Seeing as questions 1 and 2 yesterday go unresolved.
Here’s
3. Who is Inday Sara’s husband? Will he be another Mr. GMA? Is he close to all the 3 Carpio judges already mentioned here?
VP Leni… 1. No EJKs 2. Already a Bridge Builder; 3. No husband/no worries.
But question for her is, does she have a killer instinct, both figuratively and literally. Is she to be feared, not just loved. No doubt as Joe eloquently puts she is the stuff of modern state; but to get from here to there, one has to account and be able to navigate current conditions. In that very important regard, VP Leni is no Inday Sara.
Nor is Inday Sara a VP Leni.
It seems to be a common observation that the VP is just not cut out to tackle the rigors of the job. Owing to her penchant to just accept the crap hurled at her, people may seem to think that she’s too laid back, or just not the tough fighter we need to lead us.
That’s Rodrigo talking. Talking about the VP’s perceived weaknesses is buying into duterte’s bs that she is “incompetent”. If there’s one thing Duterte taught us is that talking tough mostly translates to walking soft. The actions never outgun the rhetoric. While Sara is not the braggart her father is, she already has the “tough” image simply by virtue of inheritance.
All this while the VP is silently just going about her business. But what people forget is that she has been the subject of a well funded, vicious, full-on attack with the entire government resources behind it. And yet, she was never even knocked down. Duterte and his entire crew are already a spent force and the VP isn’t even on 4th gear. She was mercilessly left to fend for herself and yet she can conjure up funding at the flick of a wrist. People think she just kept taking the hits like a punching bag but the truth is it didn’t even faze her enough to even look in the direction. They weren’t even annoying mosquitos to her. Impervious is the word best suited.
Now who is really the tougher one? Look beyond all the noise and you’ll find that she has solidified her position with genuine service. She is the opposite of the current status quo of all talk. Inday Sara may not register the same braggadocio as her father, but she has equaled him in terms of public service. Nil.
Yes, the VP is dedicated to doing good works. But there is a reality to the timeline on elections and by delaying her decision, she puts people like Trillanes, who are realists about what it takes to win, in a box. At some point it becomes selfish not to let others know. The ‘division’ that Trillanes is accused of flows from Robredo’s unwillingness to ‘care for the nation’ in favor of ‘caring for people’. She is complicit in everything.
I too worry about the timeline. Unless like in a game of chess, there is a brilliant move afoot. ‘Caring for the people’ instead of ‘caring for the nation’ — and thereby caring for the people too seems apt. Does she/ her team lack strategic thinking? I wonder.
ah, timeline. leni has to make decision soon. she now only has 9months to make the transition from vice to candidate and then 3months to launch her nationwide political campaign.
as for trillanes, having already declared his intention and candidacy, trillanes is now free to go after duterte harap-harapan, be the sticking thorn in duterte’s side and together with 1sambayan’s carpio, both can make the remaining years of duterte’s regime uncomfortable for duterte.
trillanes now can start lining up his financial backers, put his would be campaign managers on notice, and begin the fine tuning of his agenda and policies. and I hope he wont forget that aside from airing his policies, he has to answer questions and entertain his audience, keep them interested in him, enthralled. he has 9months to plan, then 3months to put them out to voters, before polling day.
sara did not serve her apprenticeship to the nation. in the absence of our non-existent 1st lady, sara would have very important role to play as 1st daughter, the yin to the father’s yang. instead, sara turned her back to the nation and took over her father’s previous job as mayor of dabaw. and now she wants to be president of our country?
it’s no wonder sara has to be dragged kicking and screaming, no she does not want to be president and not before 2034!
but in the meantime, could dabawenyos please, please, please put bigger tarps run sara run in places visible to all and sundry?
and could social weather stations please please please pull out survey that put sara in the lead of all presidentiables? money is no problem, so name your price, lol!
I do not agree that punching the sherif in public is an accepted norm, a politically correct action. You don’t see that everyday. It only seemed correct because she was popular and we hear people cheering, and perhaps we’re enthralled by it as well. Kumbaga, KINILIG din just as hard as the die hard dds KINILIG everytime Duterte talks. it’s almost an insult to “barangay culuture politics” if we look at this too much in this direction. I bet if you ask people who were there, many would still say it wasn’t right. If we accept such things as is, there’s no evolving forward. The “barangay political culture” is evolving ,and will evolve as the younger generation steps in the limelight and the old trapos like Duterte with their obsolete backward ways fade away. And that shouldn’t take too long.
mundski,
Let me ask you this. And this is related to what me and Ireneo were talking about above with Mr. Sionil Jose’s opinion piece. We sense a disconnect from the streets which make up that 90% and 27% support for both father and daughter.
Can you paint for us your neighborhood experience there. Like your barangay dynamics, your street, are there sigas/stand-by’s, are there shabu addicts/users, how is “husay” done have you seen it done it in person (like what Joe described, how things are ironed out).
There s a disconnect here because most here are not from the streets. I know Wil and karl, and when chempo was around they’ve described living in a gated community. subdivision. Ireneo too was from a close community of UP faculty/staff. Joe’s lived in Mindanao and has province creds.
But my theory is there’s a lot of folks who are so distant from the issues that made the DU30s so popular that they are not able to fully account for idealist and realist sentiments. I’m way separated from all this as well. And just conjecturing on my past understanding of the Philippines.
If you or Logie can paint a word picture of your neighborhood experience, then we’d have propel this blog forward, and bridge the on-the-ground vs. up above divide. Thanks, cuz that’s really at issue here.
p.s. — as to “younger generation” optimism, back when we were all debating EJKs and DDS (4 yrs or more ago) I posited that most who probably voted DU30 were BPO types, now for the 1st time in Filipino history, night and day folks met (since most BPO worked at night).
My theory was that the DU30 win was in part related to BPO because folks with solid command of English there (meaning private school or just well raised bright Filipinos) were now meeting Filipinos that don’t speak English so good, shabu/siga culture. When the meeting of those two happened, it showed in the ballot boxes.
So I tend to disagree with “younger generation” optimism. But I’m open to your thoughts on this, since we really never hashed or proved that theory wrong or right w/ satisfaction, mundski.
The younger generation I was referring to perhaps the emeregnce of modern quality , younger politicians like Vico Sotto. That’s what i had in mind I guess, not the voters.
Thanks sir. I am from the province, mostly Mindanao, though Im’ in the Visayas right now/ I remember some friends who were members of politican clans in Jolo Sulu and have shared their stories on how guns, money and a private military are absolute necessities to even think of holding a local post, even barangay. I’m well aware of the blood wars between families and how they exercise those with near impunity. I’ve seen through my own father, when he used to be virtually the right hand of a city mayor/congressman, how local politics play out, getting the barangay votes and support, and all the shenanigans the come with it.
The only thing that bothers me with this issue here, is the danger we put ourselves in when we tend to over compartmentalize the “barangay political culture” as totally different from the “modern” and national? style-, and then condone these “acceptable savagery” as realities? And realities used as tools for better national governance?
Disputes in the streets (baranggay level) are settled and may end up in a fist fight or a shouting match of death threats, but that could happen even in the highest courts. The danger is that we may be looking into this “divide” between the “on-the-ground and the up above, too much. It’s equally dangerous as someone who would assume people in the exclusive subdivisions settle their conflicts with class or finesse.
People on the streets/ground know such “ways” are exercised, wilfully by many, but people of course know they’re wrong. People still ask for police assistance, the law and the rules, etiquette, seek advise, when in trouble? Corruption is rampant- it is wrong- people realize that, they may laugh or ignore it, but still wrong I guess.
And I’m not buying the idea that I did not support D30 because i was out of touch with the realist “on the ground” realities of how things are done on the streets. IMHO Drug war = EJK was central to those votes. And people who approves of killing without due process can come from any side. Rich or poor, uneducated or intellectual, street or not.
That’s a good point about dichotomies , mundski.
I don’t mean to over simplify, but we need some sort of model (which by definition as models go, will tend simplify, but with an added bonus of clarifying stuff). You’re right maybe its not a rich/poor thing, but that support for DU30 and for Inday Sara, statistically it favors a certain population,
there’s a certain Filipino that favors their style of governance, which turns out is the majority. We’re trying to put our fingers on this difference, so as Joe’s intent here , the Yellows can adjust accordingly.
For me, I’m hoping Inday Sara’s reading this, or Mar or Bam Aquino, so those Yellows can reach out to her, so as to have her focus on modern state stuff. My intent is to bridge Inday Sara with them, so BBM doesn’t happen.
So in conclusion I agree with you, that folks are saying its wrong, but I’m also saying at least it was done for something better, not worst. That there is also part of accounting for the divide, realizing that there are grey zones here, ethically, legally, and just common sense-wise.
But please add more personal perspectives on this as we proceed. I’d personally would like to hear Joe’s stories about similar stuff in Mindanao too, as a compare contrast between Western norms, Philippines and this grey area. Realizing this grey area is key.
We use to have epic debates here about morality and immorality and amorality, when edgar (RIP) was around, I wish you’d read those old blogs and commentaries.
The complex reality of the Philippines is such that there are many models and no unified-field theory exists to fully explain things, so even decades-long observers from the country itself grope. One very credible theory is the thinning out of the Old Middle Class due to migration and its replacement by a New Middle Class with a different set of values that are different from the civic values inculcated by Club, Church and School upon the Old Middle Class. Here is a pretty good summary by MLQ3 on the theory he is working on which has many other aspects and may become a book on the Fall of the 5th Republic:
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=4573763085985085&id=100000543177156
The late Edgar Lores was representative of the older set of values in many ways, like Sonny a representative of the postwar generation. Jim Paredes is Old Middle Class, his father was in Magsaysay’s plane that crashed, Leah Navarro’s grandfather as well.
You might be interested in about 20 years of commentary and analysis by Manolo Quezon as well on his webpage http://www.quezon.ph/ – I follow him on Twitter @mlq3 also.
MLQ3’s analysis of “The Great Eagle Father as President” is worth looking at as well.
Yes thank you sir. I got here because of JoeAm @societyofhonor . One of only four twitter accounts I have notifications enabled. 🙂 I like it here. I may shed some hours off my gaming time and from being an angry foul mouthed troll in twitter to start reading up and participating in blogs again. 😀
LOL!
If you can find some time for us, we’ll need your input and perspective on this, at least until May 9, 2022, or more.
The framing of the reason why Sara Duterte will be a good next PH President by an advocate, LCPL_X, and the comments that followed are interesting, informative, and stimulating to me. A worthy contribution to the TSH Blog, Lance.
There are at least two types of optimizing for the future. There is dynamic optimization, optimization on the fly. And there is optimizing for a future goal. Sara Duterte falls into the first category. Trillanes falls into the latter.
Different circumstances and country, but Trump falls into one using the first strategy — with one important qualifier, that he optimizes on the fly mainly for HIS interest; if it is good for the country, then that is OK too. Biden falls into the latter.
The skillset and background needed are different for the two categories.
There is also the reality that even one who falls into the latter category will have to use dynamic optimization while working seriously on the North star, his primary goal.
Haha. Easy for me to write on generalities.
Then we shall make you a General!
🙂
General Herrera
I may get a tailor to have me suited as a General, but then I will land myself in jail if I take it seriously — a crime for impersonating a General. Haha.
Haha
NH,
Thanks. I’m trying to untangle all this polling stuff. I know DU30’s numbers have been high, weirdly as are other strong man leaders around the world. So if we imagine DU30 as a big wave, then Inday Sara essentially is just surfing that wave all the way to 2022.
91% approval I think was the latest for DU30.
And 27% percent said they’d go for Inday Sara in the latest polls.
Assuming there will be no other calamity between now and May 2022, just based on numbers isn’t all this already fait accompli? How are others going to lambaste that 91%? Sure they can say bad polling, but they’ve been doing so now for the past 5 years. the numbers are consistent.
As to Inday Sara’s 27%, sure criticize as too early. But given that 91%, what can VP Leni say, Trillanes, et al. seriously say.
So only BBM would have a possible chance, riding too on his dad’s wave, but that’s so much tinier than Inday Sara’s father.
IMHO, the pragmatic strategy would be to get Inday Sara to go more 2nd optimization type (future), win-win for all, although that 1st optimization on the fly is a great description of what she did with that Sheriff, especially taking him to the hospital.
Another idea for Joe is to frame his blogs to lessons learned type addressed directly to Inday Sara. Criticize the dad to instruct the daughter sorta theme. the Yellows can start thinking in these terms also. Because no matter how you cut it, it appears that Inday Sara is it. Only BBM stands a chance. But I’m looking at his numbers and swagger and its nowhere close.
Inday Sara appears it. Done deal. But I defer to your numbers expertise, if am reading this wrong. Thank you again, NH.
Lance, I ceased to analyze political polling numbers in PH especially on Duterte et al and on the popularity of probable candidates for the 2022 election. And I am not questioning that the poll respondents answered honestly what is in their minds. So not even a quibble on that.
I was just pointing out in my note about a leader’s approach to his/ her primary goal for the country — is it a shifting one done on the fly [optimized dynamically], or is there a primary strategic goal, with tactics optimized on the fly? It is just a concept.
@LCX, this discussion thread can run its course, with or without your attention. You have more than fulfilled your ‘contract’ in writing the article and hosting the discussion. I appreciate the work. It does credit to the blog as a place of open discussion. Thank you for taking it on. Thanks for the info and arguments which helped me see ‘Sara’ differently after, than before.
NH, I hear ya man. There’s just more important stuff to life– I hope you get more into Constructor theory, its really blowing my mind what little I can surmise from it.
Joe Thanks. I was feeling a bit like a soccer goalie. Will enjoy the weekend now.
Parting thought is Ireneo’s sharing of Wil’s dog analogy. And yes, if you trained a dog as a puppy, there is some fear involved. But if you train it well, usually no need for fear, dog’s are just really obedient especially the bigger ones those pedigree (chihuahuas toy dogs are different, I consider them rodents). In that regard dogs are like children your children, you do the work at the front end, if done well, back end should just take care of itself.
Cats, however, don’t respond to fear very well. Theres a sense of freedom with cats unless you keep it trapped inside the house. With cats if you get cross with them , they remember and get cross with you back. There’s an ego or something operating there, unlike a dog, whose sense of loyalty and love are unconditional. A cat’s is conditional, and it seems aware, has a ledger of sorts to keep track. But a pet or some snack will usually wipe the slate clean.
Dogs = learned
Cats = instinctive
Riffing off of NH’s idea, I think how you deal with cats and dogs , is similar to his two optimization concepts, I guess in this analogy the dog is the future oriented strategy; whereas the cat is on the fly, or maybe the other way around, if you ‘re consistent with a cat then you have no problem at all. Dogs don’t mind new things, cats prefer their own routine. Both can be trained to be mean. Or happy and content. At peace.
Combine the two and you’ve got the Philippines figured out, IMHO.
Have a great weekend all.
My comment did’nt display.
My dear Lance, I’m totally surprised you are advocating Form over Substance. This has been the Filipino voting tragedy all along.
Sara’s slapping the sheriff is all Form, bravado, and in the words of her own father, drama. Not to mention that violence against an official carrying out his duties is a damn serious offence. Imagine Pnoy or Mar Roxas or Leni doing that ! There is a serious character flaw here, unfit for the office of the highest post in the land.
Did she have the interest of the people at heart, those evictees? Well if she had, she would have acted much much earlier and intervened in the legal administrative process, not waiting until the very very very eleventh hour.
The sheriff acted under the orders of the court, not the mayor. It’s not his job to assess the situation and give way to the mayor. His job was to execute a court order, a very tough job in the context of Philippines, even without Sara around. What are the consequences if he had given way to Sara? Can you guarantee his job security? Can you bear the cost? Yes there is a cost to work stoppage. The contractors are most likely to have a time-cost penalty for work stoppage. Will the court foot the bill for a sheriff who caused the work stoppage?. Surely the mayor’s office will have none of it. Talking is cheap Lance. Me, I salute the sheriff for doing his job.
You espoused leftist victimisation verbage in jumping to the conclusion of rich Chinoy landlords sweeping poor folks aside. I don’t know the actual background of the incident, and I’m sure neither do you. But from my perspective – I spent a few years tagging along with a developer of low cost housing in Valenzuela – I can tell you the real estate business, the very low end part of it, is beset with so many problems. There are foreign developers who simply packed up and head home, leaving uncompleted projects hanging. Our guys go collect rent or mortgage payments, only to face abuse. Quite a few times, a nasty resident will show us his gun. These are usually ex-cops. The most nasty ones are those who are many months in arrears. He play the neighbourhood, so our guys turn up only to face a gang. Couple of times our guys ended up in the police station because an erring resident has a relative who is a cop. We paid representation to get our girls home. In the wink of an eye, your alleys will be taken over by the homeless. A sari sari store may pop up next to your guardhouse. Go tear it down? His uncle is a town councillor, or a soldier or cop. Go legally evict a tenant? You should try it sometimes. The idiocies of the practical process will befuddle you.
I hope Pacman and Bong Go run. With Sara, the 3 of them can go cannibalise their votes. Have you seen a pack of dogs at a food aggression display after the alpha has had his share?
“My dear Lance, I’m totally surprised you are advocating Form over Substance.”
It’s all substance really, chempo. And thanks for finally chiming in, and waxing philosophic no less!
The commentaries here on “duty” and “hitting of officials” and “rule of law” and “drama” and bravado”, etc. etc. These are all opinions. not really explanations. My advocacy of Inday Sara is also just opinion. In the end, whether we convince each other to one side or the other is not as important, because everyone else is also allowed their opinions.
Thus all substance.
But your point about form vs. substance is metaphysics, chemp. So let’s take it there.
IF we remember Plato and Aristotle and their main difference metaphysically, that ‘s still valid now and worthy of argumentation. I believe only Kant with his time/space introduction , to the 5 senses, is the only addition to date in this subject.
Form = JUSTICE (all caps)
Substance = justice – injustice (lower case both, that’s what we can perceive w/ our 5 senses plus time/space, even throw in St. Thomas Aquinas’ love/faith/hope for your own evaluation ).
Question: how do you recognize justice, Or injustice??? You or I can’t articulate this, so too others who have commented above. No one even attempted to.
We put up the Form (as per Plato); but reject actually being able to fully know it (as per Aristotle). Thus we only have our own experiences, plus others we’ve assume as our own or taken under consideration, then what we’ve analyzed and synthesized in our brains. Stuck we are like the ancient Greeks.
BUT, there’s this new theory in Physics, that me and NH are attempting to untangle, which I think we can use here. The constructor, let’s say a kettle, can either be something or it cannot be something— hold water? Yes. heat water? Yes. make water disappear? Yes. freeze water? Yes. turn water into gold? Nope. transport water into another dimension? Unk.
You get the point, its either Yes; No; Maybe (Unk). The Unk is where you make your bones.
Constructor Theory.
Inday Sara as Constructor.
1. Inday Sara going against the judge’s order? Injustice? No.
2. Inday Sara showing up between two groups about to come to blows? Injustice? No.
3. Inday Sara having not “acted much much earlier and intervened in the legal administrative process” ? Injustice? No. Bad managerial coverage maybe.
4. Inday Sara meeting out “violence against an official carrying out his duties” ? Injustice? No. here spirit of the law vs. letter of the law applies, chemp. Joe’s description of how “husay” works over there is also important to consider.
5. Inday Sara not recognizing that “Yes there is a cost to work stoppage”? Injustice? No!!!
6. Inday Sara was acting out of love? Unk.
7. Inday Sara was show boating for the media? Unk. Last 2 questions have nothing to do with IF something is injustice or justice. Thus irrelevant.
chemp, you get the point, you (et al) can continue the list using Constructor Theory’s use of what cannot or what can be. I think you’ll agree with my not Injustice answers above.
MY POINT, what Inday Sara did falls more towards what we know of Justice, than what we know of Injustice, thus if Plato’s correct, what Inday Sara did is closer to the form of JUSTICE.
Try using Constructor Theory for your own analysis on this , chemp. If you come up with different findings then I’d say further grounds for deliberation. Or not. But its an interesting theory I’m playing around with, yet also relevant to the current blog.
Of course, you could also respond by saying “Lance, we know what JUSTICE is in our gut, I don’t have to use another friggin’ theory, like Evolution!!! I just know!”, then I’d say, “Explain your understanding of JUSTICE then , chemp?”
Is it sufficient?
This analysis by the master of Filipino Realpolitik, Manolo Quezon –
http://www.quezon.ph/2008/05/29/malakas-at-mahina/ – corresponds to “A sari sari store may pop up next to your guardhouse. Go tear it down? His uncle is a town councillor, or a soldier or a cop”. Malakas means “having pull” in street English.
Nuelle Duterte’s blog article about https://the2016aftermath.wordpress.com/2019/05/09/the-davao-template/ is about the Davao specific version of that: “..The ‘Davao template’ is actually the example we, as a community, have set for others. The enthusiastic supporters teach the world that benefiting from the patronage of someone like Rodrigo is tantamount to unswerving loyalty — whether the gain came from a booming business whose permit was fast-tracked with kickbacks, the guarantee of personal safety from kidnapping because any kidnappers would be automatically killed, the aesthetic and practical improvement of roads leading to private properties, the provision of free medications to those who can little afford them, the cleaned up streets at the expense of the riffraff we didn’t want to see running around because we considered them a blight to society, and the special treatment we received just because we were closely associated with him. While the cowed silence of the rest sends the message that submission and apathy are the easiest and safest ways to survive a tyrannical and oppressive environment intact. Not exactly the best template to brag about, and definitely not an ideal one for the country to follow, is it?..”
Well, the question of justice and even fairness may be asked, and those who benefit from the “enforcement” of those like Nuelle’s uncle and her cousin might say “fair for me” as they never have seen Western- or Eastern- (Singaporean, Taiwanese, Sokor, Japanese) style systems work in the Philippines. And I did mention how Agdao was Duterte clientele, the place the Alsa Masa came from. I doubt that Bankerohan, a similar slum area of Davao where Clarita Alia lost 4 sons, ever got similar protection from the Dutertes. Protection, prison- or Mafia-style, is closer to justice in describing their methods. Now if this is what 93% of Filipinos indeed want or even prefer, what can we really do?
“whether the gain came from a booming business whose permit was fast-tracked with kickbacks, the guarantee of personal safety from kidnapping because any kidnappers would be automatically killed, the aesthetic and practical improvement of roads leading to private properties, the provision of free medications to those who can little afford them, the cleaned up streets at the expense of the riffraff we didn’t want to see running around because we considered them a blight to society, and the special treatment we received just because we were closely associated with him.”
Ireneo, but isn’t the above simply the definition of good governance?
As for “got similar protection” , Inday Sara wasn’t really doing that was she? In the end the court order was still enforced and folks were moved outside of town. Jaime Uy, Sheriff Andres and Judge Carpio still accomplished what they intended to do.
All Inday Sara did was stopped a potential riot situation. How she did it is what I’ve written about. So in many ways the system of bankers/businessmen, judges and sheriffs was still left intact. The system worked.
This was a crowd control issue. Violence. no Violence. Two hours was bought. With four punches to the face. So as far as some ideation of “special treatment” (Nuell Duterte), there seem none at all.
Unless peace and order is special treatment. I say its basic governance.
Violence was just averted, Ireneo. If you subtract “special treatment” from Nuell’s description above, all that really is just governance. Granted all of the Philippines operates like this patronage, special treatment, etc., but specific to this incident, Ireneo, I’m simply saying
there’s no evidence of “special treatment”. The squatters still got moved. Just safely. And without violence.
Lance, I suggest you look up the proper definition of good governance, here for a start: https://www.unescap.org/sites/default/d8files/knowledge-products/good-governance.pdf
“…good governance is an ideal which is difficult to achieve in its totality. Very few countries and societies have come close to achieving good governance in its totality. However, to ensure sustainable human development, actions must be taken to work towards this ideal with the aim of making it a reality.”
Needless to say that the current Philippines, under the aegis of the Dutertes, is far from having a “good governance”.
That begs the question , distant observer… When did it ever have “good governance”? Pnoy’s? Cory’s?
That’s indeed the question. It is safe to say that the country never reached a state where international observers would assess the Philippines a truly good governance. By this definition, good governance is something that all countries can and should strive for, but hardly achieve. If, at all, it takes generations.
I liked the World Bank’s World Wide Governance Index, where one can see how the Philippines fares against other countries, and across time: https://info.worldbank.org/governance/wgi/Home/Reports. This allows us to address your question from another approach: not to start with the question which politician is best, but to look at the numbers, how they developed (over time) and match them with who was incumbent then. If you play around with the parameters under the link I provided, you see the developments for all good government indices since 1995. Then you can make your own conclusions about which politician was best for the country in terms of good governance. I’d say this adds a good perspective on this discussion, because, let’s be honest, World Bank statisticians do not really care whether the Philippines is/was ruled by a Dilawan, Marcos or Duterte.
Ah, thanks, distant observer, it does looks to be PNoy, and FVR.Which begs another question, if Pnoy’s time was so good, why did Filipinos go to DU30? I’m clicking on the various metrics, and I’m thinking theres a metric that the WB isn’t accounting for, that’s making all the difference in the voting. Absence of Violence/Control of Corruption seem the metrics but if violence is down/corruption controlled, why the political shift.
Which means that personalities do matter, no? So what did PNoy and FVR do in common?
“If PNoy’s time was so good, why did Filipinos go to DU30?” I agree with you that these WB indices are not very good in explaining voter behavior. They capture rather long-term developments within a society, while voter behavior is also subject to short-time dynamics. The question why DU30 has certainly been discussed at length here, and I really appreciated Irineo’s explanations on the cultural factors (which is also poorly captured by the WGI).
Another factor I think is just impatience. Six years of a “good governance president” is usually just too short to fundamentally shift things for the masses. Human nature yearns for instant gratification. It was easy for the Marcos and China cronies to frame PNoy’s term as inefficient. But imagine how the country would look like today if it would have followed the trajectory preset by PNoy’s administration: strengthen Voice and Accountability, increase Political Stability, Government Effectiveness, Regulatory Quality, the Rule of Law and the Control of Corruption.
Instead we got Oplan Tokhang.
“If PNoy’s time was so good, why did Filipinos go to DU30?”
I think because these people weren’t paying attention to any of the past administrations. The DDS who voted for Duterte are the true pessimists. Many may have been brainwashed by Marcos and historical revisionisim attempts, by trolls during the early 2010’s. And unfortunately, are susceptible enough to fall for facebook memes as hard as they fell for Duterte’s grand populist promises. They believe in shortcuts, are giddy on glorified thuggery, and many successful Duterte supporters I know, employ similar tactics and strengths in their careers, right to get to the top. I personally would want to know the correlation between belief in evolution and science versus the DDS psyche, and how many of them are genuine flat earthers.
And how many are paid for their advocacy.
I was just reading this article that says Papa Duterte allies are not all thrilled about Sara: https://www.onenews.ph/sara-being-pressured-to-run-for-president-but-not-all-administration-allies-behind-her
Fun times.
So Sarah and Leni seem to be both having second thoughts about running, who wouldn’t be scared out of their wits? Getting to read dirt and trash thrown around everyday, especially at Duterte nowadays, it’s easy to paint a picture of your own presidency i guess. Then of course there are the undaunted ones, Pacquiao, BBM, Dick Gordon ,Trillanes, each are brave enough because they have their own specific reasosn to be so.?
Hmmm, ego for Pacquiao, and taxes maybe. I haven’t followed. Redemption for the rest, and ego, to an extent. “Get that monkey off my back” are the song lyrics that pop into my head, sung by Eric Clapton about cocaine addiction. But applicable to the unredeemed, as well.
mundski,
You might find this blog/thread interesting: https://joeam.com/2019/04/24/ist-gott-tot-is-god-dead/#comments
Although gullibility is one aspect of the whole notion of caveat emptor, it doesn’t quite explain the sustained popularity of DU30, over here you could see the uptick of Republicans (old school Reagan types) who just weren’t happy with Trump at all, although he expanded his base he still loss but he expanded his base based mostly off of the QAnon conspiracy.
I don’t know if there’s a similar force or vector there such as the QAnon movement. Which weirdly is connected to the Philippines. But essentially it stemmed from this book, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q_(novel)
There were really no predictions that came to light but like the Nostradamus prophecies and the book of Revelation, it was all open to interpretation, but that Epstein arrest plus “suicide” catapulted QAnon.
I don’t think there’s correlation to anti-Darwinism vs. Scientism, those two movements are too complex, understanding of Herbert Spencer ‘s central to espousing one or the other really (as evidenced from chempo‘s blog linked), though flatearth and Aliens are less complex conspiracies, less moving parts. If what youre suggesting is more of the DDS are just dumb Filipinos, then again it doesn’t explain expansion of popularity (the opposite of expansion should be happening).
I’m gonna say non-Tagalogs and mostly Bisayans (Cebu, Waray, Ilongo, etc. etc.) , thus an ethno linguistic battle of sorts is actually happening. But of course, the difference between WB metrics (above) which is invisible to the regular guys, vs. news cycles although violence unsavory, there’s seeming action to the words being said. That all plays a huge roll too.
I totally appreciate distant’s WB metrics, but how to message it to Filipinos, who have been conditioned to watch Wowowee and AlDub crap, to be able to start appreciating charts and graphs also beautiful and entertaining if done correctly.
I’m going to surmise May 2022 will see a bunch of folks in Cebu vote for DU30, and much of it will be because Tagalogs are buying up condo and opening business there, But then again Cebu and Cebuanos also look down on folks from Mindanao. So the process of deliberation IMHO is more what does Manila have to offer me, what does Davao.
This is why its important to get to know more about Inday Sara’s mother, because she’s from there. If she’s a Cebuana at heart, then the rest of the Yellows can breathe easy.
This stuff by Mindanaoan historian Patricio Abinales is a possible window into how a lot of Mindanaoans think about themselves and the rest of the nation: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LYrAe0IOGa8
For Abinales and some others it seems the founding narratives of the Philippines that do come from Luzon and Visayas count for little, while the old middle class which comprises yellow and red believe in certain versions of those narratives.
I think all this Lapulapu was a Tausug stuff recently is just the tip of the iceberg, of course certain Mindanao and Visayan sentiments play a role in all of that.
Thank you sir. I’m in the middle of finishing Richard Dawkin’s The God Delusion, so this goes right into the theme. I’ll go through the post and the youtube forum on Moro separatism and Dutertismo, best i could as I’m not a prolific reader nor a fast one. But the Mindanaon perspective or BIsayan pride as reason for D30’s pull are certainly points of interests to me. I am a Mindanaoan myself ,went to college and work in Cebu, and can relate to many if not all the sentiments. I even at one point blamed Robin Padilla the IDOL of many, especially our brothers Tausug. i have many tausug friends and acquiantances and haven’t known anyone who did not adore the guy, mostly as an actor of course. But it just seems like there’s too much going on that can relate Binoy with Duterte and his popularity etc
sorry, I had to check again, Inday Sara’s mother Elizabeth Zimmerman was born in Davao. Her parents are from Leyte and Cebu.
But that’s an interesting talk, Ireneo. I’m still watching it now, and that comparison to the Wild West here, is apt I think, wherein lumads and Moros are the indians; and although the Americans were the ones to colonize Davao they were all gone before WWII, but that was a totally American enterprise.
That same foundation of Wild West mentality, would ‘ve been in place for DU30 and Zimmerman’s families when they migrated there post WWII. Not really dependent of Wild West sentiments, any sort of colonization process from ones with power upon ones who don’t would I’m sure look similar. Jews upon Palestinians for example.
Inday Sara’s mom would still be important to study, because as in any colonization process the women (and pastors) tend to be the civilization bringers, Judeo-Christian values being closely related to motherly values. Lots of Mormons, 7th Day adventists, etc. in Mindanao.
While all that DDS, just like the Earps wives, was going on, I assume Inday Sara’s mom was teaching her a different set of values. Let me finish this talk on youtube now, Ireneo. Thanks!
“I am a Mindanaoan myself ,went to college and work in Cebu, and can relate to many if not all the sentiments. “
https://joeam.com/2015/11/22/the-islamic-renaissance-in-the-philippines/#comment-148792 mundski, you might be interested in this blog as well, click on link and pay especially close attention to Vicara’s commentary, as I think it echoes the youtube Zoom talk of Jojo Abinales, et al.
I’ve not finished it yet, and since I clicked it around 1am, I’ll need to rewatch it to get more. His 2000 book stopped at the Marcos years, which I think we’ve covered here at Joe’s blog especially during the run up to 2016 elections, but Dr. Abinales’ mention of new chapters for his 2020 edition is good coverage that will shed more light.
Would like to get a hold of it.
Dr. Abinales covers two strongmen, one in Cotabato a Maguindanawan datu and an Almendras , who was then succeeded by DU30’s dad https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicente_Duterte , as you may already have known having lived in Cebu, mundski, the best gun smiths are in Danao, Cebu, now how Danao became the center for gun smithing (and metal work basically) I dunno, but the culture that carries with it
will include guns obviously. thus Danao = Davao. I’m not sure if Dr. Abinales covers this.
Ireneo, if there’s an online copy of this book somewhere do share, and if you have connection to the author, tell him shoot us a copy and we’ll review the book in preparation to the 2022 elections.
Some of the 16 million may have regrets but how to comvince them not to fence sit and choose Leni or Trillanes does not run.
For the 25 million,they must choose only one opposition.
Forget the unremoresedul whats left of the 16 million.
If Go, Sara, BBM, Paquiao run,that would be cannibal fest , and itit will be easier for 25 million to decide not to vote them and vote the opposition bet.
VP Leni in her Sunday morning radio show says she is still undecided but that one should not preempt her. That the pandemic is her focus now and without it she would have decided already. She did say also, that her Congress and VP candidacies weren’t planned.
Local candidacy, she said, is attractive to her as she likes engagement on the ground.
My feel is that Trillanes and Leni are testing the waters. If there is enough clamor for VP Leni to run she will run. If the present Philippines prefers a warrior, Trillanes will run.
karl, Ireneo, et al.
I always thought the idea of Mar and Poe combining forces would still not have defeated DU30, but you two might be onto something here re Inday Sara vs. VP Leni (or Trillanes). Just two parties, just two candidates.
But the big assumption here is that the Pac-man and Go aren’t loyal to Inday Sara. BBM will see the numbers, his choice of Inday Sara or VP Leni, I’m sure he’ll side with Inday Sara. But I don’t know.
My point here isn’t really Filipino politics, only that the American two party system is superior, IMHO. Which we’re seeing getting developed. The idea of cannibalizing votes, can be much more practically solved within the two party system,
so the people get final say and instead of this 25% here, 16% there, 14%, 9% , etc. etc. Voting would be more like 51% vs. 49%. I’ve always seen that as more democratic than the “way too many” parties system prevalent around the world.
This is Manolo Quezon on the history of political parties in PH:
http://www.quezon.ph/2006/09/19/assessing-political-parties/
And this is about Philippine political culture, with a very accurate quote, which does make the Davao template look like relatively “good governance” within it’s framework:
http://www.quezon.ph/2007/02/20/philippine-political-culture/
“The Philippine political culture is… personalistic but violent, religious but superstitious, corrupt but tolerant, hierarchical but distributionist, solicitous of form but not of content, legalistic, but careless of equity, media-obsessed and nationalistically vociferous with respect to rights but negligent to obligations.”
I tend to agree with MLQIII, Ireneo. Nuelle Duterte seems to unfairly compare Philippine politics with this American/ Western form or ideal of governance, and I hope she realizes now especially after Trump that this notion of governance what is good what is bad management is all arbitrary really.
People have to partake to ensure their interests are included. Thus get a consensus , like some semblance of wisdom of crowds. chempo advocating for Jaime Uys and Sheriff Andres of the world, for rule of law, well that’s exactly what Israelis and Palestinians have been doing since post WWII.
Let me add another layer of analogy that’s relevant to current events.
Jaime Uy/Sheriff Andres = Israelis
Agdao squatters = Palestinians
Judge Carpio = justice (lower case letters); U.N. resolutions
Inday Sara = represents the voice of reason. No violence.
Us = I’m for Israelis; I’m for Palestinians; Letter of the Law! Spirit of the Law! all sorts of static noise
And we’re seeing it now, how much moral courage really is needed to insert yourself in all that. Can you imagine Joe Biden flying to Israel and pummeling Netanyahu in the face? Of course not, that’s why what Inday Sara did is noteworthy.
It’s incredible how Inday Sara gets elevated to prominence by that single act of fraudulent superficial populism.
Acts like those by politicians and thugs are, I guess, the consequence of a long national descent into ideological sleepwalking and bankruptcy.
Trillanes’ mutinies seem to me more fraudulent and superficial acts of populism, Micha. Attempts to jump start two EDSA’s but since the starter didn’t turn (no battery, starter broken, or maybe Filipinos are just sick and tired of EDSAs,i dunno) he folds.
People remember misfires, Micha… and if one keeps doing them, people are gonna conclude misfires are what you’re all about. I cannot see how Trillanes can rebrand himself, whilst Inday Sara’s rise to prominence has been steady and consistent.
These stunts become pattern. And Trillanes, compared to Inday Sara, has more of them. How do you rationalize that? Thus, only VP Leni has a chance IMHO. But she has to make some big moves herself. No misfires. Because all Filipinos see is her smiling and being stoic.
Lcpl_X,
I’m not sure if an armed military mutiny can be called populism. If I recall correctly that was against the corrupt and illegitimate gov’t of Gloria Arroyo and if I happened to be in Makati at that time I would have gladly and openly supported Trillanes’ group.
My point here is that no one showed up, Micha. If you showed up for both occasions, you’d have said, “I put my skin in the game, and no one wanted to play!”. You’d go home disappointed.
Remember this scene:
Seems both VP Leni and Inday Sara have seen the same movie. A good on at that.
There were lots of mass protest actions prior to the Magdalo uprising. I would say there was only failure in logistics coordination as Binay ditched his end of the bargain.
Trillanes was not even the leader nor the spokesman of Magdalo during the first coup in Oakwood, somehow he was easy to research because he did a paper on the corruption of the Navy.
Sorry, my bad, karl. In wiki it said he was a co-leader. I found this explanation.
In my book those are slanderous comments from that guy.
That quote is from an American historian and diplomat interestingly enough. Gleek. Outsiders can see the peculiarities and contrasts because they grind against our ideals perhaps.
The news about that.
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1432480/vp-robredo-prefers-to-run-for-local-post-but-still-open-to-all-possibilities
Karl, OT, FYI and amusement:
https://businessmirror.com.ph/2021/05/17/locsin-phl-just-starting-to-buy-arms-to-swarm-china-in-scs/
Many thanks again.
Mac Arthur said that we are the largest aircraft carrier in the world.
Btw Irineo forwarded this to me a few days ago.
https://www.cato.org/commentary/philippines-americas-perpetually-useless-ally
Thank you. I missed that and will circulate it on Twitter.
Welcome.
Ireneo,
I watched this too based on your youtube Zoom link share,
Marites Vitug herself (the interviewer) is worthy of being Googled/youtubed,