Are Pinks a personality cult?
Analysis and Opinion
By Joe America
I don’t think pinks are a personality cult. But it’s not up to me to decide. It’s up to pinks to decide and they can go either direction, personality or principle. Or they can dissolve and waste the tremendous amount of effort put into the “brand” by Leni and her followers.
It’s my understanding that Leni will pursue local politics, not national politics, in 2025 or 2028. Unfortunately, there appears to be no political organization left behind. Pinks were always independent, free lance, and passionate.
I’d guess Leni needs to appoint a figurehead or real leader of the movement if she does not want it to dissolve. Or primary backers need to designate the heir. Right now I see Atty Barry Gutierrez as a wayward spokesman for the pink principles. Is he the heir? Being heir doesn’t mean he has to run for office but, really, someone needs to organize the considerable POWER for good that pink represents.
If it is Barry, he needs to meet with Leila de Lima of the yellows, Joy Belmonte of Quezon City, Risa Hontiveros of the Left, Nancy Binay of Makati, Vico Sotto III of Pasig City, and a few other important souls to piece together a new political power structure in the Philippines. I don’t know where Tulfo fits, frankly. (Refer to “Organizing to win in 2028“.)
The 2028 presidential political league is likely to be Duterte, Marcos, Tulfo, and a bunch of parties and individuals who dream big but perform weak. Including the pinks. But if you unify this collection of weaklings, including the pinks, then you have a four team contest that they can win. And if they win, they can end the rule of the dynasties and populists for good.
You’d have a political force that is FOR THE PHILIPPINES. And it would endure.
This combined organization (I refrain from using the abused word unified) can be formed by putting together pieces that ordinarily would operate on their own. Operating on their own, they would divide the effort to build a modern, productive Philippines.
What is the glue that can bring them together? The principles of honesty, competence, sovereignty, and proper rewards for success. The latter is important. Those who lead the Philippines to wealth and progress must be highly paid. It is the incentive to get corruption out of the nation’s bloodstream. Because it is sepsis.
The path to a new, modern Philippines is so, so close? Can you feel it?
Pinks did in 2022.
The color in 2028 has to be bigger than pink. But it can achieve what I suspect would please Leni Robredo immensely.
_________________________
Photograph from Harvard International Review article “Public Service in Pink: Interview with Leni Robredo“.
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The Society of Honor by Joe America 
I assume the Marcos would be Martin Romualdez or is it Imee Marcos?
If it is Imee she has to officially cut ties with Sara.
On the color higher than pink.
Will that matter to the voters who are called bobotantes by the so-called non bobotantes.
I am no longer sure if the bobotantes candidate always win if they still should be called bobo.
That glue should be color grey, the color of cement which covers all the grey areas. This should not be confused with the grey zone tactics of China.
Smile here, on the color. I think Romualdez if they can get his ratings up. Imee seems divorced from the family.
Methinks so too. (Imee)
ah, the presence of all color is black, the absence is white. black may not be suitable for our tropical climate, sobrang init. we need to wear white or beige that apparently dont absorb heat. though black is flattering color, hides imperfections and make the wearer appear slimmer.
the color grey maybe a compromise between black and white; neutral, like there are grey areas as in law. and those who are color blind sees grey most of the time.
So grey is the color of love because they say love is color blind
If you are into Shakespeare then love’s color is black because for Shakespeare, love is blind.
sorry,’ I’d rather sing diamond is a girl’s best friend, haha.
and it’s christopher marlowe for me, not so much as shakespeare. I think marlowe’s dr faustus is brilliant. dr faustus sold his soul to the devil for knowledge and power and ended up miserable. much like our politicians selling their influence for money and ended up miserable ever after and living in utter luxury as punishment.
Marilyn Monroe.Good choice.
No Filipino leader truly built a legacy, not Quezon, not Magsaysay. When yellow wanted to revive the spirit of 1986, they voted PNoy. Marcos Jr. also was voted based on what people thought his father did or how some remembered it.
Personality is real, I guess, for many Filipinos. Principle can be what a person is seen to live by or stand for, but maybe it is just “Miss Universe words” to many. Maybe even we are seen by many as merely showing of our polished English?
Or if you are looking for the principal, that was probably Miriam Santiago, and the kids took over the classroom ehem the Senate since she’s gone. Again, seriously, I find it very interesting that there are hardly any comments here. Do people not know what Atty. Leni stands for?
maybe people just dont want to be reminded what leni stands for hence the respectful silence: the requiem. the tedium sang in high mass.
Probably offended by the question.
Why would they be offended? Perhaps they should just say no or not applicable
A cult of personality, or a cult of the leader, is the result of an effort which is made to create an idealized and heroic image of a glorious leader, often through unquestioning flattery and praise. Historically, it has developed through techniques of mass media, propaganda, spectacle, the arts, patriotism, and government-organized demonstrations and rallies. A cult of personality is similar to apotheosis, except that it is established by modern social engineering techniques, usually by the state or the party in one-party states and dominant-party states. Cults of personality often accompany the leaders of totalitarian or authoritarian governments. They can also be seen in some monarchies, theocracies, failed democracies, and even in liberal democracies.
Sorry, too many links in the wiki.
imee is the kwago to sara’s loro, haha, isang kaibigan and a gang of two. one hoots and the other screeches.
They are quite a pair.
are pinks personality cult, may be not. there used to be rizalistas that behave like cult. as for pinks, me included, it was a good run the year 2022. now consigned to the memory, to be dusted now and then, the good times when pinks thought there was great possibility. can it be revived, not likely but it can be recalled and remembered and spoken with love and admiration, those were the days.
Why can’t people continue that cause, even if she is not leading it? Wondering if they really wanted it in the first place.
in terms of money, do you know how much it cost to continue a cause? to give up your privacy and be scrutinized to the very minutiae and put yourself up for ridicule? the lady has done it twice! I say she deserves to rest.
but no worries, the closer we get to election, we will get into a frenzy again and there will be candidates putting their hands up, worthy or not.
incidentally, isko moreno has mocha uson on his lineup.
Yes, I have been told on Twitter that even just a candidate for barangay captain can easily spend up to two million pesos.
A local candidate in Germany might spend 10-15 thousand Euro from his own pocket. The rest will come from his political party.
Atty. Leni did have many middle-class donors, a first in the Philippines, even like an embryo of a real political party. The question is, who can be the new flagbearer after Atty. Leni?
why must party flagbearer be always politician? if it was me, I’d appoint josh aquino, ex pres aquino’s nephew and son of kris aquino to be standard bearer of the liberal party. he is blameless and innocent and dont have to run for public office but may relie on the party faithful to keep the unit fit and safe for the purpose.
You raise a good point, the vacuum of young leaders in any political initiatives other than the Left, which is lost in the woods so they never emerge. Atty De Lima is now head of LP and is revitalizing it somewhat. I think she will not run for office so fits your model of citizen leader. Bam Aquino and Chel Diokno are actively trying to stir up notice, but I have reservations about the ability of social media to do much outside of viral dirt.
So theres two lessons form yesterday and today from over here, that might inform this viral stuff, Joe. yesterday, Kendrick Lamar announced he was doing the half time show for next years Super Bowl which was like icing on the cake for his defeat of Drake (I guess Drake’s still putting out songs, so no one informed him of said defeat). but essentially once Lamar’s song NOT LIKE US came out, he basically went silent mode until yesterday. but the dude used the Patton motif.
if you remember that scene Patton says something like America hates losers. he didn’t have to say any of it, the symbolisms louder. so silence. then today with all this Ohio Haitian refugees eating stray dogs cats and even park ducks and gooses. MAGA ‘s putting out all these crazy AI memes of Trump saving said animals. theres even AI video of him running from zombies clutching ducks and cats. all very humorous. so the second after silence is animals. but essentially they’re the same use of symbolism. Black twitter and MAGA twitter are just lit right now. its so funny. ps that Patton Lamar connection i got from black twitter. If Pinks can do it and use to their advantage they’re set, Joe. no more leni lugaw stuff, control the use of symbolism. (cuz I gotta feeling these dang cats and ducks memes are gonna seal the deal for Trump, which i did not have on my BINGO for 2024, lol).
The deceits and trickery and playing people for fools is how the campaign is run, and government will be run, so that’s a huge turnoff for me. But I agree getting noticed is the goal. If you follow Chel Diokno on Twitter, you will know he is doing that, just not despicable material. Not lies.
I’d suggest he bungie jump off the new Cebu Bridge. Something honest that would get a ton of air play. Or something similar. The Haitians eating cats bit is malicious, racist, a lie, and not what I want the Philippines to be.
I agree with you on malicious. But personally having been affected by packs of stray dogs and cats (colonies i guess they’re called). I really wouldn’t mind if people ate them probably more humane in the long run. also ducks and geese, those geese are mean. ducks not so much, kinda cute with ducklings. i’m sure they’re not endangered either. so if its ducks and geese for dinner. I don’t mind really.
It’s a phony issue, MAGA maliciousness. The Philippines should not stoop so low. There are honest ways to build popularity.
As to the phoniness of said issue. I’m on the fence about it still , Joe. there is specific instances but as to the scale of it, I’m dubious still. cuz I remember hearing stories of Vietnamese refugees in Bataan and Palawan wherein street dogs and cats disappeared. also wild life there. maybe Joey or gian can confirm. but also Filipinos who came here mostly from provincial colleges to pursue their PhDs under various American programs like over in Kansas and Oklahoma etc. they had stories of coming to America seeing so many ducks in the park and deciding to have impromptu duck barbecue in the park with American families mouths agape at the sight. only to be advised by college faculty that its not how its done in the USA. though duck and geese hunting are popular sport here. so everything is well within the realm of possibility, Joe. it happens. culture shock typa stuff.
The most amusing story is how I ate my first dog. It was in the Philippines, where I felt like I couldn’t disrespect the titos who invited me to their tagay session. Still feel sorry for that neighbor who was searching for her dog the morning after…
As for Vietnamese eating dogs, that would be very rare compared to let’s say China or Korea, even in the old days. AFAIK it was also one of the cultural transfusions from Champa culture which had been subsumed ethnically into the larger Kinh (Vietnamese) culture. Cham people are Austronesians related to Sumatran, Bornean, and Peninsular Malays. The practice is only among poor rural folk during drinking sessions when they’re very drunk and ran out of “đồ ăn nháºu” (drinking foods, similar to Filipino pulutan). If there are other drinking foods, dog wouldn’t be preferred. The usual drinking food in Vietnam is chicken or pork bbq.
I did see dog eating in the Philippines. which I was told recently went underground cuz PETA or the SPCA planted rumors of it causing rabies or other diseases. as to the Springfield OH incidents now I’m seeing videos of Haitians themselves saying its probably happening and that its related to voodoo, cuz they are also seeing heads of animals around. i know theres good voodoo and theres bad voodoo. similar to the stuff out of Siquijor whether theres a connect between the French stuff and Spanish/Filipino stuff would be interesting. but Filipino stuff i think is more on potions more flora not fauna. i think.
Figuratively Yes but literally no. (Josh A) (I would be the last person to say anything against autism because I had two brothers(RIP) who were autistic. I justdo not know why he entered your mind.
I would say that suggestion is a hyperbole.
It is up to KB to tell us if it is concrete or abstract.
Yes JP
when josh smiles, I can see PNoy in him, I see the same sincerity, the same warmth like nothing bad is going to happen in the world. just my wishful thinking really, josh’s kapansanan did not come to my mind. I still miss PNoy and sometimes, when I pass by PNoy’s former house in 25 times street, quezon city, I say a short prayer.
I’m glad josh is well loved, as PNoy was well loved. there was a time when PNoy and kris aquino were not on speaking terms, but josh was different. josh broke through the barrier and always spoke with his uncle, and always like an angel with no bad memories and holds no grudges. I like josh much as I like PNoy.
Thanks for your time in answering.
Sorry to hear that about Moreno. I think his judgment is a bit kinky now.
he probly learned from rudy who was kinkier, dirtier in the mouth prone to swearing and gotten the country’s top job!
Could be. Or he got bitter and nastier due to his flame-out. I dunno.
Kinkiness could be a factor but I really think Uson’s real value for a party (that wants to fight dirty) lies in her having the troll organizing skills learned from her association with foreign and domestic election interferers in the past elections. She is a propagandist who is adept at using the social media to spread misinformation and disinformation.
This might be a possible antidote, JP. more Kendrick Lamar vs. Drake, but this one is about how both Lamar and Taylor Swift, 6:16 in LA was produced by Taylor Swift producer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6:16_in_LA . landing Taylor Swift right smack in the middle. heres the video:
In that video, the youtuber says theres a deeper side to this rap battle that Drake was just so out class that needs further dissection. and its in the fan base. in the course of the battle, Drake attempted to pay for dirt on Lamar. to dis him. but either no one was willing to sell or people close to him were just that loyal. so he ends up farming for dirt in Lamar’s lyrics to which he couldn’t navigate because it required you to go into rabbit holes of narratives. so when Drake finally thought he got something like Lamar got molested, Lamar didn’t have to counter back, becuz his fans did it for him. essentially fans accusing Drake of reading comprehension problems. so then the fans did the analyzing for Drake. cutting him farther down. so the youtube continues, because Lamar and Taylor Swift have cultivated a following of fans who really read the lyrics closely they felt like they had stake thus participated in said feud. whereas Drake fans werent as cerebral and just wanted to dance to his music, those freaky mofos. Lamar fans were playing and replaying his music to divine messages and interpretations. thus the success of Lamar. Joe mentioned Chel Diokna jumping off one of the bridges in Cebu. well thats just a stunt. one and done. you want to copy Kendrick Lamar, you want to have people talk about you even after the stunt is done. you want people to pour over your every word to find meaning. that, or cute kittens and puppies memes. ducklings too. but watch that video its very good if you wanna find counter to kinkiness. cuz thats what Drake was about kinkiness and Lamar just tore him up on it.
He lost me when he called Erap President Mayor then became Mayor himself and attempted to be president.
for sure we can look forward to a very exciting election campaign. isko moreno also has mr excitement and basketball player bong alvarez on his lineup in aksyong demokratiko. I’ll wait and see what other parties have to offer as there may will be a smorgasbord of celebrities and personalities complete with talk show hosts, etc. in the offing aside from the usual politicians on the comeback trail.
I do not think that the Pinks and Dilawans are personality cults. Personality cults often use negative methods of persuasion to control, coerce, and influence a group. Leni and PNoy did not need any propaganda or the media to hype them up as good and decent people. They did not manipulate people to worship them by feeding them misinformation and disinformation. Their behaviors, actions and deeds are not manufactured and are congruent to their public persona. Dictators, authoritarians and people who believe in fascism and patriarchy often develop personality cults to garner power and stay in power indefinitely.
Nikita Khrushchev coined the term cult of personality in his 1956 speech titled “On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences.” He is the Soviet Union’s communist party leader from 1958-1964. He led the de-Stalinization of the USSR. He warned people about blind allegiance to leaders. He said they are flawed human beings and could destroy a country.
Yes, with that as the operative definition, the pinks are not a personality cult. Still, I get the sense that the collective is disbanded. It should be a force for 2025 elections but nada. Complete silence, except from individuals.
I think Pinks are still around and just waiting for a brave soul to start organizing. Leni run as an Independent, as someone who is not affiliated with any party, so she did not leave a party that the Pinks can revive during election. Whoever leads the Pinks now should name the party and spell out what values it represents for future utility. Maybe it can be new party that will field the new breed of technocrats and scholars who can change the prevailing tone in the hallowed halls of PH institutions.
The Liberal Party and its Dilawans’ reputation had been unrightfully destroyed by the personality cults of Marcos and Duterte. I know there is sentimentality involved in keeping the LP name but maybe it is time to move on to a tabula rasa?
I agree with that, but think the goal should be to bring parties together not start anew. The personality is key. The Left will have 10 or 12 senate candidates next year. The yellows will have a few. The pinks none. Other parties will have their members. It’s futile. Divide and lose to the populists.
What I really envision is for all the like-minded leftists, regardless of their placement in the spectrum to come together and just field a full slate. A lot us still remember how Mar Roxas’ votes were diluted by another candidate fighting for (what appear to be) the same side/values. It became an ugly Mexican stand-off where Roxas and the mentioned candidate both lost in that election.
In Ireneo’s categorization of Pinks, only the #1 type somewhat belongs to a personality cult. The rest (#2-6) are values driven. It does not matter if it was Leni or another candidate with the same cause and advocacies, they will vote for the person who they believe will do the right thing for them. It is a step towards the democratic goal of having “enlightened” voters who are issues/values oriented and appreciative of the power of participative governance.
I do see the younger Pinks as mostly people in search of a vision.
They don’t like many things about the old Philippines for valid reasons.
Usually, every generation of Filipino idealists places hope in the youth, but these at some point get caught in the daily grind or become part of the system, few see a realistic path between resignation and castles in the sky.
Miguel Syjuco, in his novel Ilustrado, has his eponymous hero saying that the Church taught him to put family first while school taught him to serve the nation, yet doing one thing meant betraying the other.
The fate of his hero is ambiguous BTW, the novel is set vaguely around EDSA 2/3.
It would be easy, policy wise, for Chel Diokno to run on the Left’s ticket, but the policies aren’t enough to break the allegiances to the “little” parties. That could be the newsmaker event he needs. Won’t happen.
even risa hontiveros took three tries before she got a seat in senate. twice she lost and has given up on winning, then ex pres noy aquino convinced her to run one more time and she got in! and was even re-elected. maybe that will be the modus for chel diokno too. let people get to know him, wear them out, and his time will come.
There might have been a number of different groups under the Pink umbrella:
1) those who saw Atty. Leni as a second Cory and even “widow candidate”
2) those who saw her social, Covid, and typhoon relief work
3) those who saw her advocacies like the Sumilao farmers
4) the mostly Metro Manila woke crowd who latched unto Pink
5) the rock, KPop etc fans who saw the Pink campaign as a kind of Woodstock
6) those who understood her actual programs, for instance, for Blue Industries
My guesstimate is that Group 6 was at most 1% of Pinks, Group 3 at most 2%, Group 2 8%?
Groups 4 and 5 were most visible at concerts and were tolerated by Group 1.
Of course, I was not on the ground, so my intense socmed impressions might be skewed.
Shout out to the likes of Andrew Lim, who were there and could fill in on this.
Nica del Rosario who wrote Rosas admitted she had depression after Atty. Leni lost.
Almost a year later, she snapped out of that by writing a very popular hit.
Wondering in what stages of grief different parts of Pink are now on the eve of 2025.
I’ve reach the final stage of grieving, and am now on acceptance. I have come to terms with my loss. leni’s loss was more of my loss too. I have invested so much time and efforts and when I wanted to mourn, there were no church bells ringing, no nationwide mass said for the repose of broken hearts and wounded souls. it was just a big abyss for the faithful like me to navigate on our own, to seek solace on our own. turning to social media only served to heighten the bitterness and the pain, more than the loss.
I dont know how other pinks are doing, but if they are like me, they would be extra careful who they let into their hearts again. once bitten twice shy.
Filipinos often turn even living people into idols.
Renato Constantino, for instance, called the hero worship around Rizal “Veneration without Understanding.” I joked that Rizal was turned into a statue after being shot, so nobody would really try to read his works too deeply.
Same with Bonifacio, except they put him in Caloocan. Some supporters of Quezon were bitter about Quezon Memorial, saying that they had made a memorial to a nun and buried his work. Sorry if this sounds cynical, but isn’t all that so often an excuse to return to business as usual? Somewhat like all the misplaced Bible verses many use, or the constant God Bless. Yes I am asking if 2022 for many was just more about looking good, not winning or really changing stuff.
Don’t you think Filipino “Hollywood” and the mass media preconditioned the mind to the adulation and worship of mere mortals? Aren’t they the source of false advertising and weaponized misinformation? The social media scene also helped in proliferation of lies and half-truths. PH have a lot of Marites who are willing and able to spread whatever they gleaned from mass communication sources too.
Media certainly amplifies stuff for which the culture was already receptive.
People getting magical followings in the Philippines has a long history:
1) the Visayan Tamblot, an apostate rejecting the new Christian religion
2) the Visayan Dagohoy, whose group stayed in the mountains even after he died
3) Hermano Pule, the 19th century Laguna lay preacher whom the Catholic Church rejected
4) Bonifacio who visited the alleged cave of Bernardo Carpio (the sleeping King of the Tagalogs) in the mountains. He was also a part-time actor. The cry of Balintawak was not one event but he went to several places for the dramatic act of tearing up cedulas
5) Rizal was of course seen as a magician by many (just as how the Indonesian industrializer Dr. Habibie was seen by a lot of simple folk) and rode on that with small “magic tricks”.
6) belief in anting-anting predated mass media. Marcos Sr. was rumored to have one.
7) Quezon had a popularity similar to possibly what Tisoy ABS-CBN stars have today, while Magsaysay started wearing barong instead of suit and enthralled people by dancing mambo,
Indeed, the book An Anarchy of Families by Prof. McCoy which is about postwar Philippine warlords, does state that some of them invested in early movie studios and first glorified the action hero trope. Though Indonesia has a similar figure, the “Jago” in its popular culture.
My article The National Village does postulate that most Filipinos confuse bayan with small b with Bayan with big B – village and nation, thus thinking that mayors make good Presidents, or acting as if actors, influencers or politicians are people they actually know.
I have also postulated that the scoping error as Edgar would say, makes many Filipinos susceptible to those who have LESS doubts and reflections. “When you know you know” and “once you decide you decide” works on a small barangay scale and for short-term stuff. Unfortunately, that mindset makes people believe the likes of Binay when he said that Mar Roxas had “analysis paralysis.” Or people who analyze are seen as “masyadong nag-iisip”.
I think Atty Barry will go back to his Akbayan roots and reconnect or continue connections with Sen Risa.
That would be good. Maybe he’d take some pinks with him and the Left will be the new pink. They seem to be the only party operating with organized intent.
Hope that works.
Personality cult or not the so-called ‘pink’ are a done deal. The reason why BBM won by a landslide was because of the effort of some people to disassociate with the yellow group, the more established and credible part of the opposition.
The Pink Floyd, este, pink ploy was only resorted to during the election to dramatize its difference from the red and yellow and presenting it as if it’s a new group or new bunch of people when in fact they’re not.
Right now, if second term is allowed, I think BBM will be reelected. I say that because the opposition is now on the ‘to each his own’ strategy. With Leni Robredo’s withdrawal, the leadership position remains vacant and I don’t see anybody with personality and charisma that would dominate the political stage at the moment.
Hi jameboy aka Juan Luna, welcome back. This is an interesting perspective and I have some observations and some questions as well, also because I see two things in the Philippines:
1) groups are very barangays or islands of perception there, often acting as if what they see is the entire world. Few truly big picture people.
2) the opposition it seems has not been honest with itself regarding its losses
So I shall start with 2):
A. In 2016, VP Leni won by a small margin over BBM. She also had the support of the Never Again crowd which wanted to prevent BBM. Also, she had the reputation of being pro-people, which is what yellow were allegedly not – I shall ask a question about that later.
B. In 2019, a chaotic line up of Senatorial opposition candidates lost. A part of the line-up had common rallies with the Left at times, which would not accept Trillanes, for instance.
C. Pink in 2022 was in the best case a realignment more towards what VP Leni could stand for, a mix of liberal economic policy and moderately leftist social policies, in the worst case as you imply a repackaging of old yellow, whatever that is – another question will come on that.
Now for 1) and my inquiry as to how the view is from your “island” or “bay”:
I) What does old yellow stand for in your book? One 1986 veteran I won’t name said that “we might have become the new KBL” which is astoundingly self-aware introspection, probably meaning too smug and self-assured. The other stuff, too “elitist” might not even be true in fact, but more in general tone, given that a lot of yellows are Ateneans and their “habitus” aka their speech and mannerisms may trigger some people based on experiences with similar folks. One can mean well but simply come from the wrong side of the fence. I am assuming the best.
II) the Marcos side mocked Pink as Pinklawan and the woke young crowd as “wokinam” which is hard-hitting but propagandistically brilliant. Some within Pink, I just heard, no guarantee of reliability, liked Barry Gutierrez but considered Bam Aquino “sus.” DDS called Leni a “papet.” What I did see is that the broad coalition that Pink represented did not have a clear picture of what kind of Philippines they stood for. So, did they not know it or just not sell it well enough?
III) I do see that many Pink supporters are now OK with Marcos as he has done many things a Pink government would also have done: Western alliance, Free Leila, Catch Quiboloy etc etc – and I get the POV of Trillanes who wanted a Liberal-Marcos alliance against the Dutertes, because inspite of everything, Marcos Jr. is working within the institutions of the Republic and not blatantly disrespecting them like Duterte. What if ever can the opposition offer in your POV?
The only major risk I see with Marcos Jr. is what might be too much debt incurred. Let’s see. But I have kind of partly dissociated myself from certain discussions as I have seen three losses now: 2016, 2019, and 2022. Something doesn’t fully add up for me yet. It is strange.
Thanks Ireneo and thank you, too, for reminding me of my other name when I’m posting (I already forgotten it).
As to your questions, I can only answer by simply summarizing the events that transpired before, during and after the time the ‘pinks’ came into fruition.
For starter, the Marcos deranged syndrome has long ceased to exist and already been forgotten by the present young generation of Filipinos majority of which has no idea of what happened during BBM’s father’s watch. And for that reason alone, it gave BBM some cushion and was able to present himself independent from whatever people see him as the son of the deceased dictator.
And it didn’t help, back then, that the opposition seems to be pulling in all opposite directions against BBM, the looming favorite in the race. Maybe thinking that adding ‘pink’ in the equation between yellow vs. red will bolster the chances of the opposition in dominating the color spectrum. But like I said above, the specter of the old man, Macoy, has long been gone in the memory of the younger generation of Filipinos.
Nothing the opposition threw on the wall against BBM stuck. Why? Because he is not his father. Cory is no longer around. The yellow color has lost its political glamour and poison (could be why the came up with pink). The war is over, so to speak. And it was very evident in the results of the election.
It was just tough luck for Leni Robredo to ride in a bandwagon the destination of which is unfortunately tend to be nowhere.
What is see in the future of Philippine politics is just like what happened before Macoy came to power. It’s all about parties – not colors – personalities and families. But it’s not about parties like the Dems and GOPs in the US. It is about, you know, island politics, where politicians can hop, choose and pick what party he/she wants to be belonged to at the moment. Philippine style.
No more is the flag of colors. We’re done with that. People cannot comprehend colors nowadays because everybody is in a rainbow. It’s easy to change parties so loyalty becomes cheap.
In preparation for this Mega Millions win, I was looking into reward loyalty programs for Hyatt , Marriott and Hilton, Best Western too. and that was the consensus on reddit, Juan. that its better to get deals via websites like priceline or booking or Expedia. or if you had time call the hotels same day ask for deals. Loyalty programs suck pricisely cuz the day to day running of hotels are done by private vendors, they are just paying to use Marriott or Hilton or Hyatt’s name. there really is no communication between franchise and franchisee which is similar to what you’re decribing here. so welcome back! No loyalty rewards.
LCX,
Just one word that connects and that is loyalty.
We call that mema. Or me masabi lang. (So long as I said something). Let us respect the blog and contributors, please.
karl, so its an analogy piggy backing on what Juan said but I’m using Marriott and Hilton et al as the political parties. the actual hotels are being run by outside vendors who pay Marriott and Hilton to use their names. theres a disconnect from the ground up precisely because the two are running two different divergent businesses, namely the running of hotels and for Marriott Hilton its the safeguarding of their names plus credit cards via loyalty rewards programs. the people are represented by reddit who are telling everyone to just forego the rewards programs instead to find individual deals for themselves either by way of 3rd party websites like hotels dot com or to call said hotels same day to ask for deals like rooms not being filled cuz they’ll give you a reduce price just to fill ’em. Juan is describing a similar situation. the main take away is that Filipinos like what reddit folks are saying is just go at it yourself. forget Personality Cults, meaning forget Marriott and Hilton, you get to a town hit up the hotels like Best Western or Holiday Inn and ask for deals. which am interpreting as acting locally and not even thinking globally. I just watched the debate for example. Kamala Harris clearly won. I was folding my clothes while watching and many a times I threw my newly balled up socks at the tv, yelling don’t take the bait you idiot! cuz he just kept on taking the bait. over and over. So now am thinking Harris is gonna win. but the Trump with kittens and ducklings meme i think will have a lot of play still. but we’ll see. as to Pinks. dump the brand already, just vote whoever will benefit you. forget organizing. to each his own. at this point. I think thats Juan’s main take away which I’m agreeing, karl.
OK
It’s great to know that Kamala Harris has good chances now. Her winning will make a bigger difference for us in Europe, for instance, than the AfD recently winning in former East Germany. Trump will sell us out to Putin for sure.
We should, however, try to stick to the Philippines and adjacent stuff as the main topic and keep our ramblings about other stuff on the low. I know it is tempting to go off like the one in the video below, but as long as we find our way back to the main melody, all is good.
Agreed Irineo plus we all have fun and we ramble and rumble more often than not but we must focus.
Two takeaways for me out of this:
1) history is indeed something that matters little to most Filipinos, for better or for worse.
2) colors don’t matter and island politics reminds me of what a Hungarian who fled to the UK in WW2 wrote about the British: Europeans plan, British muddle through. Joe has called Philippine culture fluid, well that and muddling through could be typical for island people.
The difference is that the British do care about history. Don’t mention the war as Basil Fawlty liked to say.
What do 1 and 2 make the Philippines and Filipinos – resilient and flexible, or driftwood in the waters of history? Possibly, not even the Multiverse has an answer to that.
no matter what has been said about philippines, our country has its own allure. those who left come back even for a short visit, though others come back for good to live the rest of their lives here.
for instance, take jed patrick mabilog, one time mayor of ilo-ilo, who fled to america once he found he was in duterte’s much dreaded narco list, and was granted asylum in america. and yet, here he is back again, mabilog returned and surrendered to natl bureau of investigation, hoping to clear his name, optimistic the justice system under president marcos has real semblance of justice unlike the previous regime of old man duterte.
Yes, real semblance of justice nowadays, with Leila de Lima free and Quiboloy in jail. AND Duterte filing cases against PNP for raiding Quiboloy’s KOJC, hey, that is like a gangsta rapper suddenly calling the cops. Bayot na si Dutz char.
For a while, I had thought that Barok’s stupid and violent cousin had brought the Philippines back to 1521. Marcos Jr. coming back to 1971 is progress compared to that!
I stay skeptical, but I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t hoping that Filipinos will figure it out. Unfortunately, that country is freaking ungrateful so very often to those who love it too much. Jails them, kills them, jeers at them while cheering thieves, makes statues, but ignores them.
human foibles and weaknesses. the good will get their rewards in heaven, they already gotten place in history. they cannot be too greedy for universal recognition, my take. so long as they have got places in our hearts, cannot really expect us to be uber cognizant of them every time of the day and night to the extent of maybe losing our status, jobs, influence, places in society, etc. so going with the flow outwardly may well be the order of the day, but inwardly is different story. such dexterous people living in the moment, know what to prioritize. the dead would understand the intricacies of humans these days and are probly applauding.
Yes, and centuries later, the good and the decent will still just “go with the flow” over there?
Then they are either a total minority or can’t get their act together to really change things. Sacrifices made by heroes seem meaningless if it is really like that.
Ireneo, in the states that matter Harris is still very much playing catch up. most Swifties live in the states that don’t matter (blue states), or they are too few in red states to make a difference (or they’re pro Trump in the red states, cuz a big element of all this is anti-immigration, its Whites that Harris has to win over in these states). She still not in safe territory and Trump still has a good chance. so you might want to move back to Bikol (j/k). But relevant to the blog at hand. Harris played Trump like a cheap saxophone last night. everyone saw it. Manipulated him perfectly. She’s getting a huge boost. rightly so. but I gotta feeling she’ll not leverage it and do more interviews. Newsom would be totally hogging the media. that’s why I was so pro Newsom. Harris will go shy again away from the media. don’t think there will be another debate. Nor should Harris be asking for one. she won. but to catch up to Trump in the battleground states, she needs to do more interviews put herself out there win them over. So if theres to be another Pink leader, they have to go out there and make themselves be known. put in work. monopolize the media. Watch all those Newsom appearances at FOX, that’s how its done. sure you’ll mess up here and there, but just saturate air time. don’t back away.
ooooops, am pretty sure I hit reply on the other comment. sorry.
Irineo, darl, beggin’ your pardon, I was mainly speaking for the grassroots, where the planet looks so different from our perspective.
not all in philippines aspires to be put in one basket even though we share the same country.
there are those held to higher standards like judges, physicians, law enforcers, etc. they have strict mandates to adhere to. and no, I cannot speak for them but I can critique and if they want to hear voices other than their own, of course they wont hear me, coz I’d scream and heckle, and throw stones and stomp, and yell even louder.
I am pretty sure the higher echelons are not judged and neither are they affected nor intimidated by my own standard. to think otherwise is vanity.
@jameboy, haha, I love the fond recollection of names come and gone. You have described well what I see, a color without any organized remains. The intent of the blog article is to point to an organization to paste together like interests to form a real party rather than run around in cultish fashion getting nowhere. But I suspect it is a step too far for anybody.
Marlowe influenced the Bard. Good thing Shakespeare was not influenced to sell his soul.
apparently, marlowe died young at 29yrs from a tavern brawl. while shakespeare died at age 52 from apparent syphilis!
Thanks for the information.
curiouser and curiouser…
Other theories about his death include speculation that Queen Elizabeth I had ordered his death four days before he was killed; that he was meeting with three government agents who were paid assassins; and finally, that Marlowe faked his own death and fled the country, later writing plays under a pseudonym – ‘William Shakespeare’.
long live the dead. they had such intriguing lives.
Today’ s fake news will be legends and folklores of tomorrow.
“The 2028 presidential political league is likely to be Duterte, Marcos, Tulfo, and a bunch of parties and individuals who dream big but perform weak. Including the pinks.”
As we all know, Sara Duterte is eyeing 2028. As for Tulfo, defending on where the wind blows he can go either way, president or vice to Sara. And that is if, a big IF, Digong will not insert himself on the vice presidential race to be with his daughter (sounds crazy but, hey, Pinoy politics is by nature crazy).
How about the so-called pink, what is their role in going forward in the scheme of things? Are they looking at 2028? The devastating lost by Robredo appears to have paralyzed the party and confused it’s leader as to how to navigate the future. I hope they will not do a ‘Johnny-come-lately’ move.
As for BBM, I think he is about to reach the crossroad of his political career where he might be force (I’m wildly guessing here but if the wedge between him and Sara further widens) to form a coalition, unite, collaborate or whatever you want to call it with the regular opposition in foiling Sara’s and her clan’s ambition of bringing real dynasty in Malacanang.
I know it sounds crazy but since the disappearance of major personalities that were involved in the EDSA people power the political landscape has change drastically through the years to the point that the island politics gives an impression that anybody who has connection, name and capital, regardless of education or criminal records or absence of intelligence can run for office and actually win! The bar was so low that nobody can see it from here!
It’s funny and scary at the same time. It’s funny because people whom you didn’t imagine in your wildest dream to be presiding in Senate committees are actually there doing it! And it’s scary you know that they’re doing it.
In spite of my wild imagination one thing is for sure: It’s going to be fun! ðŸ¤
Amusing reflections. The People Power celebrants got crushed by Duterte getting elected and many gave up on the Philippines. The Pink rush was mostly noise, not organization, put together late in 2022, and you point out the folly of delaying again.
I was thinking yesterday that another way to look at my proposal to form a big political umbrella that embraces multiple political parties is in a way an effort to institutionalize the People Power movement. But there’s almost nothing left of it to institutionalize. Maybe institutionalizing Tik Tok politics into a movement would have a better shot at success.
Johnny come lately. As long as it is not as old as Johnny Enrile a wonderful surprise might be welcome.