We should learn to hate dynastic families, the lords of corruption
Analysis and Opinion
By Joe America
Filipinos broadly are driven by simple, largely emotional, decisions. Duterte is “one of us” and strong, so let’s vote for him. Roxas is a pampered rich kid who didn’t have to struggle like we do, so let’s not vote for him.
Or, I have no upside from whoever is elected, so I’ll sell my vote and have a day of happiness in my life.
We need to change the way Filipinos feel about dynasties. Dynasties are the root of all struggles in the Philippines. Dynasties choose themselves over the nation, and are the lords of wang wang, corruption, incompetence, and impunity. They steal all the good jobs for their family and friends. They suck money off into projects that give them commissions but do nothing for us. The are the arrogance of VP Duterte always playing power games rather than helping out. They are the big fat SUVs cruising the EDSA bus lanes because THERE IS NO JUSTICE In the dynastic Philippines.
We really need to hate on dynasties. When we see a son and his mother in the Senate, we should rage. By what standard can this be competence? When we see a Justice Secretary joyfully watch the release his kid from arrest while some poor schmuck who snatches a mango goes to jail, we should hit the streets in protest. We should see the Binays and the Cayetanos and the Villars and the Dutertes as a special kind of rot, as the trash the nation dumps into our living rooms rather than getting us a bigger paycheck. We should see them as thieves, as cheats, as bullies, as the arrogant class that looks down on Filipinos as nobodies.
God, I hate these families.
They take take take and give us dog scraps.
Filipinos should hate them as much as they hate China. Because they are today’s colonists, lording it over everyone else.
They’ll never police themselves. They’ll never follow the Constitution and write an anti-dynasty law. Oh, they’ll for sure write tax laws to get more of our money, or make off with our Phil Health reserves, or buy goods from their corrupt friends for commissions.
When we see two family members in high positions, we should get sick to our stomachs at the offense. At how they put themselves over competence. How they put themselves ahead of us no matter how hard we work.
The latest polls on senate candidates for 2025 show it will be another wipe-out for liberal and Left candidates. The top 12 are all populists and dynastic pawns. Kiko Pangilinan and Bam Aquino are the top liberals ranking 14 and 15, respectively. The Left’s candidates aren’t even there.
Yet no one will build a coalition?
God, I hate dynasties.
They hate us, for sure. They even make us hate each other.
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The Word Press AI image generator refused to generate an image for this article. The computers obviously don’t know how to use hate constructively, illustrating that they are today woefully short of perspective. The cover photograph is from the Spot article “10 of the Philippines’ Most Well-Known Political Dynasties“.
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[…] Setting the emotional tone to reach DE classes: WE SHOULD LEARN TO HATE DYNASTIC FAMILIES, THE LORDS OF CORRUPTION […]
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[…] Setting the emotional tone to reach DE classes: WE SHOULD LEARN TO HATE DYNASTIC FAMILIES, THE LORDS OF CORRUPTION […]
The Society of Honor by Joe America 
Right on, Joe America! Down with all political dynasties!
Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone
Yes, politically speaking, “Share the hate!” But otherwise, share some love.
Bullseye Joeam. I hate these dynasties in politics.
Good, Arlene. Now we just need to spread the mood.
what choice have we in the DE got? they are all political dynasties that surrounds us, and they’re related by blood, kinship, or by marriages too. and our lot in life is constant, no matter who sits on the throne. we will always be maligned, judged, harassed, blamed, made scapegoat of, and whatnot. the good thing is the sun still shines and sometimes if we are lucky, we can get out of our own crab pot! the border is permeable and the boundary is movable. and mood is changeable as the weather. fine one day, typhoon the next.
When I have something meaningful to say to my son, I point two fingers at my eyes, then at his, then back to mine. “Focus here bubba. It’s important.” It only takes one clear message to cross the divide.
I will say that I’ve seen good dynasties in action in Bataan. The Garcia family punch above their weight, considering the low voter count of Bataan. But unfortunately they are the outlier and I agree with the general sentiment.
Yes, there are good dynasts. President Aquino was one. And if there were a government run for competence instead of favor, they’d find their rightful place in it.
the richest cockadoodledo in the philippines started not paying tax in 2009, just before PNoy become president. the cockerel has not paid tax since and for 15yrs despite the uberly massive wealth he has amassed, his tax evasion continued today despite having a wife and a son in the govt. so why cant our tax commissioners enforced it’s mandate? ah, they share a mandate with finance sec and mayhap one is waiting for the other to make the move. our finance sec is instead going to bled dry philheath, imposed 12 per cent vat tax on digital service providers, leaving the cockerel well and truly on his way for another bumper year of not paying tax, again.
And the Special Counsel in the US will drop charges against Trump for inspiring the riot that killed several, and the security guard who shot the rioter coming in through the window will likely be charged with murder, under Trump. There is no justice where there is extreme power. The best we can do is persist.
Legal note:
The Special counsel drop charges on the documents case, not inspiring any riots.
That fella who shot a rioter is not a low down security guard. He is US Capitol police Lieutenant Michael Byrd.
The rioter Ashli Bibbit never climbed through the window. She was outside the security- locked door trying to prevent the crowd from barging in. Videos available.
Thanks for the inputs, Mickey. I was winging it from memory, and the old cranial synapses evidently shorted out. The video I recall had her climbing through the window.
A difficult problem to solve.
The fundamental problems that drives the DE allying with dynasties time and time again are numerous, but can be boiled down to:
• Local dynasties in effect operate organized political machines even if it’s not commonly understood this way
• Dynasties control the information space in their locality, while the opposition and good governance candidates don’t even bother with engaging with voters in each locality, instead focusing on national
• Dynastic candidates have name recognition. People feel more comfortable voting for the “devil they know rather than the devil they don’t know.” At least the voters know what benefits the dynasties are prepared to give. Dynasties give tangibles even if it’s a pittance, while the opposition promises concepts foreign to most Filipinos
• Opposition and good governance candidates often campaign on high minded ideals that will take a long time to come into effect, even if it will ever happen. Voters become quickly disillusioned when they didn’t get the “stuff” they thought they would
• As noted, opposition often appears “out of touch.” Case in point: Bam Aquino. I doubt very many of the opposition who are basically the “good elites” know what it’s like to buy food at the wet market, ride a jeep or a tricycle. Duterte doesn’t either but his vulgar crudeness made him seem like the “crazy tito” at a party; a much more comfortable proposition for most Filipinos, something that the opposition just doesn’t understand
It is entirely possible for the “good elite” to be connected to the “pulse of the people,” but this would require them to actually get out there and talk to enough regular people to personally understand. Having a network of political operatives on the ground who are connected to the people helps greatly; this is exactly what the dynasties have, with dynasty supporters constantly reporting the pulse of the people back to dynasty leadership.
Likewise it’s also possible to run on broadly supported concepts then do the quiet work of implementing good governance when in power. The opposition needs to have a supportive media apparatus to get their messages out effectively. If traditional media doesn’t provide that then use non-traditional media: vloggers, socmed influencers come to mind in the Philippines context.
Dynasties often are shameless at self-promotion, taking more credit than they deserve, or even taking credit when it’s not deserved at all. Even during Aquino’s presidency, I rarely saw his administration taking credit for their accomplishments. People won’t know about the good works if one stays quiet. Furthermore the opposition needs to explain to the voter how exactly do the policies and the implementation thereof affects each individual. People are busy working and surviving, so they need help to connect the dots.
But the biggest problem I see in the center-left and moderate left is their detachment from reality. Yes, I agree with them on what needs to be done, but they need to recognize that the Philippines is basically two countries in one. Forget about the regional rivalries between ethnic groups. The Philippines is a nation of about 10% wealthy, upper and lower middle class, and another totally different country of about 90% working poor. Until the center-left and moderate left opposition gets outside of the bubble and high walls to visit and understand the “other Philippines,” they will always lose unless there is an EDSA level event again caused by dynastic overreach. The dynasties have learned their lessons and keep their bad behavior at the edge of what’s acceptable. The far left who claim to fight for the DE are even more out of touch, and are basically bored excess elites who keep pushing failed forms of government.
Having a lovey-dovey and too high minded campaign won’t get the opposition anywhere. Put up fighters. One can be a good person who wants better governance while also being a fighter. Develop a pipeline from local to provincial to national for good candidates to weed out the weak and promote the strong. Showing up every 3 years with some lofty message is not enough when the local dynasties are engaged with citizens every single day. Some may not like my observations but this is the reality on the ground, at least in the places that I’ve spent a lot of time in. The opposition and indeed, all of us, need to get “outside of the walls” to better understand reality else the dream of a better future Philippines will always be distant.
The purpose of the blog article is to establish how it might be possible to get DE voters to turn against the families who keep them poor whilst making the dynasts families some kind of royalty. It is a theme that needs to be hit hard.
Above I outlined some of the main ways dynasties maintain their control, and why the opposition has thus far failed to break that power. The key word is “local.” If the current opposition politicians don’t understand that then they should make way for up-and-comers, then again with no pipeline of development for good governance candidates they probably will fail in the near term. Candidates and their teams need to start “walking among the people,” so to speak. While the opposition represents the good governance that all of us here want, the opposition is woefully out of touch with DE. The dynastic candidates are the “default” reflexive vote in most peoples’ minds. The job of the opposition is to provide a better alternative. Besides being out of touch, the other big failure is the failure of effective messaging; indeed failure to message at all. Perhaps the opposition believes in miracles.
Robredo walked among the DE class and lost. You have indicated that the opposition needs to speak to DE in terms that means something. I’m proposing that hating on the entitled is something that will inspire them. How the opposition gets it out would have to be multidimensional, with people (not just the candidate herself) pounding the mud paths found locally being a part of that. And social media advertising.
Hating on the entitled won’t work with DE’s because they see the local dynasties as one of them, their friend and benefactor even, ironic as that may seem. To DE’s the national names are but a distant collection of politicians who they feel little affinity to. Let’s also be honest, the national figures are mostly just “bigger” dynasties, including the “good” dynasties. The local dynasties actually work quite hard to curry local favor and show that they are doing good works, even if they are appropriating credit or had done nothing at all. What matters in the end is their voters believed that the dynasty did do the things that the dynasty claimed to do. Leni simply didn’t have that time to walk among the DE more given her short campaign.
Which goes back to the opposition’s problem of effective messaging. When it comes to effective messaging, the opposition has none, and barely even try. Big showy campaigns every 6 years, or even every 3 years is nothing in comparison to the regular touch points local dynasties have with voters. We have already established before that what keeps dynasties in power nationally is in fact coalitions of local dynasties. The voters then trust the dynasty’s choice for national elected positions. The “good” opposition’s constant wailing about why they didn’t win has relatively simple answers on what they can do to start changing people’s minds. Changing people’s minds starts with having an actual, sustained presence in as many localities as possible to provide an alternative of what can be possible. The dynasties are not some insurmountable foe. Often I’ve observed that aside from a few prominent local dynasties, most local dynasties are actually quite weak. But with no one to challenge them in their own backyard it’s no surprise they win by default.
Outdo the dynasties at their own game of constituent services and that’s the entire ball game. The opposition doesn’t know how to play the game, and expects to operate by completely different high falutin’ rules, which is why they always lose. The opposition still operates on EDSA high mindedness not grounded in reality, effectively believing there can be miracles while the dynasties operate in reality as twisted as they may act within that reality. And if the opposition doesn’t recognize that and start learning the rules of the game so they can win and rewrite the rules, then nothing more can be done. As the illustrious American poet Ice-T once said: “Don’t hate the player, hate the game.”
To do what you suggest is a long term commitment requiring a massive team-building similar to what Bong Bong Marcos rolled ot seven years before he got elected. And money. The opposition doesn’t have it. So we still don’t have a way to unseat the dynasts if villainizing them as robbers of everyman’s future won’t appeal to DE. To me it’s all in the words. Well, it’s in the coalition team building and the words. For me, a coalition is infinitely more doable than building a local infrastructure. But I don’t mind if you put more meat on your bones of an idea and present it as an article. Present exactly how to go about it if you are a key member of the opposition. It isn’t enough to say the opposition operates in a high-minded way without telling them how to get low-minded. That’s rather anti-pinoy, being critical without constructing a doable solution. Build something and I’ll publish it and work to get it to whomever you see could be its driver.
I disagree with what I said as “anti-pinoy.” To be anti-pinoy would involve benign0-style screeds about what’s wrong with Filipinos without providing constructive ideas. Well many followed benign0 ardently until he unmasked himself as a person who holds far right views. I’d hope I’ve shared more than a few positive ideas based on my personal observations and experience. If I didn’t care about the Philippines I would not be here or spent that much time in the country.
Your opening sentence hits the nail on the head however. What is lacking is a long term commitment of investing time and money by the opposition. No amount of reconfiguring coalitions will ever fix that, and even if the coalition manages to win the coalition may quickly fall apart as had happened time and time again in Philippine politics. We must recognize that what the opposition is against are entrenched political machines, complete with a messaging apparatus, and so the opposition must build their own machines and messaging apparatuses. It’s correct that Marcos Jr. had a 7-8 year head start ever since he tried to run for VP. So it’s even more damning that this current crop of opposition from the center left to far left have effectively done nothing in those years to build their own team.
The DE don’t believe in words. They believe in who gives them stuff, just like any other voter would. Even if the stuff is a vote bribe in exchange for being screwed over for 6 years, people see the tangible (vote bribe or benefits), and don’t connect the dots of why they are being screwed. Other than stuff, DE also want fighters and to be on the winning side. In lieu of getting stuff immediately, they may vote for a fighter since they will think they’ll partake in the spoils big or small as part of the “winning team.” The opposition constantly loses because they think they can win with just words and no investment in a ground game interacting with voters on a regular basis. That to me, seems like an expectation of miracles. The focus should be on what can be done, right now, in the current rules of the game, to obtain power and mandate. To focus on the possible, not the possibility, because without power everything will be an impossibility.
I appreciate your offer to write an article, but at this moment I don’t think I can commit the time. I’m also just a solitary American who enjoys walking among the DE, with whom I feel more comfortable with. I don’t have any amazing or groundbreaking ideas that constitute rocket science. My ideas are quite pedestrian. And well if the opposition can’t figure out simple things to just start the ball moving in baby steps then perhaps they should not be in politics.
VP Leni and other LP politicians were in Berlin years ago, pre-pandemic, for a seminar sponsored by the German Liberal Friedrich-Naumann-Foundation. I found it quite encouraging that Teddy Baguilat had picked up on how German political parties have grassroots organizations. What is disheartening is that the idea was never followed up on. Was Baguilat as a Cordilleran, coming from where the tribes themselves already have grassroots traditions, the only one who understood the potential of such an approach? True, Pink had something similar in 2022 but in a ragtag, volunteer way only. A solid middle class based political party with locales and dedicated members could do a lot and could even keep its members and volunteers safe from potential harassment by local dynasts.
Another idea would be for a national candidate to drum up support from the mayors that are in that new good governance group. That would be doable, but for 2025, time is running out. At least that approach would have organized local support, albeit with gaps.
The way I see it is that those who have skin in the game, like Cordillerans such as Teddy Baguilat, can understand the potential of organizing better. Or course the Cordillerans have a long history bot grassroots organizations, no doubt necessitated by their oppression and the seeding of activist tradition by Episcopalian missionaries.
The “good elites” who form the current opposition on the other hand, already lead mostly comfortable lives that won’t change much regardless of who wins, and thus speak in lofty terms with some weird expectation that the Philippines will become a carbon copy of a first world nation overnight. No wonder most of the opposition can’t connect with the people. They don’t even know how to fight themselves putting everything on the line, or at least risk something.
When grassroots are dismissed, one must question why if grassroots are not an important base of support, then politicians often seek to invent the appearance of grassroots support if they have none? So of course when one is going against the entrenched yet powerful few who can spread influence by sprinkling money around, one needs to harness a larger amount of supporters to overwhelm the entrenched foe. Grassroots organizing is the way to recruit, message, and fundraise in an organic and authentic way. Grassroots organizing also forces the politicians to be out in front of the people, which can build experience with glad-handing and retail politics, because after all politics is a form of advertising.
Likewise, the way to break the wheel eventually probably needs to bubble up from the bottom so I’m encouraged there is talk of a mayoral good governance group. There’s an old saying that “all politics is local,” meaning good retail politics on how a politician can provide tangibles to an electorate and their communities usually wins elections. The opposition, especially LP, need to get away from only doing these big mainstream media tours which are no longer effective as before in this age of Filipinos not watching as much broadcast TV as before. Politicians need to bring the message to where the voters are.
Actually, VP Leni would also know as she has been mostly at the grassroots.
Maybe she overestimated the number of fellow Pinks on the same page as her.
Of course, Leni and her late husband were mostly involved in the grassroots. But if I had a guess, many Pinks were not fully committed to the cause, instead coming along for the lovefest atmosphere then dissipating soon after the loss when the high was gone. Perhaps Kamala Harris had the same problem, with the Ellipse rally in D.C. being one of the largest ever since back to the MLK “I have a dream” speech. Too many people saw the numbers, and in both cases thought the contest was secured and didn’t vote. Those who did that probably had nothing to lose if Leni and Kamala were not elected. Their lives will go on.
Ahh, the good governance group. Excellent addition to the coalition idea. Terrific.
Anti-pinoy to me is what most foreigners here are, critical on and on and on with no idea why things are as they are, or what to do about it. It’s exhausting. Criticism is so easy. I stay away from them. Your approach is critical, then you say if the opposition can’t figure it out they should get out of politics. So I throw my hands up. It is anti-pinoy if you have the time to criticize but not to build. The criticisms are wearing. I’ll just continue to build on my core idea, a coalition and a message. It may look shitty to people but at least its putting things up rather than tearing them down.
To me anti-Pinoy are Filipinos and foreigners who degrade regular Filipinos and expect the Philippines to suddenly become a first world country overnight. I can’t think of one comment where I degraded regular Filipinos. I often share stories of why they may be doing self-defeating actions and how they can be helped to see why that action is self-defeating. The elites in the opposition on the other hand, need to question themselves that why with all their education they repeatedly fail to finger the pulse of the nation. Every failure is always blamed on someone or something else, such that they never reach a point of introspection that causes changing of course.
I’m sorry that my constructive criticism of what I’ve observed comes off as unconstructive. I enjoy bringing the perspective of the DE’s to the conversation as I think the root cause of the opposition not winning is that they don’t bother to understand what amounts to 90%+ of Filipinos. I constantly find it odd that as a foreigner I seem to understand more about regular Filipinos than Filipinos in elite society seem to. It shouldn’t be that way. I will refrain from commenting about politics as it pertains to the Philippines.
The social divide in the Philippine is so deep that communication between classes is hard. My father and I had a first taste of that, each of us in a different way, when we encountered CD Filipinos (nurses, seamen, drivers) working in Germany. Since we were suddenly on the same economic level as them, they were unfiltered, something the elites in the Philippines only recently got to feel when the new middle class felt bolder in the time of Duterte. The old way was for them to be very subservient and take care never to offend perceived higher ups, tell them what they want to hear. Thus, the elite can afford to be tone deaf and often becomes so. Even now, many choose to dismiss what they now hear loudly instead of understanding why.
Perfect example. When people are in their personal bubbles they won’t understand much of what goes on outside. In the colonial times there was the intramuros. Today, there are those who still build walls whether physical or mental to shield their eyes and ears from inconveniences just meters away. Without facing uncomfortable truths, there’s no path to winning without miracles. EDSA brought about many good things, the abolishment of the dictatorship for one, but it does seem that too many bad conclusions came out of that experience which informs bad political thinking to this day.
Oh, I think readers get a lot from your observations and probably don’t read them as I sometimes do. Well, although we agree on a lot, we have different views on getting principled voting. You see it as a longer term effort requiring grass roots build-up. 10, 20, 30 years. I’m in a hurry. 2028. So it is natural that you would find my insistence on coalition building and messaging as unworkable. And natural for me to read that as defeatist and not constructive.
I think neither of us is likely to be right because both your way and mine go against the grain of how Filipinos work.
But try I must. The blog has a likely remaining life of one to three years. So I’m not going to sit here working on a 20 year project, on a prayer and a hope.
Your sense of urgency is understandable. We have an age difference after all, though I’m not quite a young guy anymore. I don’t think building an organizational structure would take 20 or 30 years, or even 10 years if fundamental changes are made in the way the opposition approaches elections. Showing up every 3, 6 years should be unacceptable when the dynasties have entrenched organizations that reach out and touch voters frequently even in off election years. Yes, outreach requires money and able staff/volunteers, the latter of which can be solved possibly if there is a message that resonates with true believers. Campaign staff who underperform and can’t re-evaluate themselves should be pushed aside for newcomers with fresh ideas. The dynasties are not really that strong in actuality, and I reckon a sustained effort would have a good chance of dislodging their influence. So you can see here, my suggestions are not defeatist at all. I’m just more concerned in the possible rather than the possibility, because if one does not operate in the rules of the possible, everything will be an impossibility; the possibility won’t be achieved.
I think a lot of your ideas are great high level ideas, but I don’t know how often you interact with the poorest members of Philippine society. I’ve found that just sharing a meal, attending a party or fiesta provides a lot of insight on its own. Filipinos love to talk, love to complain, but more than anything Filipinos love company and sharing a good time. I learn a lot that way from what DE’s are thinking. So therefore my ideas address more of the low level concerns. But it’s those low level concerns that consciously or subconsciously drives voters to choose this or that candidate. Finding ways to address or promising achievable increases in living standards alone would probably drive a lot of voters in the correct direction. I don’t think DE’s ask for that much, given their constant support of dynasties. The most important things for DE’s is stability, being able to cater to their and their family needs, and a hope for a better life. The dynasties win by providing a pittance that addresses those things, so I’m convinced that any candidate that can provide even a little better than dynasties can will have a good shot at winning.
It would be a shame if this blog is closed down. I hope you will maintain it for much longer. So let’s gather ideas that address the possible rather than prayer and hope in possibility. The goal should be to create a coalition that has a good chance at achieving 80% consensus and limit in-fighting. Once such coalition holds power, then they can start affecting better policies. I still don’t think the far left has a place in such a coalition. Between LP, Akbayan and Pink there is enough structure to build a new unified party that agrees on most things, and can build out a better organizational structure to be in a better position to fight for subsequent elections.
I was immersed in DE when I first came to the Philippines and my wife was born into it. She is able to intellectualize the tensions within families and between them, and the pettiness, bad thinking, and brutality that reside there. She also demonstrates the waste, and the potential that exists once Filipinos are released from the shackles of dynastic bondage.
As I said before, your wife seems like a gem. Most DE just want an opportunity to have a better job to better provide for their families, which is a basic human want. If any dynasty wants to become super popular and cement their legacy for generations, they would for example attract manufacturing to their locality to provide both prestige and better paying jobs. There should be no need in modern society for jobs such as washer women who earn a pittance per load doing back breaking work, where those who avail laundry services would rather pay a labandera because the human is cheaper than a machine laundromat. Such a waste of both lost time doing manual labor and human capital. One of the goals of my personal project in Cebu and Western Mindanao is to convince those DE I meet that their lives are worth more than they think, and they absolutely should demand more in accordance to the work they provide. I may not affect that many Filipinos due to personal constraints, but the ones I have seem to be able to secure much better lives.
, where those who avail laundry services would rather pay a labandera because the human is cheaper than a machine laundromat.
I know the DE voters, and all they want is entertainment something to give their life meaning. My prediction Q4 polling will have VP Sara up. then 2025, Q1 more up, and more and more and more. all the way to 2026 then 2027 and on to 2028. If I’m a labandera, I’m gonna see myself in VP Sara and not in PBBM. look at her, I’ll say, they are doing her wrong. I’m also being done wrong to, look at what I have to do to survive. I am rooting for her. added bonus VP Sara is fighting back. I as a lowly labandera wish I could fight back like that. I’ll vote for her come 2028. that simple. labandera, teachers, Mango ave, etc. etc. And I didn’t marry a Filipina nor worked with DE Filipinos. just common sense. there’s two Kaijus fighting now, theres no time for a third party. you’re either team Marcos or team Duterte. the closest to a third party are Tulfos, but I don’t think they’ve cultivated connections with military and police. so now, now now now… they have to pick a side. DU30 just did a press conference talking about how the military should protect the constitution, Marcos is gonna sic NBI DOJ etc. on VP Sara, VP Sara’s confidential funds went to military folks apparently, the question now is does PBBM have AFP/PNP support. cuz shit just got real. that’s my reading of todays watching of all this stuff, Joe. EDSA IV is brewing guys. are you team Marcos or team Duterte?
Hmm DE voters generally don’t think this way LCpl. To say DE’s are looking for entertainment gladiator style bread and circus really takes away what little agency they have. And actually it seems to me that more and more DE are waking up to the malfeasance and malady of the Dutertes. I’m personally pleasantly surprised when DE’s I know are asking me to share with them my thoughts on Duterte and Sara, all the scandals, and what I think about Leni. DE’s are not strong BBM supporters either. Mostly they vote however the party list of their “local team” aka local dynasty goes. Old man Duterte insinuating that he may have control over the AFP is just an exhibition of the insanity of a madman. If he ever tried anything I’m sure Gen. Brawner will crush him as Gen. Brawner is loyal to the constitution.
There will be no EDSA uprising. I am team Office of the President. I don’t know how any sensible person could back a death threat against the President. The VP is angry, probably caught stealing, and thinks she is the victim. An EDSA protest would be thieves protesting thieves getting caught.
There will be no EDSA uprising.
No not right now. but the trajectory looks to be this, Joe. because though the COA slash House hearings seem small time, cuz I noticed VP Sara was very much loyal to her staff as her staff to her. so if the hearings are focused to cause leaks from her staff I don’t see it, just based off their body language in the hearing though another one fell, that was a legit medical issue she actually fainted enroute to veterans medical. was the regular disbursing officer, and theres a special disbursing officer for confidential/intel funds, then a security officer who also does disbursing who’ll be called soon. theres two OVP and DEPED security officers. as to dead man’s switch, in her press conference when asked she simply said I have one because Aquino did not and he died on the tarmac. and Marcoses are known for political assassinations. which makes sense. but legally it doesn’t so there has to be a criminal case and she will be found guilty of sedition at least. if not for terrorist threats. The word “sedition” comes from the Latin word seditio, which literally means “separation”. so by definition there will be a bifurcation. whether she does a Mandela and stays in prison then becomes president or becomes president by involving military loyal to her remains to be seen. but hard to just forget about VP Sara now. i also just heard Martine Romualdez in all his glory last night, that guy gives off Musolini vibes and I’m now thinking he’ s more powerful than PBBM. whos got low energy. so these two VP Sara and HS Romualdez will or should do t he trolling of each other from here on out. thus making PBBM weaker and uninterested. but can Martin garner military/police support as he himself has worst legal issues than VP Sara. which I’m thinking VP Sara will go after first due this weakness. as to her father’s strength or weakness, this i’m curious about, Joe.
If he ever tried anything I’m sure Gen. Brawner will crush him as Gen. Brawner is loyal to the constitution.
Maybe Gen. Brawner will throw in with DU30, Joey. I dunno and can’t be certain at this point. but not now, all this has to develope further. VP Sara will have to make her case to the police/military. as will PBBM and Martin and Liza. then DU30 as well bringing in Mindanao and the Visayas. cuz I’m noticing VP Sara making more appearances in Luzon as OVP. too soon to tell now where the military/police will throw in. but the stage is now much cleared and set. no more House hearings. they are now going for jugulars.
Okay so Joe’s team Marcos, am I correct you too are team Marcos (and please don’t say I’m team DE Filipinos, Joey). kb and I are for sure Team Duterte now. I think the rest will now be team Marcos here. game on. though I think karl hates the Marcoses, Ireneo might too. theres no on the fence now. its either or time. VP Leni will be team Duterte for sure too. which might convince Ireneo.
General Brawner is an Ilocano, and I believe I have heard his father’s name during Marcos Sr. times already. More likely, he will stick to Marcos. Enrile is advising everyone to cool down for the sake of the Philippines. See video below.
He is after all one who understands the unwritten rules of Philippine politics from the get-go. When Ninoy was killed, he said IIRC “One does not just kill someone of any consequence. That is simply not done.”
If I were in the Philippines, I might feel like the humans in the Jurassic Park scene in the video above, trying to get as far as possible from two giants fighting. I am not saying that a third dinosaur with sharp claws will come up suddenly and spike up one big dinosaur.
Sara is a fantasist, and not even mildly entertaining compared to her old man.
I’m anti-Duterte, and for now I can tolerate Marcos Jr. as so far he is working within the confines of the Philippine Constitution while the Dutertes are trying to undermine the Constitution. Sara needs to understand that she does not hold any Constitutional power aside from the role of ascending to the Presidency in the event the President is incapacitated or dead. To think that she has more power than that would probably be a big mistake on her part.
I am not team anybody, and resent being mislabeled. As for conspiracy theories, they are a lousy foundation for rational thinking.
the only counterfactual to all this is Liza. had she just butted out, this woulda played out much differently and to their benefit too. they just didn’t have a sense of Inday Sara. and what she’ll do. how she’d react to stuff thrown at her. I don’t think she has a clear strategy only that she’s reacting to every act against her. and doing so clumsily too but then she benefits when things settle is the pattern here. so take away all the acts which VP Sara can react to, then you have a quieted VP Sara. she’s just reacting. not really generating anything for herself. atleast whats availabe online i can read.
I am not saying that a third dinosaur with sharp claws will come up suddenly and spike up one big dinosaur.
There is a scenario in this, in which VP Sara asks for military and police help and it falls on deaf ears, Ireneo. thanks for that Brawner break down. didn’t know he was Ilocano as well as Marcos Sr. era guy. then Joey’s correct Brawner will stand against DU30, how ’bout Teodoro? the eldest Tulfo the one Liza side lined said VP Sara and Ms. Lopez were lesbian lovers, does this mean Tulfo brothers will be going to Marcos too? i dunno. or maybe they will be the 3rd dinosaur, and they’ll not need police/military they’ll just have social media national support which we’ve not seen yet, sidelining both Marcos and Duterte. thats an interesting possibility too. thanks!
p.s.—- in that DU30 press conference he said or told the press to focus on PhilHealth, Ireneo. that this was the bigger story. or something to that effect.
is this checkmate then, Ireneo?
Well it seems that Sara is going to learn soon that the one who holds Executive Power is not her. She is just a replacement, a standby. And replacements can be replaced. Amazing that Old Man Duterte in all his madness never took himself down. He is still somewhat a clever old man after all. Sadly, his children don’t seem have any of that cleverness and are apparently even more insane. Since it’s obvious Sara won’t have the support of the military (that was always a fantasy), her only hope is to mobilize the masses by becoming a martyress. But then again, Ninoy stood for something. The Dutertes stand for themselves only. This could’ve all been solved by simply following the law and dutifully fulfilling her role as VP, rather than think she’s somehow above the President. Big mistake!
To think that she has more power than that would probably be a big mistake on her part.
I agree with this Joey. and VP Sara was very subservient pre-Liza Marcos.
I think PBBM coulda just summoned VP Sara and they have a talk both on and off camera.
Maybe this can still happen now. just leave it to 2028. stop all the gamesmanship. everyone does their jobs. then 2028.
But I don’t think PBBM has this in him.
A President doesn’t need to summon a VP at all. Sara is totally wrong here, acting without any Constitutional power, so she needs to be the one who begs for forgiveness and be quiet for the rest of her term. I disagree with Marcos Jr. on a lot of things, mostly about some of his Cabinet picks and running the government in a laissez faire way, but I’m pro Office of the President and the Separation of Powers of the three branches as long as everyone is abiding with the Constitution. And in this case, it’s Sara and the Dutertes who are attempting gamesmanship without knowing how to play the game, with no strong support anywhere to be found. The Dutertes started this.
Consider that the President controls the entire Executive Branch, which includes the military, PNP, DOJ, all apparatus of the state while by law the VP controls nothing. Frankly I’m surprised Marcos Jr. was this patient until now. But then again, he need not take any action at this moment as Sara is doing a great job undermining herself.
Sadly, his children don’t seem have any of that cleverness and are apparently even more insane.
The brothers silence is weird. So I think they know they are outmatched being guys. But VP Sara is on another level. Women tend to be like this. and that whole lesbian thing was interesting.
I don’t know how else to put it more delicately, but the Duterte brothers seem like complete imbeciles. Clearly, their positions of mayor of Davao and Congressman from Davao are just ways for their old man to continue to exert power. Sure, Sara is on a whole ‘nother level… one of an insane madwoman perhaps. When I was young and a bit pasaway, I learned a lot about street fighting given the environment I grew up in. The last fight I had lost was when I was 5 years old I reckon. The first rule I internalized is when one becomes a mad dog, one will lose to someone cool headed. One should be aware of the surroundings, read the room, notate possible objects that can be used as tools or weapons, attack routes and escape routes. Blindly attacking, frothing at the mouth with no plan usually yields predictable results.
Well it seems that Sara is going to learn soon that the one who holds Executive Power is not her.
All depends on what Brawner thinks of DU30 during Marawi. cuz sure he could be Ilocano, but if DU30 starts rolling out some good cards that makes sense to Brawner. Constitutionally speaking, Brawner et al will make their choice as to who is pro-Constitution and in the right.
I have to read up on PhilHealth but that was the whole point of DU30’s press conference, not really the military stuff.
Gen. Brawner will follow his Constitutional duties. The Philippines is far from a dictatorship, and it seems the AFP under Brawner had already weeded out many of the pro-Duterte men who do not love and respect their oath to the Constitution. That is an indicator.
Old man Duterte may hold as many press conferences as he wants to feel relevant. He is no longer the President and has no power.
Blindly attacking, frothing at the mouth with no plan usually yields predictable results.
I agree with this too, Joey.
Which got us to Sedition, instead of Impeachment (which was wishful thinking at best, not gonna go thru Senate at least per Imee Marcos). We just fasttracked it to Sedition cuz of Ms. Lopez her lover. according to Ramon Tulfo.
But Sedition is complete irony. cuz Benigno Aquino Jr.
So VP Sara’s blind frothing attack always returns us to Marcos being originally hated, and that PBBM is only president cuz of VP Sara. at every corner PBBM is beset by this.
Cuz if they go thru Sedition, all skeletons in the closet will again be prosecuted, and it was Old Man DU30 that made that disappear as well. I love the original sin aspect in all this.
So Tulfos and VP Leni, etc. will have to throw in eventually, Joey. and my prediction is this all ends with Ferdinand Marcos’ remains thrown into South China Sea. and this automatically will cause Imelda’s death thru heart break.
Let’s not compare Sara to Ninoy. Ninoy was an honorable person, while Sara is not. So even if Sara martyred herself she probably won’t elicit the same reaction of Ninoy’s martyrdom. Also recall that the EDSA reaction to Ninoy’s martyrdom was a society-wide mobilization across civil, religious, and sympathetic government workers. After seeing the Mindanao secession drama play out, it’s clear the Dutertes have no real power anymore and none of the governors in Mindanao are afraid of the Dutertes. So where they failed in Mindanao, how they think they can parlay it to winning in the Manila is just ludicrous. Marcos Jr. probably won’t make the same mistakes his father did. After all, Marcos Jr.’s goal is to rehabilitate the family name and legacy within the democratic system.
, so she needs to be the one who begs for forgiveness and be quiet for the rest of her term.
This won’t happen.
Yep, that’s why Sara will go down. Talk about shooting one’s own foot.
I have seen only the Tagalog comments on diverse YouTube videos, and many see Inday Sara as crazy, even as there are still DDS around – but way less.
Don’t know, but I guess many Visayans now consider her buang, no longer maisog.
DDS staged an “EDSA rally” yesterday. Looked like about 500 people.
Well it depends on who consumes YouTube content. My guess is YouTube is mostly the realm of C and upper D’s. These two groups were iffy on Sara to begin with. Nowadays TikTok is the main socmed of choice of DE. I haven’t had a chance to check out Bisaya language TikTok recently (got tired of sexy dancing girl algorithm recommendations lol), but from what more and more DE Duterte supporters I know in Cebu are saying, the Dutertes seem to have overplayed their hand. Not to say that DE’s are totally in love with Marcos Jr.’s presidency thus far either. The more drama is out in the open, the more people become aware. This is why dynasties work hard to tamp down on dramas within their spheres of influence.
Well, well, it’s GoT Philippines edition.
https://64-media-tumblr-com.cdn.ampproject.org/i/s/64.media.tumblr.com/33ad692784adedd39b633bc787bbe944/tumblr_obe43htHPP1uqdigto1_250.gifv
After all, Marcos Jr.’s goal is to rehabilitate the family name and legacy within the democratic system.
I do think this is PBBM’s goal as well. thus hands off gov’t. But Martin and Liza seem to be planning something different. which brought out the bad side of VP Sara.
I still don’t quite understand PhilHealth how this factors into this. but it seems to carry weight with DU30. so I’m thinking whatever aces he’s got is here, Joey.
PhilHealth.
VP Sara doesn’t seem to have any aces, just shooting from the hip. what Vikings labeled berserkers. or going berserker. thus Ferdinand Marcos’ remains.
It’s a misconception that berserkers attacked blindly. The historical berserkers planned their attacks carefully, only taking psychedelics at the last moment to augment their own skill.
Old man Duterte has no cards left, neither does Sara and her brothers. A wild animal is most dangerous before it’s put down. They did this to themselves and want to make the nation suffer along with them. They’re not going to win this when they don’t have any support that can overcome the Office of the President.
oh, shit… you’re right , Joey. i always thought berserkers was akin to running amok. theres science to it. black henbane is the compound.
people are already coming out to support in EDSA (not much though) and in Davao.
Don’t know, but I guess many Visayans now consider her buang, no longer maisog.
these two concepts need not be exclusive, I think you can be both. and Filipinos I think see them as connected, eg. amok. but Joey’s correct will this style of fighting prevail. i dunno.
50/50. is my guess.
Friday is the next hearing hopefully with the two security officers (DEPED and OVP) , then NBI subpoena needs to be addressed soon too. My bet is DE is lapping this all up, the amok rebrand, Ireneo.
The chess pieces are moving, including Enrile and Brawner on the Marcos side. The Ilokano mentality BTW is – Heneral Luna notwithstanding – not amok at all. There is more calculation involved. That, in fact, was a hallmark of Marcos Sr. that even his enemies recognized. Though there might even be parallels now with Liza and Martin – similar to the speculations that Imelda and General Ver had Ninoy killed. Marcos Sr. was already very sick then. And all bets were off after that, with Enrile and Marcos Sr.’s cousin FVR switching sides on Feb 22, 1986..
This can go in any direction, with I think Enrile and Brawner now practicing damage control. Next person to watch is possibly Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the Kingmaker of 2022.
The saddest part about this Duterte clan manufactured drama is that if things go south the main beneficiary will probably be the PRC. This may inform the calculations of the players involved.
MLQ3 has analyzed the present situation in his usual succinct way:
https://www.facebook.com/share/fbncmB6tGszCxkNt/
“My column today zeroes in on the Veep accelerating events: why she had to, and why the fallout’s been what it is. Two political styles contending, both sides have (necessarily) taken People Power out of play, which gives advantage to incumbent.
https://opinion.inquirer.net/178684/from-meltdown-to-showdown
Columnists
The Long View
From meltdown to showdown
By: Manuel L. Quezon III – @inquirerdotnet
Philippine Daily Inquirer / 04:55 AM November 27, 2024
Never make a big decision when you’re angry, hungry, or happy,” Ferdinand Marcos Sr. told Time Magazine in 1974. His son seems to have taken this to heart. It would have been well for the Vice President to take it to heart, too. Instead, she started a race. The winner of the race would be the one able to effectively deliver this message: “Don’t you dare!”
If the Dutertes succeeded, it would’ve nipped in the bud efforts to defang and declaw them; failure to succeed would mean success for the Marcoses and Romualdezes. On Monday, it became clear who’d won the race. It was the President. The irony is that it was the Vice President who fired off the starting gun, so to speak; she did so, by forcing a change of pace on the President and his people: in what observers called a “meltdown,” the Veep declared that she’d made arrangements for the President, the First Lady, and the Speaker to be bumped off if she ended up bumped off. She emphasized this was no joke.
She was acting true to form. In our infamously free-wheeling and sloppy political culture, the Marcos-Romualdez method for achieving political success is to play the long game, combining relentless pressure with overwhelming force while exercising strategic patience. In other words, the boa constrictor style of political operations. The Duterte style is shock and awe: explosive brinksmanship to intimidate opponents into backing down or backing off, zeroing in, when needed, on specific enemies to clobber in order to make an example of them. In other words, the silverback gorilla style of leadership.
What’s been happening is shock and awe has been failing when confronted by the long squeeze. As their tried and tested methods have stopped working, they have started making political decisions in a blind fury, so that the Dutertes responded to provocations with wild abandon, repeatedly raising the ante regardless of whether they could actually survive having their bluff called. The former president tried to rally the cops, the police top brass was purged; he tried to summon people to the streets, no one came; his party was raided; his access to friendly broadcast facilities were cut off, his allies, as his clout diminished, found themselves in jail; all he had left was himself.
The Vice President, like her father, ultimately decided to use herself as a human shield. In her father’s case, he had to do it, facing the Senate and then the House, because the police officers he’d used in the so-called “war on drugs” started to give evidence; in her case, she had to do it, because her own staff began to corroborate the paper trail carelessly left for the House and the Senate to follow.
In the end, her former coalition partners-turned-enemies proved more daring. She couldn’t, though she tried, stare down the cops: force of will wasn’t enough; she could stare and shriek but it didn’t stop her staff being detained for contempt, and carted off from one place of detention to another. She herself had dared to refuse to testify under oath, only to have to relent and do so, in the end. To be sure, there were tears and sobbing, as her staff were taken away from her. Perhaps enough to tug at the heartstrings of the loyal.
But the loyal stayed home. How could they do otherwise? The Veep is the daughter of the man who’d crowed he’d repudiated People Power and all it stood for: a brand of leadership that would do everything—even assume the moral burden of ordering liquidations—on the followers’ behalf. That would have been all right if the leader still had lieutenants, but without the presidency, neither a Veep nor an ex-prexy can stand up to an incumbent chief executive—not without the clergy, civil society, the media, the army, or business. The first three have lost their clout; the last two, much prefer the status quo. When the President, not following his own timing to be sure, but not about to cede the field after a direct challenge, either, laid down the law, the public immediately saw the difference: lawyers, lawmakers, law enforcers, soldiers, to name just a few, all took their cue from him and pronounced the Veep and ex-prexy guilty of going too far.
In achieving restoration, the President figured out something the ex-president and the Veep still haven’t figured out: how to innovate and learn from past mistakes. Having never lost before, and never experienced being challenged and defeated, the Dutertes may lack what it takes to win.
She became the latest Vice President to foolishly think receiving more votes—in a separate contest, against much less formidable foes—than the President, makes for a formidable rivalry. Against this generations-old delusion are generations-old political realities: Vice presidents are expected to cooperate with presidents; and the veep who breaks away, suffers in the judgmental eyes of public opinion.”
Great observations by MLQ III. Pretty much aligns with what I figured. If someone had told me in 2017 that Sara would end up being the one bringing down her entire family, I would’ve scoffed. Not the scenario I had imagined but the end result will probably be just the same.
Against this generations-old delusion are generations-old political realities: Vice presidents are expected to cooperate with presidents; and the veep who breaks away, suffers in the judgmental eyes of public opinion.
This is something new, I agree.
PBBM has not yet won.
VP Sara has to be imprisoned first.
They’re not going to win this when they don’t have any support that can overcome the Office of the President.
You have to play compare and contrast here to get to the bottom of that assessment , Joey.
That constricting MLQIII is talking about is all political, even legal. nothing else.
But in the end, or at the end of the day, it all boils down to whether or not Inday Sara or PBBM has the support of
the military
and
the police.
cuz that’s King Kong‘s strength (MLQIII’s metaphor) pure strength from people that have the weapons, and not the political and legal capital.
That is why Skullcrawler (PBBM) will lose.
But we are not there yet, Joey.
It’s still the constricting portion of the game.
AFP and PNP, at least rank and file, I am very confident is pro Duterte.
karl said it himself, what took Marcos the father 30 years to do, DU30 did it in 6 years. How? he supported the AFP/PNP. loyalty begets loyalty.
So you have to compare and contrast where AFP/PNP support falls under, Joey.
Duterte clan manufactured drama is that if things go south the main beneficiary will probably be the PRC.
I disagree vehemently that Dutertes started this. as a matter of fact you can see from Inday Sara’s body language 2022 and 2023, she really was subservient to PBBM , she played her VP role perfectly.
Then they threw her under the bus. all for laughing at her Dad’s jokes (which I agree with Liza, that was kinda bad shot for me too, professionalism etc., but she has no say she’s just First Lady after all).
So the shots fired first came from the Marcos camp, not from VP Sara, Joey. you have to be clear on that.
As to China, I totally agree. this is also a China vs. USA game behind the scenes am sure. I suspect the Arab countries at the behest of China will also throw in for the Dutertes.
USA will see how weak PBBM actually really is and will eventually throw in with Dutertes. that’s my estimate. They’ll have to step in again and fly PBBM and Liza and that cutey pie Sandro to Hawaii again.
I was always fascinated by the runaway truck off-ramps they build along the freeways in the US on long downhill grades, so that when truckers lose their brakes they can bail out and do a slowdown on the gravel off-ramps. Ingenious. You need to find an off-ramp because you’ve lost your brakes, where brakes are sense. You make up stories and sell them as if true. AFP is institutionally bound to the Constitution. The bond has not been broken thanks to competent civilian leadership under Secretaries Lorenzana and Teodoro. Generals who did the fist pumps with Duterte have been deleting those photos. PNP was institutionally broken under Duterte thanks to Senator Dela Rosa. Current leadership is trying to re-establish the institutional bond. Neither organization is for sale politically these days. Duterte has no sway.
The US is policy driven, and won’t “throw in” with Duterte. They will side with the Office of the President.
In fairness to Inday Sara, theres contagious laughter. Even when I go to a comedy show, and the jokes aren’t funny, I laugh. Cuz the whole room is laughing. Its just what humans do. And to throw everything away over that. It’s silly.
LCpl, you’re starting to veer into fanfic territory 😅 absolutely none of what you predict is grounded in reality. For Visayans they look to the mood in Cebu as the bellwether of which direction they will go. In Cebu people are starting to wake up to the reality that the Dutertes could simply be insane. DE’s want stability above all else.
Current leadership is trying to re-establish the institutional bond. Neither organization is for sale politically these days.
In just 2 years?!!!
The US is policy driven, and won’t “throw in” with Duterte.
We fly out presidents and leaders all the time, Joe. sometimes we tell them to stay but they fly out themselves , eg. Afghanistan.
The US has an arrest warrant out for Duterte’s pal Quiboloy. They know of 30,000 murders and the ICC. They know of Michael Yang and Duterte’s triad connections. They also know of EDCA and a whole lot of joint operations underway with Marcos. So they are going to go sleazy with Duterte exactly why? Because you went weird to back Sara the nutcase and are now desperate for arguments. lol. Find an off ramp.
LCpl, you’re starting to veer into fanfic territory
LOL, “fanfic”. I’m just reacting to MLQIII’s metaphor, that it can also twist the opposite way, Joey.
You may be right about Cebu.
But I’m looking at EDSA and Davao am surprise most women there are wearing hijabs. not time to count how many are showing up yet cuz its not at that portion of the game yet.
As to PNP/AFP, we’ll see. but my bet is that in 2 yrs, PBBM may have installed his generals etc. but the rank and file will still be very much DU30. just based on polling when he left. he was very popular and still is.
I know Inday Sara’s polling was going down. but my sense is that Q4 polling will rise. cuz people will now be talking what exactly happened why how did we get here…
and it was just that damned joke bangag and her laughing. and then bad shot. Jan. 2024 to now. dominoes fell so quickly.
So they are going to go sleazy with Duterte exactly why?
The US will see and wait and see, Joe. just like the South Vietnamese president and his wife and just like that Philippine president and his wife and so on and so forth. but my thinking is tides will soon turn for Inday Sara. because in the end, she was thrown under the bus. DE’s understand this. they may not have been paying attention then, but now they are.
Interesting conversations where the theme „the opposition should do…..“
All the while I see no real opposition, I see no real parties.
I see no mobilization.
Where are the parties which hold conventions (adapted to the Philippine environment), where people discuss what is needed to elevate the country. Where these discussions result in party programs. Where these programs are endlessly discussed, adapted, promoted. Where eventually new leaders will emerge. And where „believers“ will go out and promote the program, the ideas, the leaders.
But, just like the dynasties are build on (the reputation of) their leader only, the opposition does not have a solid base either. The parties are the leaders and the leaders are the parties.
I see no clear programs. Obvious, because then they would be held accountable and that is something we do not do here.
So, we do not have an opposition really until parties go out and motivate Juan.
Until that time, the P500 from the dynasty leader will buy him a vote.
Joe being angry or not will not make a difference.
Being angry is something we do. We see all those missed opportunities. We experience these beautiful people who make our life pleasant, the people who go out of their way for P400 per day, the people who help us. (and sometimes annoy us). That makes us angry because we know the root causes, we see how it should be solved. How these beautiful people could have a happy life without (to many) worries.
And we get angry because we are helpless.
I do not see Juan angry. He actually knows what the problem is. But he shakes his head and continues with the loves of today and leaves the political problems in their cubicle and locks the door to the cubicle.
Joe, like you advised me a long time ago: Let it be.
Enjoy the beach, a cold beer and the kid(s), but let the anger dissolve. It is up to the people who get actually screwed to get angry.
And if they don’t??
Then maybe they get what they deserve when the cupboard with cubicles explodes.
You don’t deserve a heart attack getting frustrated.
Better enjoy today’s beautiful weather.
Note: Maybe I am actually trying to convince myself. lol
Paul, I always enjoy your takes and observations.
I had not considered that no one wants to rise up to lead an opposition because then they would be held accountable if they failed.
I also see the behavior of Juan and Juana as you see. They would rather take the small wins of P500 per head and a bag of relief goods, vote for the home team’s pick, and move on with their lives. The opposition in recent years has never given Juan and Juana something to believe in that wins over what they can see and hold in their hands today. Any opposition would need to provide tangible, easy to understand reasons on why one should vote for the opposition over the dynasty team. Then again, without any mobilization and the opposition standing on the sidelines hoping for miracles, that’s going to be difficult to even start developing a message.
Accountabilty is interesting. In Europe, New Zealand and the US, the leading parties were held accountable for their failures to deliver what was promised.Ofcourse, the medicine (e.g. Trump) is much worse than the alternative, but the messages should come through.It just seems that politicians are blind blobs of jelly. Same shit in different colours. Filling the forms designed by Big Money. No backbone. Even if Biden, Ardern, Rutte, Andersson etc did not do bad, they did not deliver and in the following elections, their parties lost because they did not want to take risks (e.g. follow Bernie/AOC in the USA). Still, there have been discussions, people can vent ideas, preferences.That is democracy.And here, I do not see any intellectual discussion on programs, priorities.Like McCain could have a discussion with his opponents and when he lost, he admitted defeat and supported his opponent as president.That is now getting very, very rare everywhere.Only money talks.Musk with billions.Philippine mayors, governors and presidents with P100 bills.
Sorry I missed your comment earlier, Pablonasid. Your advice to go have a beer is excellent, but I don’t drink anymore, the kid is off on his own, and I find amusement in the intellectual realm of the impotent. It is helpful to understand that when I write an idea, it is not to sell the idea but to get reader feedback. And I appreciate yours. There are conscious angers and quiet or subconscious angers, and I think we all have them. The challenge is to find a way to speak to DE voters in such a way as to get them to value their vote as worth more than 500 pesos. Anti-dynasty “hate” may be a component of that.
speak to DE by all means, just dont expect them to belly up and be immediately converts just because they’ve been spoken to. DEs are all degenerates! haha, but if you really want to be memorable and make a dent, speak to the local dynast immediately above them DEs, that’s the unspoken holly alliance but understood, a package deal of some sort only more lasting and summat unbreakable.
local dynasts can endorse your cause, the more dynasts you can get the better. dynasts a face more familiar to the DEs, more established and trusted, and respected even.
so if something did go wrong, like losing in the election despite all the hard works put in, DEs have a safe recourse, a vent, a company to share in their sorrows and pat their backs. they’d console each other, both dynasts and DE, unlike those fly by night campaigners who’d be gone by then and rarely heard again.
I’m thinking about how much money a competent government can make to see if it amounts to more than 500 pesos per voter. Then the opposition can promise voters more cash, kinda like 20p rice, from honest government. Plus jobs.
KB distilled what I had been saying about the dynasty-DE relationship in a more effective way with her trademark humor. Thanks KB!
Joe, I had been thinking about another strategy for some years. You might not like it but hear this out. Consider what I said about local dynasties being in effect political machines that make alliances with other political machines. Yet some other smaller dynasties hop on board with the bandwagon once a dynastic alliance gains some traction. Even in Aquino’s coalition he had a lot of local dynasties reconfiguring their sails to become members of the Aquino coalition when they sensed the change in direction of the wind. Now consider that one of the biggest impediments to local dynasties reforming themselves for better governance is fear of loss of power along with fear of lack of national support if they initiate a project that can increase the economy of their area of control. This is also the reason why the oligarchs are happy with maintaining the consumption-services based economy that depends on imports by the way, and don’t invest in new business projects outside of this area. Same reason why the national government is happy with tariffs, consumption taxes and remittances to support the economy. Doing new things alone is too hard.
I’ve been thinking about the mayoral good governance group for some time too. While I think it’s a great initiative, those cities are solidly middle class and what they’re doing can’t be replicated in majority DE municipalities. Those good governance mayors will be fine as they have the local resources to achieve most of their goals, but they should also be supported to provide an example of a modern, economically viable Philippine local government if an opposition gains power.
So what I propose is to ally with local dynasties who may be perceptive to bringing economic improvements to their localities. Promise national support for them to improve their local economic outlook to serve their citizens and then deliver upon it. These local dynasties already have political machines; take advantage of their built up political infrastructure however small it may be. Things that can be proposed would be bringing manufacturing jobs, infrastructure projects, etc, jobs that will support industries around them like the services sector.
I hate to say it but I’ve resigned myself to believe that despite the modern trappings, politics in the Philippines stuck in a Filipino version of the late 1800s US, when American political machines and business barons were prevalent. It is not looking down on Filipinos to recognize the truth. Indeed I believe overlaying a rosy picture does a disservice to Filipinos and the nation, as it ignores the fundamental problems. The bright lining is that over time, those corrupt American local political machines reformed and became more professionalized with corruption reducing over time when citizens’ economic outlooks improved and citizens started demanding more of their government. American political machines eventually became subsumed into the national parties as national-local party alliances became strengthened and interdependent on each other’s support. The more economic benefit that can be delivered to a local area, hold out dynasties will notice and be compelled to join if they want to enjoy the benefits of the collective project.
What would this require? Astute political operators for one, internal domestic diplomats basically to coordinate between the various local political machines aka dynasties. But it can be done, as it had been done in the US, UK, Germany. Now all we need is a center-left, moderate left, social democrat left to form. That would be LP, Pink, Akbayan respectively. Identify leaders between the three factions who can agree on how to get 80% of the goals. As I mentioned before these three factions believe in the same goal, they only argue how and how fast to achieve the goal. They’d have the greatest chance of accomplishing something if they can agree on the how and how fast, but most importantly limit in-fighting so they can present a unified front to gain power. That would require as Paul said leaders who take accountability. It can be done, with a bit of hope and a lot of hard work.
This makes a whole lot of sense. Please repost it to my new article that comes out a little over an hour from now.
Will do Joe
That’s an interesting approach.
I think we can say that 50% of the budget “disappears”.
That would be 52k per person per year.
Or doubling the minimum wage.
without raising taxes.
Ofcourse, the trickle up effect would increase this even more (spending on local produce instead of Porsche and Disneyland).
Fata Morgana, but it makes me smile.
I’d probably use a more conservative number, but, yes, you put it in terms that are tangible, and meaningful.
I also have coffee and several juices from my garden you are welcome to try 🤤. Even the icecream machine is working and my Vietnamese coffee ice-cream is not bad.
Sounds terrific. We made ice cream as a kid, cream from the cow, ice to keep it cold, and a whole lot of stirring that we did in shifts. Having a machine would definitely be an upgrade, and that coffee flavor. It might make me forget that I’m lactose intolerant, sort of a pleasure/pain scientific calculation. 😂🤣😂
In the long run, yes. This reminds me of John Locke’s First Treatise of Government, where he countered the book Patriarcha by Sir Robert Filmer. This was smack in the era when England was reducing the power of its political families who had been in conflict for centuries: York vs. Lancaster, then the Tudors from Wales, the Stuarts (but not Rod Stewart) from Scotland, the Cromwellian interlude that people found so dreadfully Puritan that they loved Charles II who was a Party King, I can somehow imagine him dressed for a 1970s disco setting, but I digress.
Locke questioned Filmers’ idea that power being inherited was someone Biblical and holy. Locke was a man Thomas Jefferson read – and a supporter of William and Mary, who let Parliament take over a lot of power. We know what Jefferson made out of Locke’s ideas.
Now, the Philippines is not run mainly by ideas. They are often just fancy decorations for this clique or that. The fixation is on people. Institutions are barely trusted. Filipinos want a mayor who intercedes when City Hall works slowly. Or a Tulfo who pushes institutions to work.
They, in fact, also love almost Medieval spectacles like televised investigations, starting with the Agrava panel that investigated Ninoy’s murder at the behest of Marcos Sr., thru the Erap impeachment trial where Miriam Santiago yelled at people staring at her from the balcony, thru Enrile donning red robes during the Corona impeachment trial, evoking a Sith Lord able to shoot Force Lightning out of his fingers like Emperor Palpatine, to every hearing that doesn’t help in legislation, with the roles of victims and perpetrators alternating depending on who is in power.
Institutions are run by rules strict to the letter because the spirit of the law isn’t felt over there. Probably more people believe in the spirit of the glass, the Ouija board and aswangs than law.
Among the families that run the Philippines, there are the older, more established ones like the Aquinos who do believe that going by the rules is stability, the by now somewhat established ones like Marcos Jr. who does believe in a semblance of order, and those with warlord mindset.
Trillanes might have wanted a Marcos-liberal alliance as it would have agreed on rule of law. The “highfalutin” (to very many Filipinos) stuff like good governance would be for later I guess.
Another reason why Filipinos have both oligarchs and dynasts is the low-trust society there. Both corporate and government governance stay in the hands of trusted figures for a reason. Organizations run by Filipinos quickly fall apart into cliques without a strong leading figure.
Money will often have spenders, not owners, in such situations, and someone caught taking funds might give the excuse “I wanted to personally do something for people” and be believed. Those who get a bit of a windfall or even get to smell their farts may even feel they got lucky.
‐—–
Even those who believe in good governance will often see it as something only their group can do, not others. And of course, the other side will easily believe that the good ones only want to help a certain group or groups make money. Inday Sara recently accused I think Romualdez of closing all POGOs except the ones giving his clan and Lisa and everybody else money. Uniteam propaganda in 2022 accused VP Leni of wanting to give Meralco back to the Lopez clan of ABS-CBN. Lots of people believed THAT and not her stand on electricity cooperatives.
Having said all this, maybe the time might soon be opportune for what England did in the time of William and Mary with the support of bloggers like Locke, I mean writers. But are the people tired enough of the dynasts? Do they even conceive not just babies but other possibilities?
How would you peg the Binays, good or bad? Dynasties are biological and money can buy education and competence, I suppose. If they have competence, there is a place for them. If not, they should retire or take up gardening. But we should rage against today’s plunderers, commission seekers, and incompetent families, I think.
Improving, I guess, just like the Sottos – and maybe even the Marcoses. Took time also for the warlord families Shakespeare described in many a play to become tea-sipping Lords and Ladies. Could also be that Makati is gentrifying so rapidly that they have more middle-class voters to deal with who aren’t satisfied with just birthday cakes. Jesse Robredo might have been made possible by the strong community and traditional middle-class of Naga. Similar society in Albay province, with strong solidarity and a no-nonsense attitude, especially in times of calamity, might have made otherwise trapo Joey Salceda a good governor in his term there.
There might be a chance for a good governance and anti-dynasty agenda to win if the old middle class that is the core of Pink manages to build a bridge to the new middle class, convince them that it is in their interest to vote those who will help them keep their status. They will have to overcome their revulsion towards them (I feel many have it still) while the latter have to overcome their distrust of the former. It won’t be easy, but who said it will be.
Yes, that’s my take, too. The old man mellowed when Nancy became senator. I think he wants her to be genuine, and honest. If good governance became the theme in dynastic lands, I’d kill this hate campaign. Dynasties would be peculiar, but not so damaging.
I agree with Irineo here. Without understanding the past, and have that understanding inform how we can shape the future, there should be no surprise that eventualities will just be echoes of what happened before. Civilization tends to run on auto-pilot once a particular society collectively decides on a mode of operating. The Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire lasted over 1,000 years after the home city of Roman fell in the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. Various ancient Chinese dynasties when stitched together lasted 2,000 years. And the behavioral habits of modern Philippines’ DE classes in relation to local dynasties strongly resemble datu-barangay interplay of old.
Human understanding constantly evolves but it’s not possible to completely change human mindset even in a short period of time. Thus a future successful opposition needs to play within the rules of the existing game, minus being corrupt and incompetent. If one wants to rewrite the rules, one needs to win first using the existing rules.
Well, they can love their local dynasty as long as they hate on all the rest.
They often do. They’ll temporarily hate whatever dynasty is the rival of their “local team.” But once the local dynasties form election alliances, the voters will vote for that party list. Voters will regularly change their minds on which dynasty figures to hate, then come the next election will do a complete 180 following the signals coming from their local dynast. That still doesn’t solve the problem though, which is how to create an alternative structure to what the dynasties provide (or at least, what voters think the dynasties provide).
Dynasties have to unite to present structure. Marcos without Duterte would likely have lost to Robredo, and Duterte without Marcos might have as well. The dynasts structure is regional. That’s why a national structure with a message that resonates can beat the regional dynasts. Can Robredo beat Romualdez in 2028? You bet. If she doesn’t waste time traveling to 500 villages and works regions instead.
I agree that a national structure with a message that resonates would beat the local dynasties most of the time. The dynasts are actually quite weak outside of their home bases, and even at home they are sometimes weak as well. They keep power because no one opposes them. And to oppose the dynasties there needs to be a national structure that reaches out to each locality with a message that resonates, something that no one in the opposition has had the foresight to recognize yet even if the first steps of the solution to solving the problem is obvious.
I wouldn’t write off Leni. She probably won’t run again nationally unless something major changes, but I still stand by my sense that she’s building the structure and message that will have both a national and local reach. I believe that will be the ultimate purpose of Angat Buhay, to train a pipeline for a new generation of leaders, something that has never been done in Philippine politics before. But it won’t be ready by 2028, or even 2034.
I’m not writing Leni off. I said she can win. But not if she repeats what she did before. And my focus is 2028.
Maybe we should give good dynasties another name and understand that when we say dynasty or dynastic, they connote political families with private armies with history of bring a gambling lord, drug lord, warlord or crime lord of course election violence
I think a dynasty is a dynasty and can be called that. But choosing favor over competence is not going to help the poor and hard-working at all. Most of the problems come from “names” who have no skills, governmentally speaking.
they have so much money, and competence can be bought! or hired. see how many consultants they hired just to prop them up, their pr machines are so well oiled and dont squeak at all. and the next thing we poor know is that we have been hit, been had too. and we dont even know the how how the karabaw of it!
dodge one dynasty and another dynasty takes its place, and another one in the waiting. it’s not just one person with no skills in the government but a group of them and their able sympathizers who are sometimes highly educated. and they whitewash each other and cleanse their act together by any means possible including deception, threats of killing, etc. and social media and poll surveyes are only too willing accomplices.
citizens are being besieged and so bombarded, and deflected by appearing to be so preoccupied looking at their cell phones, or walk around with earmuffs that block out the noise. and wear dark glasses too, people think they’re disinterested.
Dodge one dynasty and another takes its place. So true. I was reflecting on De Lima’s ouster as chair of the Senate Justice Committee. Dynasts (Gordon, Pacquiao) and populists (Poe), as I recollect. Loyal to their own power, not principle. That to me illustrates the corrupt thinking of dynasts.
Thanks
The job of the opposition is to provide a better alternative. Besides being out of touch, the other big failure is the failure of effective messaging; indeed failure to message at all. Perhaps the opposition believes in miracles.
I agree with Joey here, Joe. Kamala Harris’ campaign was this. eg. vote for me, he’s bad; instead of vote for me, I’m good. focus has to be as better alternative. not cuz the other side sucks.
thru the Erap impeachment trial where Miriam Santiago yelled at people staring at her from the balcony, thru Enrile donning red robes during the Corona impeachment trial, evoking a Sith Lord able to shoot Force Lightning out of his fingers like Emperor Palpatine,
Ireneo, this things heating up big time. Glad to have all these historical examples you’ve provided. I’ve got a better read now on whats going on.
I have a bunch of stuff to watch with PBBM finally coming out swinging and Inday Sara in the hearing finally. will catch you guys on the flipside of this.
That is one of the observations I would consider anti-pinoy, easy to criticize, hard to do. Why insult the opposition by saying they are out of touch and bobo in their messaging? They are in touch with what they touch, and do their best in messaging. Robredo worked herself to exhaustion. So let’s call the brightest hope for the Philippines bobo because she doesn’t message like we would message.
For the record I would not pin the blame on Leni or Kamala. They both ran amazing campaigns. But a campaign is more than one person. A campaign has a campaign team, staffers, volunteers and supporters. Blaming everything singularly on the head is wrong because they are just one person. In Leni’s campaign she indeed worked herself to exhaustion, trying to build everything from scratch in 7 months against BBM’s 7 year head start. Kamala only had 107 days against Trump’s 9 year perma-campaign. Both women did an outstanding job given what they had and what they were facing. But they were only one person. Pinning everything on one person is tantamount to believing in miracles and allowing others in the campaign or party to shirk their responsibility for what happened.
When I refer to the out of touch opposition, what I mean are the standard bearers of LP who have good intentions for the nation but do not know how to campaign at all, probably don’t really know that many regular Filipinos, or know much about the lives of regular Filipinos. Leni’s messaging was fine, inspiring even. But where Leni faltered was that she did not have a strong support staff and advisors, staff whose job it is to spread out and finger the pulse of the nation. While Leni traveled to exhaustion, her advisors relied and hoped for translating vibes to a win, which failed.
All true, but dead horses are dead. And if Leni’s strength is not politics, but humanistic, we can understand the dynamic, appreciate it, and suggest that, in a repeat, she hire a skilled campaign manager. That way we shift to learning, adjusting, and building instead of beating on that poor horse.
In VP Harris case it was too much him him him… him bad. In VP Leni’s case, she didn’t toot her own horn. different but same. both coulda used more me me me… I’m good.
I think Leni has certain strengths that made her both a humanitarian and an effective politician. However it must be considered that politicians are the “head” and need a “body” to support them. As a whole, the Pink movement was not that organized and Leni’s campaign staff was not that skilled. I think it was unfair to place the onus on a singular person, Leni. It would be impossible for Leni to have traveled to every single major locality to spread her message as that’s the job of the campaign. Too often Philippine campaigns look for a miracle worker or a messiah figure, and don’t take care to build the organization and structure that must support the politician. As such I was dismayed when the entirety of the blame seemed to be placed on Leni for losing and the Pink movement mostly dissipated. In order to win there must be an effective organization that constantly feels the pulse of the people and reports honest feedback back to the candidate. The dynasties actually do this quite well. If the opposition wants to win, they should do it also rather than blaming their figurehead. It takes a team to win, not a single person to carry the team. My hope is the opposition starts to realize this and develop organization accordingly. Identifying campaign staff who came from the DE and understands DE issues well would be a big start in accomplishing this.
here’s best examples of me , me , me… i’m good.
If we generalize we malign those who did sincerely good but sometimes we need to generalize and just put a disclaimer that there will always be exceptions to the majority rule. Tyranny or benevolent minority.
IF we argue semantics, it is a useless exercise.
Agree. Dynasties are not exempt to the concept of duality. The term itself is neutral, the dynast’s character and behavior is the context.
Many thanks for that JP!
What PH needs is a paradigm shift, not necessarily hate.
Paradigm shift is “a radical change in thinking from an accepted point of view to a new belief.”
What will it take for the DE to change their perception of PH dynasties?
I am beginning to see the edges of this paradigm shift. Filipinos on social media are beginning to have a bad taste in their mouths about dynasties (based on their comments) about the Sara-BBM feud. The Dutertes, who exemplify the arrogance and impunity of fat dynasties in PH are being raked in coals. The Marcoses, Villars, and other national dynasts also have their loud critics. The masses are now more receptive to seeing how corrupt and entitled a lot of them are. Their sentiments need to reach a momentum to where a new way of thinking could develop. The opposition could craft messages to hasten it. Examples could be: “They are not like us. They do not like us. They are the reason why we can’t have nice things.” Hammering the differences between dynasts and the masses could work. The axes could be axed by opening the masses eyes about their extravagance, arrogance, impunity and corruption.
Thank you, JP. Yes, a softer approach than I suggested in the blog. And, yes, Duterte vs Marcos is a good example of the dysfunctional dynasts. Thanks. (Normally I would let Angry Maude write these edgier posts, but she’s in Palawan cavorting with her hunka hunka boatman.)
Right on JP. What is needed amounts of positive propaganda. Semantics aside, propaganda which can have a bad connotation following WWII can be either positive or negative, and propaganda can be in furtherance of a good or bad goal. Here’s what I propose can be done in that regard:
• Cultivate movement leaders in alternative media (vloggers, influencers) to counter mass propaganda campaigns and an anemic Philippine traditional media. Coincidentally alternative media is much cheaper than big splashes on GMA, ABS-CBN, or newspaper editorials which most Filipinos don’t watch/read anyway
• Start exposing and mocking bad behavior by dynasties. Expose the corruption. This can be done in the alternative media environment. TikTok, Facebook, Instagram. Meta suppresses political content but mostly in English as they don’t have big non-English teams
• Fight the forces of bad dynasties where they are. On social media and daily life. With the goal of educating the populace of the wrongdoings and the better alternative
• Lose the timidity and shame about tirelessly promoting one’s own good works, because the other side has no qualms about shameless self-promotion even if it’s not true. If people are not informed then there should not be an expectation they will vote accordingly to an informed electorate
• The opposition needs to set up a media fast response team, like yesterday. Hire on charismatic, engaging personalities to support the opposition’s cause. I would think many can be found in BPO workers who have crawled out of DE and have seen both sides of the picture
• Trim the fat of ineffectual candidates. Those ineffectual candidates may still be useful to the opposition in a more background role, but there must be people at the top who can connect with the DE’s struggles. Start a development pipeline of candidates starting with gathering local power in SK’s and councilmen, mayors before challenging governorships and beyond
we cannot blame the self promotion or self promoters as a defense mechanism to this what have you dine for me lately world.
MY pet peeve ten years ago are flaunting sponsorship of recycled bills.
My disdain has lessened because there are just too many bills to enact with 3 years.
So the enaming of streets nd public hospitals and stadiums could be faster
DE dont change much, but can move in any direction within any defined and given boundary. no point barking at them too and pointing out how useless they may all be for that will just blow over their heads, as most criticism do. they dont see themselves as trees, but as lowly reeds pliant and bendable with conflict. and as trees fell, the reeds will still be there; flattened maybe, but still anchored to the ground, and get to rise and live another day. they may resent trees and their canopies that take up much of the sunshine above, leaving barely a trickle for the lowly reeds below. but they manage to survive somehow under the shadows of trees. and reeds are probly friendly with axes, thanking them for the sunshine and for felling the trees above. axes rule!
Within topic.
For author Marcos vs Duterte is a fight of two dynasties and we must stand aside (let them fight?)
https://www.philstar.com/opinion/2024/11/27/2403194/stand-aside-fight-two-dynasties
I guess LCX picked the wrong beloved.
I am for the prosecution of the Dutertes, their ammunition are the mouths of Fathet and Daughter.
The fat lady has not sung, karl. MNLF supposedly is offering to be VP Sara vice presidential security now. She said Not yet.
I’m not reading anything from MILF yet though. safe to say base on history that they’ll thrown in with Dutertes too.
MNLF has no constitutional protection even if they provide “security.” They would be akin to private security guards. Sara is really grasping at straws here. The VP’s security by Congressional mandate is provided by the PSPG in the form of the VPSPG. The VPSPG is subordinate to the PSPG, who report to the Office of the President, full stop.
They would be akin to private security guards.
I’m sure MNLF and MILF understand this, Joey. that they are not AFP nor PNP. yet the offer was made.
The MNLF and MILF are irrelevant. If they want to be tagged as terrorists and crushed again, then sure they can certainly do that. Their major power was when the chiefs across Bangsamoro supported the movement. And now Bangsamoro supports Manila.
And now Bangsamoro supports Manila.
Are you saying they support PBBM?!!!
Bangsamoro supports peace and development within what was agreed with Manila under the Aquino and Duterte administrations. One of my close friends is Tausug and the nephew of the governor of Sulu and was a child soldier combatant in the interfactional wars between the Tan, Tuwalie and Estino clans. They support peace and development. The chaos of the Dutertes does not support peace or development. Bangsamoro has made their position clear when Old Man Duterte tried to agitate for Mindanao secession. None of the other governors or mayors outside of Davao support Duterte’s madness either. Not sure where you’re getting your info. It’s completely wrong my friend.
Bangsamoro has made their position clear when Old Man Duterte tried to agitate for Mindanao secession.
If you’re basis is simply Mindanao secession, which was half-baked then I submit thats not a complete picture, Joey.
The question was if Bangsamoro would throw in for PBBM or Duterte.
Given what we know over all. Where do you think they’d fall under? It’s simple, it would be for Dutertes. because the Marcoses screwed them over, again and again.
Ask your Tausug friend of this, Joey. I’m sure he’ll agree with me.
My friend who is one of the senior members of the next generation of Tulawie by paternal side and Tan by maternal side would disagree with all you said.
So you’re saying they are or will be pro-PBBM and anti-Inday Sara then?
Bangsamoro is pro-peace and pro-development. Why does that stance necessitate breaking the law and supporting an unconstitutional position that the Dutertes are going in to cover up their crimes? How does not following the constitution and the law support peace and development?
that’s not the question , Joey.
Because I think you’re putting in your own bias in what you think your Tausug friend will say. Tausugs hate the Marcoses, Joey.
I’ve traveled all over in Bangsamoro… both the part in Mindanao and on the islands off in Sulu and Tawi Tawi, places most Filipinos are terrified of even thinking about. Mine is a view informed from experience and relationship with people on the ground, not biases formed from afar. And you’re wrong with the framing. Moros don’t care about who is president. They will support a president and Manila that fulfills the promises to Bangsamoro, which is peace and development. The Dutertes bring only chaos which impedes those two goals.
They will support a president and Manila that fulfills the promises to Bangsamoro, which is peace and development.
lets say they are looking at the writing on the wall now, Joey. Inday Sara will be imprisoned. PBBM and Martin will be in power. do you really think Bangsamoro is thinking , hmmmmmmmmm… that’s a good team that’ll fight for us. hmmmm… lets throw in with Marcoses now. forget what happened in the past. no!!!
again they voted for PBBM cuz of Inday Sara, cuz of her dad. otherwise, they’d have voted for VP Leni. again, ask your Tausug friend, Joey.
My Tausug friend and I talked about this earlier this week. To quote him from my chat, Sara “is fucking tanga.” Until you’ve traveled widely in Bangsamoro, I don’t think you’re able to get good information from just Google. What you’ve been going on about all day is a fantasy bro.
I’m still waiting for you to say that he’s pro-PBBM , Joey. that is what is at stake here. when its just PBBM and Martin.
Moving goalposts is a common sign of losing an argument my friend. No amount of “evidence” or “video testimonials” will be good enough when goalposts are moved. I’m not a Charlie Brown.
What I have observed is that some of the Filipinos most perceptive about politics are those quiet in public. That is why what friends tell you personally can be more of a mirror of things than what is on the Internet over there. Stuff from group chats can be more indicative of the real sentiment than what is in comment sections and on blogs as well, all that.
My impression is that Inday Sara still had political capital from her father in 2022, but that has been partly demolished now, including the present admin going after Quiboloy and POGOs. Of course the fat lady hasn’t sung yet as LCPL_X says and there can still be reversals, especially (this is the main risk I see) if the liberal side gloats too much about Inday Sara and her father. That might earn her sympathy points even as she has already lost a lot recently, IMO.
I’ve not moved any goal posts, Joey.
If anything I’m directly naming the goal posts, while you’re using euphemisms like peace and development etc…
Here are the goal posts:
PBBM/Martin
Inday Sara/DU30
Ask your Tausug friend again, who he’s for. PBBM or Inday Sara. Assuming he’s in politics cuz of his high rank as you’ve mentioned he’ll know about PBBM’s attempts at changing the Constitution, but he’ll also even if too young, remember PBBM’s dad vis a vis Tausugs.
So ask him again, Joey. You’re free to screenshot this and present it to him. Because I too thought Inday Sara is tanga. now she’s fighting, so maybe I’m wrong she’s just juramentando now. i dunno.
But for sure, she’s not yet done. politically unsavvy sure thus tanga but she does have fight in her. so difficult to discount now, while you have done so already. this is a tanga move. imho.
This is me below trying to help her out cuz she’s tanga in 2021, but I still love her. even if I think she’s tanga politically. why? cuz I hate PBBM even more, Joey. simple calculation. PBBM is a clear and present danger. cuz a lot of what he’s doing is
under the table.
The goal posts still stands. just stop using euphemisms for it.
What I have observed is that some of the Filipinos most perceptive about politics are those quiet in public.
I totally agree with this , Ireneo. I’m trying to really read Brawners body language, but who I’m really looking into now is Teodoro. these two once this kaiju fight takes off (it still has not, just posturings still eg. constricting politically and legally… only big development is that PBBM/Martin finally came out of the shadows).
These house hearings will wrap up soon. PBBM/Martin are now outed.
Brawner/Teodoro if they are any good will have a good sense of AFP and PNP. then they’ll balance it with what is lawful. which in the end has more to do with what the people are feeling as well as the people in AFP and PNP and they’ll make their plays from there. Brawner and Teodoro’s part in this is to lessen casualties. I don’t think they can be bought by PBBM/Martin. but they’ll know who the rank & file supports. so when shit hits the fan,
someone’s for sure catching a helicopter ride back to Hawaii, Ireneo. 2 yrs is not enough to win over AFP/PNP.
My impression is that Inday Sara still had political capital from her father in 2022, but that has been partly demolished now, including the present admin going after Quiboloy and POGOs.
In the end, it all comes down to this. who’s got juice.
I’m saying Inday Sara/DU30 still. at least with DE’s. that’s why PBBM/Martin wanted to remain in the shadows for as long as they could. but now the cats out of the bag. game on!
I’m sure…
DE’s will retcon all this hearings as all attempts to subvert Dutertes. they’ll see no nuance at all. they’ll just understand it as PBBM/Martin throwing Inday Sara/DU30 under the bus. short sweet simple. where Joe and Joey are saying peace and development and Office of the President, and the constitution. who wanted to change the constitution in the first place?!! that’s what DE’s will remember.
LCpl, buddy, pal, this thread is getting really exhausting, and in fact you are moving goalposts. The world exists in reality not fever dreams. Now I appreciate your unorthodox ideas on other topics but when it gets to the topic of Sara you seem to lose all objectivity. So far you have proven nothing, and have not confirmed whether you have traveled and understand the Tausug and greater Moro people even in the small sense that I do through my relationship with my friend’s family. You’re basically pulling random things from google and using picking the parts that seem to support your argument (it doesn’t). I have today off. It’s Thanksgiving. So I hope you have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving also with your family and friends. We will see how the chips fall regarding Sara.
Happy Thanksgiving as well, Joey. I just think Tausugs will throw in with Inday Sara, I don’t have to have friends who are Tausugs to make that assessment. As well as the rest of Bangsamoro. history is enough. Like i’ve said she’s only just begun. We’re taking bets. But 2025 is when we’ll start seeing more data as to where this push and pull will transpire. hearings was a bad gauge. I gotta feeling there will be lull for the holidays. Or maybe not. I just wanted clarification as to who’s pro-PBBM and who’s pro-Inday Sara (so far its just me and kb).
The Tausugs and the other Moro groups have left behind conflict and division. They want to work with the legitimate Philippine government, wherever that may be. At the moment it’s BBM until 2028. The Tan, Tuwalie and Estino War actually killed about more Moros than the Philippine government ever did, that has been confirmed with me by senior Tans and Tulawies of the upcoming generation who were all child soldiers in the conflict, including my friend. The three clans want peace among themselves and with the Philippines as a whole so Bangsamoro can be developed.
PBBM is gonna screw ’em over, Joey. They’ll cast their lot with Inday Sara.
They are gonna have to choose. My hunch is they’ll choose Inday Sara.
I appreciate your contacts and they’ll be useful in gauging in 2025 where they’ll throw in. I’m just saying now in 2024, they’ll throw in with Inday Sara.
I just wanna plant my flag now before all this starts is my point. me and kb. are solid Inday Sara.
MNLF, MILF and AFP/PNP are gonna throw in with Inday Sara. your friends clans peace accords relies on MNLF/AFP/PNP and Bangsamoro authority. said authorities are loyal to Inday Sara. thats the calculus here. PBBM is a laissez-faire president you said this yourself, Joey. if you want to keep the peace you go with Inday Sara.
https://blogs.kent.ac.uk/carc/2018/03/15/mapping-the-philippines-conflict/
Hard to believe the Moros who suffered under their own internal strife and conflict with the Philippine government will join in another conflict. I’m telling you that it doesn’t matter how many randos in Mindanao bleat about secession or pro-Duterte. They’re all too scared to start any movement. And if the Visayans and Moros in Mindanao support an anti-government movement I support the full force of the law to deal with them. Laws are agreed upon collectively to be followed, not made to pick and choose which laws to follow. But if you wish you may also walk among the people of Mindanao to ask in person what they think.
And if the Visayans and Moros in Mindanao support an anti-government movement I support the full force of the law to deal with them.
Not anti-gov’t , Joey. In this scenario Filipinos (especially Moros and Visayans) are going to throw in with Inday Sara/DU30 and reject PBBM/Martin. no insurgency, just an about face and away from PBBM/Martin. cuz AFP/PNP/MNLF/MILF/Bangsamoro will affect said trickle down of PBBM/Martin rejection. like house of cards PBBM/Martin will crumble.
Brawner/Teodoro will see this and throw in as well. for the good of the nation. IMHO VP Leni is already here, Pinks are just playing catch-up.
If all these groups “throw in” with words yet do nothing in action, then it’s useless to achieve whatever scenario you’re thinking. Occam’s Razor. Take the simplest answer and route. What is the point of tying all these “factions” together in a complicated manner? AFP and PNP is under the authority of the Executive, who is the President. They must follow lawful orders. If they don’t they get court martialed and fired, with someone replacing them that follows the law. Bangsamoro now depends heavily on the government for development aid. Why would they threaten their chance to develop and keep peace to chase fantasies?
Essentially, its as simple as taking away their consent. Non-recognition of PBBM/Martin, then recognition of Inday Sara/DU30. VP Leni knows she coulda bested PBBM in a mano y mano. it was Inday Sara that got PBBM elected. Now that PBBM/Martin are trying to get rid of Inday Sara. Filipinos will not consent.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consent_of_the_governed
PBBM ‘s consent was by way of Inday Sara.
You misunderstand the concept of “Consent of the governed” and are falling into the Duterte propaganda of BBM owing his presidency to Sara because Sara “got a higher percentage of votes.” This DDS argument borders upon ludicrous. Look at the vote numbers you posted yourself, BBM and Sara got about the same amount of votes. The Philippines may have never gotten off of the separate election of the President and VP, but the Constitution makes it clear that the ONLY PERSON WHO HAS POWER is the PRESIDENT. The VP position is only but a standby, a useless position unless the President is incapacitated or dead in a way that doesn’t break the law. It does not matter how many votes the VP candidate got in the election. Consent of the governed means under the Philippine system as whoever got the most Presidential votes, and in this case it is BBM. I don’t particularly like BBM but I will not accept arguments that are outside of the law. The Duterte-nexus tried to use this ludicrous argument that BBM owes the Dutertes to try to control the Presidency through a shadow influence. How well did that work out with those criminals in the Duterte orbit now being nabbed and prosecuted for their clear crimes? Your arguments are really deep in conspiracy and fantasy land by now brother. It’s probably time to stop.
I’m loosely following this debate about the future in which no one is likely right, but the intensity of BELIEFS is obsessive. LCX not only moves the goal posts because his objective is not objective, which would be to try to assign a percentage likelihood to an expected future and be done with it, but changes their shape, tilts the field, and fills the stands with people cheering him on. Irineo was right, to assign a percentage likelihood and shrug.
This is fascinating to me because it is a living example of the intellectual rot that infests Americans’ thinking, in which people form their beliefs under this theory or that, then sift through the infinite supply of data flying around or resting in this archive or that to find the elements that conform to their beliefs. Get enough of that, aided by malicious actors feeding shit into the information channels, and the output looks a lot like Trump. The believers don’t care about facts, or science, or even the understanding that they cannot be right because it’s in the FUTURE, fer crying out loud.
We are witness to the insertion of ego into debates as more prominent than knowledge or sense or science or compassion or the mutual benefit of building something.
It is awesome to behold, and dismaying when we recognize integrity gives way to winning.
Waiting for the turkey to finish. I tracked down the origin of this MNLF security claim, and apparently it originated from a single random X/Twitter user with no substantiation.
Sara yesterday “thanked” Nur Misuari and the MNLF’s offer in her press conference. I have a very hard time believing that the MILF and Bangsamoro will go along with this. Nur Misuari is still a wanted man the last I recall, and the MILF hates the MNLF.
But oh boy this rabbit hole went deep. Thank goodness I had the day off today.
I do miss Thanksgiving, the most family of holidays. My mother was an excellent cook, her cherry pies and cinnamon rolls being the kind of sustenance one dies for, although strangely enough, it was her deviled eggs that stand out most for me. Cold from cooking in the refrigerator and ohh so delicious. And with my brother, it was wine and football and laughing so hard that we had to have tissues nearby. Like the day he was electrocuted on the neighbor’s fence, or when we got boxing gloves and we had a one-swing match that he ended by giving me a concussion. Brotherly love is weird.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Too bad your mother isn’t around for me to taste her deviled eggs. My own recipe gives most people a run for their money. I’m not much of a baker though. Oddly enough for someone who is great at math, I can’t get measurements down nor have the patience for waiting for something to bake. I prefer active cooking at the stove, or better yet kahoy (I’ve built myself a brick wood burning stove outside that doubles as a pizza oven). Funnily enough I saw my brother earlier today. I nearly killed him when we were kids with a homemade crossbow I whittled out of wood, the bolt flew right by his head and nicked his ear. Then again another time he nearly killed me on the far side of Santa Catalina island when I mocked his belief in aliens and so he tossed a smooth rock that put me out after hitting my head. Still have a small bald spot from that incident.
Holidays hit different in the Philippines when there seems to be a different holiday and handa every week. I prefer occasional holidays where I can catch up with family and friends, not have people live at my house coming over every week haha.
Perhaps one day you can try my famous roasted potatoes! The smell is floating down the street! Happy Thanksgiving to you from the US too Joe!
Why would they threaten their chance to develop and keep peace to chase fantasies?
Not chasing fantasies, Joey. theres a reason MILF and MNLF supported a ROSA 2022 team up.
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2022/05/08/2179620/milf-mnlf-declare-support-robredo-and-sara-duterte
With PBBM/Martin booting out Inday Sara, they’ll throw in. No confidence for PBBM, that confidence was dependent on Inday Sara.
BBM and Sara got about the same amount of votes.
PBBM got a lot of votes cuz of Inday Sara, Joey. otherwise, VP Leni woulda won.
Consent of the governed means under the Philippine system as whoever got the most Presidential votes, and in this case it is BBM.
And with PBBM/Martin getting rid of Inday Sara means pro-Inday Sara supporters namely AFP/PNP/MNLF/MILF/BANGSAMORO et al. can and will take away said consent.
I’m saying with Brawner/Teodoro as refs here, there ‘s a good chance it will be bloodless, they’ll just need to throw in with the majority deferring their consent.
but changes their shape, tilts the field, and fills the stands with people cheering him on.
that’s not moving goal posts, Joe. that’s looking at every outcome of said probability. the goal posts is set. for example , Inday Sara is in fact facing the NBI today (i thought she was rescheduling). shape and tilts will occur, but goal posts are set.
PBBM and Inday Sara at opposing ends of the field.
Filipinos will have to move towards or away, and cause others to do the same. what many here are failing to see is that PBBM is indeed the antagonist. but DE Filipinos I think for them this will be an easy call. thus the only viable opposition here is Inday Sara for 2028— or before.
It is awesome to behold,
Speaking of awesome, this dude below will be the main arbiter in all this. I gotta feeling he’ll be the one to personally see PBBM, Liza, Martin and cutey pie Sandro off onto a helicopter headed for Hawaii.
and he’ll wave just like that too.
Joey, theres been an MNLF standing offer for security since 2023, first for DU30 himself then recently this summer, then again this week. its an open offer. just Google Philippine newspapers. no need for reddit.
and the MILF hates the MNLF.
naw… they don’t hate each other that much, Joey.
This is the correct decision. I think PBBM may be reading this blog.
PBBM,
either just focus on sedition charges for Inday Sara/DU30 , or
better yet…
apologize for all misunderstandings (say its all Liza/Martin’s fault), then reset back to early 2023.
Just fight over it in 2028.
back to status quo, sir. Don’t force Martin on the Filipino people.
p.s.—— play the long game return back to the shadows.
Inday Sara cannot fight, if there is nothing to fight with. this is how you defeat my beloved. I’m giving you the playbook.
p.p.s. ——– And I apologize for the helicopter leaving for Hawaii comment, sir. sorry.
Tried Perplexity AI LLM
What are the main challenges in the Philippines’ anti-dynasty movements
The anti-dynasty movements in the Philippines face several significant challenges:
1. **Legislative Inertia**: Despite constitutional provisions against political dynasties, Congress has failed to pass an enabling law for over 37 years, largely due to the dominance of dynastic families within legislative bodies, making it unlikely for legislators to support measures that threaten their power [1][3].
2. **Public Apathy and Electoral Dynamics**: Many voters remain loyal to established political families due to familiarity and perceived stability, which diminishes the impact of anti-dynasty campaigns. This loyalty often results in a lack of viable alternatives during elections [2][4].
3. **Weak Civil Society Engagement**: Although civil society organizations like the Movement Against Dynasties (MAD) advocate for change, they often struggle to mobilize widespread public support or effectively challenge the entrenched power of dynasties [1][2].
4. **Corruption and Impunity**: Political dynasties are linked to systemic corruption and impunity, as they often control local law enforcement and judicial processes, making it difficult for anti-dynasty movements to gain traction without facing significant backlash [4][6].
These challenges highlight the complexity of dismantling political dynasties in the Philippines and the need for sustained efforts from both civil society and reform-minded legislators.
Citations:
[1] Civil Society Movements as Anti-Political Dynasty Champions https://halalan.up.edu.ph/civil-society-movements-as-anti-political-dynasty-champions-an-analysis/
[2] Three Reasons Why Political Dynasties Persist in the Philippines https://ac.upd.edu.ph/index.php/news-announcements/1173-read-three-reasons-why-political-dynasties-persist-philippines-tadem
[3] A Proposed Law Seeks to Ban Political Dynasties in the Philippines https://thediplomat.com/2024/07/a-proposed-law-seeks-to-ban-political-dynasties-in-the-philippines/%5B
4] Political families in the Philippines – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_families_in_the_Philippines
[5] Gains and losses in regulating political dynasties in the Philippines https://repository.wvsu.edu.ph/handle/20.500.14353/174
[6] The Philippines Must Break the Power of Political Dynasties | GAB https://globalanticorruptionblog.com/2014/12/01/the-philippines-must-break-the-power-of-political-dynasties/
[7] Sen. Bam challenges Congress to pass anti-political dynasty law … https://legacy.senate.gov.ph/press_release/2018/0214_aquino1.asp
[8] Journal of Education, Humanities and Social Sciences https://drpress.org/ojs/index.php/EHSS/article/download/20420/19981
[9] Perplexity Elections https://www.perplexity.ai/elections/2024-11-05/us/president
Seems like a nice summation to me.
Thanks
VP Sara in her Zamboanga press conference says:
3 easy steps to anti-dynast, Joe. my beloved is anti-dynast!!! more you all should be on our team, we’re anti-dynast.
Poppycock.
I watched Sara’s press conference out of University of Zamboanga. It was full of hypocrisy, snake oil and crocodile tears. Perhaps it was also attended by Quiboloyans like the fake EDSA rally where people were bussed in on the promise of receiving P500 stipends and food, yet only received P200 and told to find their own way home with empty stomachs.
Can you confirm then, Joey, that my beloved indeed said the above. and that its not “Poppycock“?
Saying something is not the same as what was being said being true, hence “poppycock.” The local dynasties whose alliances move the votes were not as gung-ho on the Dutertes last time, and are even less supportive of the Dutertes. Whatever happens in the upside down world of Davao is not happening across the Visayas and Mindanao, and certainly not the Philippines as a whole. The Zamboanga peninsula (ZC, Zamboanga Sibugay, Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur) has much less support for the Dutertes nowadays. Sara’s press conference was met with muted audience.
The local dynasties whose alliances move the votes were not as gung-ho on the Dutertes last time,
This is more like a we’ll see where this 2025 mid-terms go issue, Joey.
I’m trying to look if they have a county by county break down there, like over here. but i guess they don’t. but I think those numbers are still in play, Joey. now especially. no numbers specific to Muslim Mindanao, only that it was solid Sara Duterte.
PBBM couldn’t penetrate the pink regions, whereas Inday Sara did. hence more in popular votes.
I am in touch with friends across Visayas and Mindanao. Most voted for Digong previously, then BBM. None of what I’ve heard from them supports the narrative you’re saying. They are mostly lukewarm on BBM, and rapidly turning against the Dutertes.
By the way, the “higher percentage” of votes that Sara got forms the basis of the fantasy of utang na loob that Old Man Duterte is raging about. But as we can see from your screenshot the total vote number was about the same. Filipinos generally don’t give a damn about who is VP and tend to vote randomly for VP. The Dutertes think they “made” BBM due to this misunderstanding, when in fact they were used by cooler heads that can think more strategically and long term. It was clear from the get go that Duterte was expecting to be the shadow president pulling the strings behind BBM. The Dutertes will find out the hard way that in fact, they have no power at all. Placing Sara in the VP spot is meaningless as a VP has no actual power. The VP is a stepping stone to running for president later, but every day Sara is self-owning her own chances.
I am in touch with friends across Visayas and Mindanao.
I’m not in touch with anyone at all, Joey. I’m just Googling here. was out of the loop since 2022 when I wrote those 2 blogs (2021) about Inday Sara. then this year I got back into reading up on Inday Sara and Dutertes. so theres like a 2 year gap, I’m still reading up on like this Inday Sara vs. Martin (vs. GMA stuff). that gap was largely due to Joe taking a long hiatus, and since this is the only place I get my news on the Philippines (which then generates Google searches). i’ve been out of the loop.
I’m simply using common sense here. and what I know about the Philippines and of Filipinos. based on Mango ave.
Filipinos generally don’t give a damn about who is VP and tend to vote randomly for VP.
This is wrong. without Inday Sara, VP Leni would have won. full stop. with Inday Sara as presidential candidate, PBBM woulda come in 2nd. far 2nd. that’s the truth, Joey.
consider 2016 also, Joey.
Are you suggesting that your Googling provides more information than my actual lived experiences and on the ground ears network? Common sense aside, if the information input is incorrect then one will form incorrect takes that don’t have a basis in reality, which is not common sense after all. Even your Mango Ave. adventures are about 20 years out of date. I have information coming out of “Mango Avenue” now, and they are probably more honest with me because I don’t approach those women as a customer but as a friend. Come on brother, let’s be reasonable here.
lets put it this way, Joey. I can see Cebuanos (city) going for PBBM. but I cannot see Bangsamoro throwing in for PBBM, too much history. Cebuanos are always making fun of Davao. but the rest of the Visayas will be Dutertes. its a city vs. city thing. outside the city, its ethno-linguistic groups still. Dutertes are Visayans thus pro-Inday Sara.
Thus if you say you’re Tausug friend is pro-PBBM , i’ll not believe it unless you produce a video. and even if you do even then I’ll think its doctored. But if you produce a Cebuano friend from Cebu City or Mactan saying they are pro-PBBM, i’ll buy that. thats my understanding of Filipinos. sure maybe dated. but things don’t change that much, especially this stuff, Joey.
My father often said that assumptions need to be tested, and that is finally my view of this, watching Skull Island from a safe distance. I tend to see the odds more at 65:35 in favor of PBBM and maybe even 80:20 in favor of the state. Long-term, I get the feeling that acceptance of the state and its institutions has been growing in Philippine society. There was a bit of a backlash from the boondocks from 2016-2022, but that might be over. Inday Sara and her father are now going against the state in a country that MLQ3 already diagnosed as being tired of even just people power, and he likewise diagnosed the military as tired of coup attempts. Joey’s anecdotes might indicate that the Moros likewise will not be up for adventures. They are not Yemeni Houthis. Maybe Misuari and the MNLF are isolated by now. MILF pretty much runs BARMM now is my impression. The story of the Philippines so far has been ethnic groups vying for representation and becoming part of the fabric of the nation once they feel they have it. Visayans might indeed be mostly tired of Duterte with a few holdouts. Let’s just wait and see.
I tend to see the odds more at 65:35 in favor of PBBM and maybe even 80:20 in favor of the state.
I do concede that right now Dec 2024 things are not looking good for my beloved, Ireneo.
2024 is PBBM’s year. round 1 goes to him and Liza and Martin.
2025 I’m thinking will be Inday Sara’s year. now that PBBM/Martin have come out.
She’s not politically savvy. So her enemies has to first come out from shadow for her to punch ’em.
Moros are not being posed high falutin’ stuff now, Ireneo . they are being posed with this or that. either PBBM or Inday Sara. they voted for PBBM precisely because of Inday Sara.
PBBM is president because Inday Sara was his VP. Moros will calculate thus.
Again, if PBBM/Martin wanna win this fight, they have to skulk back into the shadows. so that Inday Sara can be seen punching shadows once again. but instead they are outing themselves. which is good for inday Sara.
especially Martin outing himself in full glory.
so Moros will now have to choose. Joey’s envisioning a time and place wherein Moros don’t have to choose. this is wrong. in 2025, they most definitely will have to. and their only choice is Inday Sara. they don’t like PBBM in the first place. Inday Sara was their guard rails to PBBM. their insurance policy.
China will get Gulf Countries to provide more cash into Bangsamoro. thus Joey’s premise as PBBM as the only source of peace and development crumbles. Moros aren’t dumb. they’ll go with Inday Sara. in a heart beat.
Ireneo, this is Heyderian’s survey on what should be done now:
the ICC shouldn’t be the Philippines “white” saviour. Inday Sara can be defeated. she can be sidelined, thus silenced. Just don’t give her a chance to shine. she shines in adversity. So don’t give it to her. Simple.
Ignore is the best strategy. yet that’s the 4.9% votes.
also germane to the AFP/PNP/MNLF/MILF/BANGSAMORO discussion:
He’s gotta make guarantees that all this witch-hunt will stop and he’ll stop attacking Inday Sara from here on out. this is the best course of action, tamp down everything then just ignore Inday Sara.
Southern Luzon does not involve Mindanao, FYR(for your reminder)
My bad, karl. Its germane-ness is in PBBM having to calm down everyone with guns. both official and unofficial. though MNLF/MILF/BANGSAMORO i’d put under official too.
Hypothesis here is the ones with guns are largely pro-Inday Sara, eg. why he’s also closed down impeachment. My suspicion is that he’s reading this blog, and taking in all the LCPL_X advices. thus recent developments tell me he does not wanna test said hypothesis.
That’s a wise move.
Violence is averted. focus on President’s job, OVP can focus on her’s. then 2028 will come. just work. enough of the drama.
I hope PBBM throws this dude under the bus, karl— and Liza (but I ‘d imagine PBBM will get in trouble from his sons if he does this).