Poor Filipinos should admit they’ve voted badly
Analysis and Opinion
By Joe America
The Philippines will remain corrupt, incompetent at caring for citizens, and poor as long as poor Filipinos don’t take it upon themselves to elect honest leaders.
They should stop blaming others and look at their own track record. Their 2016 choice now sits in an international jail. Are they thinking, “Uh, maybe I voted badly on that one!”? Probably not, but they should. If they want to be richer.
Their 2022 choice is the son of a dictator. Do they not know where apples fall when they leave the tree? Fortunately, President Marcos would rather do well than fail, so voters lucked out on that one.
Honest candidates are a dime a dozen. Just pick one as President and the Philippines will grow richer. Because honest people will not make bad Cabinet choices or self-serving decisions. They’ll work for the poor.
As we’ve discussed, there are three pillars of competence and as they apply to voters from the Filipino D and E classes, we can make the following assessment on each pillar.
- Commitment: Presumably the poor do not wish to remain poor, so they should have the required internal drive to vote in their best interest.
- Attention to detail, or its proxy knowledge: In today’s social media environment, anybody can get any information they need if they will simply commit to do discovery for themselves rather than salute the barangay captain.
- Accountability: This is what’s missing, an inward look that has voters saying “I can do better with my vote!”
Voters need to ask why it is, in their minds, that the corrupt seem strong and the honest seem weak. Maybe they’ve got it backward.
When they themselves can be honest about their track record and thinking, then they’ll vote for honesty.
And be richer, down the road.
_________________________
Cover photo from South China Morning Post article “Philippine election: ‘Duterte’s magic routed opposition’”.
The Society of Honor by Joe America 
The poor are also information poor. Facebook facebook and facebook. Some with a bit more money youtube and tik tok.
It is the failure of the forces for good that they objectively failed to reach into the pockets of the 80 percent of filipinos that have access to a smarphone.
People are only as “smart” as the options they are aware of.
If the DDS has a track record of brilliantly programming and amplifying social media messages then that is where the fight is.
The exciting thing for me is that DDS right now is on the back foot with the various corruption investigations damaging their chosen idols.
We are amplifying those corruption findings so fast that the DDS is always on the back foot, a couple of days behind the news cycle.
Filipinos are not poor or dumb. They just lack information.
99% of the population is never going to have the chance to go to a political rally by the forces for good.
Rallies with big turnouts warm the cockles of my heart too. But they don’t release a cascade of clearly messages posts into the pockets of most Filipinos every day in their dozens.
Poor are not wrong or stupid or mistaken. They are making judgements on the information they have in front of them.
IF WE DON’T COMPETE SUCCESSFULLY IN THIS SPACE WE LOSE AGAIN.
Terrific assessment, boatmik. I read through your comment and nodded at each statement. DDS showed how to reach people if you organize to do it. And right now DDS are low on ammo, so right you are.
I have the impression that among those learning to deal with social media, Senator Kiko Pangilinan is the furthest, possibly his almost showbiz background helps in that. He is very clear about what exactly he is doing or wants to do for farmers.
Rep. Leila de Lima also seemed to hit pretty hard when she initiated cutting VP Sara Duterte’s budget and openly called her a brat whose allowance has to be cut short. Solid DDS will of course try to twist that, but the target isn’t them. The target are the large masses.
Yes, they are doing better and I hope it continues.
We need to do to them what they did to us.
But with fast moving truth rather than lies.
We are willing and the networks can be voluntary because so much good will is there.
We need the same setting of the top level topic or topics for the day and hammer them in a co-ordinated way. We need to have cut and paste responses to the cut and paste of trolls.
We need co-ordinated video production to pump stuff out on tiktok instagram and youtube.
It is a system. Not one person doing a bit better job.
They are doing a better job … I quite agree. I’m seeing a lot from Risa too in recent weeks.
But it not about solo performers … it is about a relentless system that we have been at the mercy of for the past decade.
Time to fight fire with fire.
Absolutely exactly what is needed. It would great to have a messaging page to access to get the current key theme (changing as events occur) with responses to common DDS themes. Then downstream social media advocates could support and reinforce them. Maybe Juan Luna Blog and Morning Coffee Thoughts could collaborate with others to develop a central messaging resource. They seem to have the brains and initiative.
boatmilk, kaming mga pulubi dont have to compete with dds, but we can call off their lies and shout about it, correct their misinformation and shout about it too, until everyone knows what dds have been up to. we cannot all be barumbados and spewing hatred as dds are, but we can show kindness where there is hatred, compassion where there is cruelty. that being kind and compassionate are not weakness but strength. so if dds spit at us, we dont have to spit back, but can go to police at magpa-blotter for being assaulted by dds. then dds are put on notice.
I wish it was so.
The DDS has been successful at creating the news and we have been responding individually as piecemeal. We have always been two or three days behind.
Piecemeal and behind means zero impact.
By then the average Filipino is not going to revisit the DDS meme to see our factual response five hours later.
They are already going to be faced with a new DDS meme with a great graphic, great headline and the same old misinformation.
By the time we react the battle has moved on. We need to set the topics in the way they do. And before they have a chance to co-ordinate a reaction we are on with the next topic in a centrally co-ordinated way.
At the same time we can do our usual job of fighting misinformation with logic and facts within the comments.
But when there are 30 comments … who reads them at all. I do. But nobody who is only half interested in politics is going to do more glance at the comments.
The average Filipino travelling in a jeep or sitting scrolling at home is aleardy on with the next meme.
The question is who is going to write it.
At the moment it is still going to be DDS misinformation spread efficiently by their topic setting team and amplified by the paid and unpaid trolls.
It is exactly the same in the USA. Facebook absolutely dominated by Maga memes and the presidential team.
They are all know nothings from Trump to his henchmen and all the way down … but awesome with media.
ohright, people fight to their own strength. those who can shoot got kirk and shut him up for good. ahem, should not say that! I should not say that!
in wps, the pcg policy of transparency and reporting every bullying to the point that people not from our region thinks the other neighbors are not being harassed. ( not good but can be rectified)
I wrote a much longer reply while in the truck today, but decided against posting it. However, I will summarize my thoughts in that reply:
1.) Neoliberal economics has failed.
2.) Neoliberal policy has kept peoples across the world too close to the edge of survival, favoring the rich
3.) People who are at the edge of survival often turn to pent up rage, that may spill over
4.) People, including Filipinos, are emotional-first, rational-second (if they even have that capability)
5.) We educated focus too much on policy. No normal person cares about policy, they care about results
6.) In any case, policies mean nothing if one cannot get power with which to enact the policies
7.) Good intentions are worth even less
8.) A possible winning platform is one that turns pent up rage towards accomplishing good goals of helping the majority
9.) After all, Duterte utilized the rage too, but for negative purposes
10.) Infrastructure, better jobs, access to education and upward mobility are always going to be popular
11.) The mood in the Philippines seems to not be one of restoration to already broken norms, but a reform and progress to the future
12.) Move too slowly, and DDS nipping around the edges will once again harness societal rage
13.) The sad fact is that there might not be time to turn this around, and Filipinos might need to suffer under a much worse Duterte 2.0 to wake the hell up, like how many Americans are starting to wake up to Trump 2.0. Sometimes it is just not possible to keep warning someone to not touch the hot stove. They need to burn their hand and feel real pain before they learn their lesson
“5.) We educated focus too much on policy. No normal person cares about policy, they care about results” I think Sen. Kiko Pangilinan is doing a great job of connecting policies to results in his chosen area of agriculture. Can’t tell if it is reaching the people yet as I don’t have time to go in way deeper. No idea of how well Senator Bam Aquino is doing in his chosen area of education.
“11.) The mood in the Philippines seems to not be one of restoration to already broken norms, but a reform and progress to the future” that was indeed the mood I picked up from the Trillion Peso March on Sept. 21st. I wonder who can formulate a coherent “Filipino New Deal” (my working term for a PH future vision)
“12.) Move too slowly, and DDS nipping around the edges will once again harness societal rage” they are already trying to.
these days, dds are hitting the wall any which way they turn. though we are mindful that tindig philippines and its purported rallies until someone gets jailed as regard flood scam is mayhap interspersed with dds trying to set the pace and enforce quick justice that may result in technical veto of legal cases due to insufficient evidence.
A problem that Leni faced before, which Kiko and Bam may face in the future is that there are too few messengers and communicators. Ideally there should be multiple messengers, communicators and articulators each in their areas of focus. There is too much emphasis on One True Leader of Everything Who Can Do All the Things, which is just a setup for disappointment imho. After all, in other organizations there are leaders who provide a vision, managers to organize resources, and foot soldiers to do the actual work. While on the other side, a bullshitter like Digong (or to a less effective extent, Sara and her brothers) can claim to be able to do all the things, and win on that.
at the moment, sara has nearly 52 satellite offices nationwide, what these offices actually do is anyone’s guess considering sara is no longer part of admin having resigned her admin post but still carry on being vice president, do as she likes whenever, whatever. she answers to no one but herself, maybe because the president does not call her to account. and the president’s spox comes after the fact, mostly in forever answering sara’s never ending patutsadas and false narratives.
so, if those satellite offices house dds, then it is probly safe to surmise that their full time job is mainly off the radar and dealing mostly with spreading misinformation most foul. the upkeep and rent of those offices ay summat sagot ng gobyerno, the elusive people working in them (their head count is unknown) paid for by govt coffer too. who knows! maybe those offices also operate illegal pogos too.
hard to compete with that type of shady full time job summat. maybe NBI should raid those offices now and then, see how well taxpayers money is being spent.
All those points line up well. The only issue for me is 13, are we getting another Duterte or not. The corruption blow-up may defeat Duterte.
I hope so Joe, so that Filipinos won’t need to go through the pain Americans are feeling now. Though the good thing is stupid people eventually fail. The question is how much of the country are they going to take down with them.
we feel the pain americans are feeling, but americans are strong and highly likely to survive few more years of trump. filipinos have been deported, many are undocumented and have overstayed their visa. dont have the time of day, apparently too busy chasing the allure of dollars to renew and see to it that their papers are up to date and in order.
america’s core values are still there, to rekindle once trump is out of office. americans have taken blows before and brought low, but they did recover in next to no time. they just do. there is much reserve yet untouched.
America is experiencing extreme partisanship . Assassination of political figures is a no joke, unlike us in the Philippines, one can make a threat without repercussions . Tolerance may be ?
The VP of the Philippines said she had put out a contract to kill the President of the Philippines if anything happened to her. She was’t joking. The US government blasts boatloads of Venezuelans out of the water in violation of international law. Plain murder. I’m unclear who the moral custodians are these days because lives seem easy to discard. Kasambahay has more compassion in her little toe than most have in their entire soul, and is a rock of sense in a world of nonsense, so I think has earned the right to pen humor, poetry, or irony with absolutely no restraint.
Could be the US intel failed to recognize non-combatant civilians from armed drug smugglers.
What I am trying to convey is when leaders of political parties engaged in hate/violent rhetorics, the discourse will go no where . I love Kasambahay messages, I think she’s the youngest among TSOH members.
I agree that hate is a lousy moral value.
Vote buying is here to stay. Patronage politics, malakas mahina weather weather.Corruption begins at home, we lie to save face, ee lie to our parents, we lie to our children,we lie to our spouses. We have our ghosts projects as a student and as a spouse in the guise of over time and all nighters.
pakyaw was alleged to have bought votes but did not win. on elections as wont, I got freebies and gifts like comb, Tshirts, rosaries, tsenilas, cloth bags, friendship bracelets, pens, etc. politicians become very generous during election time, it would be wasteful not to accept gifts given with string attached, only to become part of the landfill later. in all I got 27 rosaries, I offloaded to ukay ukay stores.
in some regions, sales of cell phones jumped up after election with people awash with extra cash and wanting to offload easy come easy go money. it is very easy to spend money na hindi pinaghirapan at hindi pinagpawisan.
there are politicians that gives good vibe the likes of bam aquino. makes one happy just being with them and hearing them talk, there is sincerity in bam. though jinggoy summat gives me the creep, his eyes has sly look. with escudero, I cannot see how a man can spend thousands on a diamond stud on his ear, he must be hemorrhaging money.
Oh yes even the church must put dirty money to good use it maybe laundering but if tge money is in your hands you may redistribute it rather than burn it all.
So true. Corruption starts at home by shading the truth and cheating to gain advantage. It is not six people getting kickbacks from contractors. It’s a way of life.
narcissistic kindness is part of the corrupts’ repertoire. they give donations to the poor, the sick, and needy not out of altruism but because they get something back in return, definitely. those at the receiving end of narcissistic kindness become frontline faces, trumpeting to all and sundry, the corrupt’s humanity and kindness, making it hard for anyone to believe that a person that good and generous, could not possibly be bent and corrupt!
That term is new to me, but fits well. Giving gifts to oneself, if you follow it all the way.
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2025/10/13/2479620/half-filipinos-want-duterte-prosecuted-support-declines-vismin-sws
Half of Filipinos want Duterte prosecuted, but support declines in VisMin – SWS
wait until ombudsman remulla gets hold of bong go’s family over the pharmally scam and with bato immenent arrest as suggested by ICC, dds are declining in numbers maybe from diehard duterte supports to just supporters, the puff taken off them.
Thanks. The corruption flare up will likely ensure this continues, my guess.
OT: https://x.com/philconcerts/status/1977999805000597667 after a three-day concert in Araneta Coliseum, Cup of Joe are planning a world tour spanning the US, Canada and Dubai..
“Cup of Joe made history with their sold-out three-night Stardust concert at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, becoming the first Filipino band to stage five sold-out shows at the Big Dome in a single year.
The run featured their biggest hits, including ‘Tingin,’ ‘Sandali,’ and the record-breaking ‘Multo,’ alongside special moments such as ‘Bagsakan’ with Gloc-9, ‘Panalangin’ with APO Hiking Society, and ‘Jeepney Love Story’ with Yeng Constantino.
@cupofjoemusic
was also honored for surpassing 4 billion all-time streams and for ‘Multo’s’ 27-week reign at No. 1 on the Billboard PH Top 100. With more than 11.6 million monthly listeners and multiple Spotify records, Cup of Joe now sets its sights on a world tour spanning the U.S., Canada, and Dubai.”
that Filipino acts are on top of the Top 100 over there is a big deal as it used to be all foreign acts, most notably Taylor Swift IIRC. And selling out the Big Dome with 20K capacity 5 times within a year is no mean feat. (of course the World Tour will mainly be for overseas Filipinos)
Off topic but about Duterte.
The defense manage to remove Khan .
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/icc-judges-disqualify-icc-prosecutor-khan-duterte-case-court-document-shows-2025-10-14/
(of course DDS will cheer about this like Grade 5 kids, “hehehe kulelat ang kaso”, and the smarter DDS influencers will write “see it has no solid foundation” but if one looks at it, this is just a move by the court to make sure nothing looks potentially biased, and they are very very professional in dealing with objections or motions raised by whoever, as they should be.. this will continue)
https://x.com/chronikrissys/status/1978467944868003855 thread from Kristina Conti who is the lawyer of the victims:
—–start of quote——
ICC Update: The decision disqualifying Karim Khan from the Duterte case had now been made public.
As stated earlier, we do not anticipate a significant interruption in the work of the Office of the Prosecutor even with this decision. Khan has been on voluntary leave…+
..since May 2025, and the prosecution of the case has been ably carried out by the Philippine team and led by deputy prosecutor Mandiaye Niang. Reassuringly, it was Niang who steered the team in putting together the evidence and finalizing the Document Containing the Charges…+
..(the charges as proposed by the prosecution). The DCC defines the scope of the case and the liability of the suspect Duterte. The disqualification of Khan, who assisted a group of victims prepare a communication in 2018 prior to his appointment as prosecutor,…+
…intended to ensure fairness and preserve the integrity of the proceedings. Even if the ICC Appeals Chamber did not consider that “actual bias on the part of the Prosecutor has been demonstrated”, the mere appearance of bias was enough to grant the Duterte camp’s request. +
With this matter resolved in a swift and precise manner, we hope that the court can also deal with the other issues pending in the same way. The two major issues are: whether Duterte is fit to stand trial, and whether the court has jurisdiction to hear the case. +
Victims, of course, are eagerly awaiting for trial to begin.
#DutertePanagutin
Read the decision here: https://www.icc-cpi.int/sites/default/files/CourtRecords/0902ebd180cc2b03.pdf
OT: noticed that the movie Quezon came out today in the Philippines, social media is full of it, seems to be a good movie based on reviews as I haven’t seen it yet, and even if it seems to make the choice to portray MLQ as at least cunning, good that historical films now reach that period.
Also, the post-credit scenes (won’t spoil them though some already have spoiled them) seem to point to an option for a possible second trilogy playing in the Third Republic. Though it did take a decade to get this trilogy of Heneral Luna – Goyo and Quezon done, so let’s see – or not.
the first 2 films were heavily financed by the Ortigas fortune.The Ortigas corporation had MLQ as one of its incorporators, I am guessing the family felt that making people understand that Quezon could have been out LKY/Deng/CKS is like paying homage to a family friend. Haven’t watched as there is a very nastly flu like virus spreading and I do not want to get sick.
I don’t see MLQ as a Filipino LKY either, probably one of the biggest differences is that he failed to leave a real legacy in terms of people who think like him in terms of national vision if he actually had one and was not just winging it or letting his people implement the institutions that are still the barely upgraded legacy system that the Philippine government of today is. Probably the over reliance on “Da Man” is very Filipino, whereas LKY had the people in his party to perpetuate his legacy.
Even if one reads between the lines of some of MLQ3’s remarks about his grandfather, one can see the master of Realpolitik that MLQ was. Especially the quote where he tells Osmena that Filipinos want only two things from a President, to maintain order BUT not to overstep his power. I wonder what MLQ3 will write about the movie once he has seen it.
P.S. possibly, the lack of legacy in Philippine politics is similar to the lack of legacy in many places in the Philippines. Joey mentioned how the best Indian software specialists made not so good beginners into journeymen. Well, the difference between the Pinoy IT specialists at the UN I mentioned and the Indian ones was that the Filipinos gatekept nearly everything and passed nearly no information. Takot magpalamang I am sure, holding on to keep their advantage.
I recall a story a management consultant to a major German company told me, not under NDA for me as it is merely a rumor, he told me about how the guys with the large turbans took care of the juniors among the Indians building software there, the large turbans probably a joke, maybe he meant seniors like Joey did.
But the cultural reason for gatekeeping is that there are also a lot of half-assed copycats and cheap imitators in the Philippine setting, unfortunately.
A lot of the new family names in the early Republic were brought to national level by Quezon.
true, but that shows that legacy in the Philippines is still at most familial if not totally personal, hardly institutional, a bit like it was in Europe of the Middle Ages.
The Sottos are an example of family legacy wavering a bit but recovering, for example. Buencaminos are a family who were able to redeem their legacy etc etc
Thanks for this IBRS.
That was supposed to be under the DDS comment.
Dynasties, patronage practices,padrinos, palakasan something that can not be changed by one election
But multiple elections will always be a better choice than forever rulers no matter how benevolent they may appear, it is still tyranny.
Steady is indeed better than jerking around. Wealth building and honesty both require steady persistence. I totally agree.
Thanks
Besides, power CHANGES people with time. Parliamentary allows for “unli” reelection so there were three Federal Republic of Germany Chancellors who ruled for very long – Konrad Adenauer from 1949-1963 (14 years), Helmut Kohl from 1982-1998 (16 years) and Angela Merkel from 2005-2021 (16 years) – all Christian Democrats meaning Conservatives. Adenauer was in his 90s when his own party practically had to force him to step down. Helmut Kohl was an 1980s legacy by 1998 because Germany had changed so much in the 1990s – reunification, cold war ended, cable TV including MTV and CNN, Internet, mobile phones – that he was out of touch. Merkel had been a bulwark of continuity for much of her term but towards the end continuity became stagnation. Fresh leaders with a new view are always important.
Re patronage and familistic politics, the structure of Bavaria where I live still is shaped by traditions out of it having been rural until few generations ago. The main difference is that there is a tradition of hard work here even most rich families tend to cultivate to stay rich, and nepo babies who fail to work hard or are negligent with their money are given a second chance at most. Michi Beck, the scion of a restaurant owning family who got into issues with tax authorities, fled to Manila in 2009 and killed himself after his Filipina wife ran off with a German cook there, was one sad example.
As for the old school “Filipino patricians” (my term) that MLQ3 often describes in history, including his grandfather, they did have old values like delicadeza, meaning at worst just the English “you can do anything as long as you don’t wake up the horses” and at best “don’t ever do anything you have to be ashamed of” while most of the new guard of today will laugh in your face if you call them “walang hiya”, but you are right cultural change takes its time.
Thanks for your insights