Ushering in a Fresh New Golden Era of Change: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte

philippine_elections_2016

The most awaited day has finally arrived. Men and women across the nation suspended in a state of anticipation suddenly break out in jubilant cheers, high fives and hip hip hoorays as the initial partial results from COMELEC come in revealing what the surveys and rally crowd sizes have been saying all along – Mayor Rody Duterte in an enormous skyrocketing lead over the rest of the contenders.

As of this writing, though results may not be complete yet (roughly half of votes counted so far), it is already crystal clear. So I and everyone who has been longing for change during these past 30 years marked by “democracy” and “growth” that never really became inclusive wish to extend our most heartfelt congratulations to our new leader, the 16th President of the Republic of the Philippines, President Rodrigo “Rody” “Digong” Roa Duterte.

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Relishing the Victory

Just how significant and momentous a victory this is for the Filipino people is yet to be fully grasped, but one thing’s for sure – all the struggles to bring about this first step of change, all the battles it took to get to this peak were worth it.

Now is a moment to relish that fresh new breeze this victory brings – the air of hope blowing across the isles of this beautiful yet battered and torn archipelago. Change is coming they say, and the first phase of its realization has finally taken shape in the person of a strong, respectable, experienced, iron-willed, incorrupt and competent leader – one who, for a change, has the proven Midas touch. It is time to stand in attention and offer a salute to the man of the hour.

It is a time to dream again, to close our eyes and envision a Philippines that is clean & orderly and where men, women and children are disciplined and use their God-given common sense and intellect; a country that can stand tall again among the brotherhood of nations, not because of some vacuous Pinoy pride beholden to a Yellow Queen, but because it’s people love their country the way Du30 kisses the red, blue and white banner in every rally throughout his campaign.

We All Win

After all the noise, hustle and bustle in recent days of the campaign leading to the elections, everyone in each camp must feel exhausted, even just by the suffocating atmosphere of mudslinging and fighting among supporters and candidates of opposing camps that enveloped the nation.

Even if you are a supporter of a camp whose candidate lost, that initial feeling of sadness, anger or depression sinks in and just like some bitter pill one needs to swallow, it all dissolves away in a few fleeting moments of silent realization that the only thing to do is accept reality, be a good sport and move on.

We all win – if after the fight, we come over and congratulate the victors. We win if we did not do anything to harm the integrity of the elections. We win if we accept our loss, unite with our new president and support his vision and policies to effect our much needed change.

We win if we follow our new president’s simple command to STOP IT – Stop all the things (criminal activities, drugs, scams, incompetence, corruption) that destroy the castle and kingdom that President Duterte is bringing all of us together to build. We win if we salute and respect the man chosen to lead the charge of victory towards freedom from our true bondage: the fetters of our very own destructive dysfunctional Pinoy traits.

We have brought back the strongman. But we will not really need a dictator for president IF we all look into the mirror and realize that the main problem of this country is simply the person staring right back at you.

It’s time for CHANGE. Bring it on President Duterte, bring it on!

[Photo courtesy The Telegraph UK.]

37 Replies to “Ushering in a Fresh New Golden Era of Change: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte”

  1. “A fresh new golden era of change.” A fresh fruit (Duterte) that will also spoil when place in the center of the same basket full of rotten fruits (like Rebredo and the rest of the Yellow Tards), as the legacy of aristocracy and self-serviningness continues.

  2. “A fresh new golden era of change.” A fresh fruit (Duterte) that will also spoil when placed in the center of the same basket full of rotten fruits (like Rebredo and the rest of the Yellow Tards), as the legacy of aristocracy and self-serviningness continues.

  3. maybe ordinary people see something in the mayor that the elites don’t – the idea that radical change is possible, that a better life can be had for all, and that endemic problems like lack of decent healthcare, employment, education, and social security and an efficient responsive bureaucracy are solutions just waiting to be found.
    we all live in hope – this may just be the opportunity to translate that into effective action.
    “For things to stay the same, things have got to change.” –
    Giuseppe di Lampedusa, The Leopard

    1. Walter P. Komarnicki,

      I will tell you exactly what the ordinary people are looking for in the incoming president that the elites don’t want to see. Change. A lasting change for the good of the country remains to be seen–and cannot be prayed and hoped for–if the people are not willing to change themselves.

      With a Duterte-Robredo (Robredo is poised to win the vice-presidency) administration, I doubt if a lasting and constructive change will take place; It’ll be like mixing oil and water all over again with the likes of Aquino and Binay, Estrada and Gloria Makapal(gal)-Arroyo.

      Aeta

      1. I like that word, Makapal(gal). Anyway, if that’s the problem, Aeta, maybe here are the solutions to this problem in order not to repeat the history just like what the 3 previous administration before & hopefully President Duterte will read this message:

        1. Make a courtesy call to all the political parties in our country (except the UNA party ’cause I know that Mr. Binay is still “pikon” after what he’d saw on the latest partial & unofficial result on this year’s election unlike Grace Poe & Mar Roxas), make a dialogue to them & prioritize first on his plan to create a federal republic system in our country through Charter Change & then eliminating crimes & corruption in our country by the latter.

        2. Give both BBM & Leni Robredo a cabinet position whether they’ll loose or not just like what he’d planned to his running mate, Alan Peter Cayetano when he gave him for DFA Secretary position & tell them that they should work together, make unity & forget their political differences & they should focus more on national interest rather than personal interest during his administration.

        3. And if they already have a cabinet position for these two guys, President Duterte should follow on what the former Uruguayan president, Jose Mujica in which he’s better known as the world’s poorest president to give his 90% of his monthly salary to the charities and forbid to ride a luxurious & expensive vehicles & tell this to them that they should do this as their daily lives as his cabinet secretaries & a Filipino official so that every Filipino officials in our country will follow it soon.

        And surely this will work to prevent the further feuds between the Marcoses & the LP members in the future & there’ll be a better change in our country during his administration & after that.

  4. The Yellows are moving heaven and earth just to make the unpopular and dubious Leni Robredo become the second most powerful person in the land. That being said it appears that the Oligarchs are now working on Plan B the same way they ousted Pres. Erap with the elitist GMA as his successor. Will history repeat itself? God forbid!

    1. Chris Espiritu,

      Ain’t that the truth. Nothing has changed with the Fucked-up-ness of the Failippines except the actors and actresses who played the “teleserye” dramas of life in this God-forsaken country. The Failipino people will always have an “every man [woman] for himself” ways about him and that’s never going to change.

      It really is ‘Fucked [not Proud] to be a Failipino.”

      Aeta

    2. Actually, the VP wields no more power than any other Cabinet member/secretary. The VP will only matter when the Pres is deposed/killed. And I doubt anyone can impeach Du30 – who will set up a revolutionary government if anyone gets in his way of effecting his promised change.

      The VP has hardly any significant power. Even when PNoy was out of the country, he did not assign Binay to be OIC. Esp if the VP is of a different party from the Pres, the poor fellow may even find him/herself ostracized.

      The VP position is only one of the many possible stepping stones to the presidency, nothing else. And even if you get to become VP, there’s no guarantee you’ll have a better shot at the presidency in the next elections. Look at Binay.

      VP is not that critical. What’s more critical is who Du30 assigns to key posts like DOTC, Ed, Agri… I heard many from military are coming in. It looks like something’s cooking.

  5. yes, Duterte is officially won for the presidency & the only thing left is we will wait for the VP result which is a 2 way tie between BBM & Leni Robredo.

    But the one thing that I got really pissed off is how the fuck Manny Pacquiao got into the top 10 on the senatorial result in spite that it is just a partial & unofficial result?! Oh well, there are still BOBOTANTES out there who’d voted him & I wonder if how could he make a law if he’ll won the senate race & even the debates there? :\

  6. A Herculean effort is needed to clean this Augean stable, and I wish the president-elect the best. To be truly successful, change must come from the 100 million people, and not just from one glorified hero figure.

  7. Nothing endures but change…let us all unite now,for the battle has just begun.Challenge yourselves and your peers to a higher standard in everything you do.Gone are the days of mediocrity.Gone are the days of excuses.Get rid of the crab mentality,rise up and take charge
    !!! Congratulations Philippines !!!

  8. @Aeta

    With a Duterte-Robredo (Robredo is poised to win the vice-presidency) administration … It’ll be like mixing oil and water all over again

    Yes, Duterte-Robredo will be like an oil-water mixture, which is why Leni WILL immediately resign as she PROMISED to the Filipino people:

    ROBREDO: IF ELECTED VICE PRESIDENT OF DUTERTE, I WILL IMMEDIATELY RESIGN MY POST

    But let’s be realistic – she’s obviously lying: just look at her now with fingers crossed asking all her supporters to pray she wins, even knowing the now fully established Du30 = president equation.

    The VP race between BBM and Leni (still a quarter of votes to go) is simply nerve racking to watch. If this virtual tie persists till the domestic votes are fully counted, it might be the 400,000 votes of OFWs (which are still to come in) that will decide between the two.

    And we know just how pissed off OFWs are with the incumbent Yellow government (lack of local jobs, tanim bala scam, balik bayan box issues). Let’s see how it goes; but each camp should already condition themselves for a possible negative outcome, so as to lessen the impact of defeat – a tip for people with heart ailments.

    The problem with these slim-margin neck-and-neck races are that the losing camp will raise a protest due to the “anomalies”, request for a recount, and drag this on and on; and worse like an FPJ, the “cheated loser” sinks into a depression and DIES before his/her time. Well to borrow Du30’s words “what a waste!”

    1. Considering INC, El Shaddai, OFWs, and various other organizations and people who endorsed BBM, it is virtually impossible the Robredo has more votes.

      Something stinks to high heaven here.

      1. Jim DiGriz,

        It has been stinking for a long time. People just got caught up with trying to elect Duterte, leaving their ass-end open to be plugged in by the opposition.

        Aeta

      2. If Leni wins, that means getting sympathy votes from her dead husband does work, all the time. Mar Roxas should have killed Korina or Kris. 🙂

        1. Coincidentally, I had the same idea except it’s gonna be the next elections where Mar is assassinated just months before and Korina runs for top national office. Works all the time – even worked for Gandhi’s family members in India.

          So now you all know who had Ninoy killed right? So let’s stop blaming Marcos for the “tragedy” at the tarmac.

    2. Zaxx,

      I strongly doubt Leni Rebredo is going to resign her vice-presidency. Promises are dime a dozen in Failippine politics; we have more chances of a typhoon making landfall on our shoreline than a Failipino politician fulfilling his or her promises.

      In this case, Leni Robredo has been coached really well by her political backers to lie her ass off and feign innocence as the results if the election slowly unfolds. Comelec is going to keep the numbers closed between Rebredo and Marcos, to give the impression that it was a close race between the two candidates, and that the country really wants Rebredo to win as much as Bong-Bong Marcos.

      The same vote-rigging took place in the presidential, except Comelec and the Yellow Party could not clinch a win for Roxas because of the looming threat from the leaders of the MILF on their lives. In the case of the OFWs, their voices and votes are virtually irrelevant on this election. They’re too far away and their absentee ballots will probably be thrown out anyway because it won’t favor Rebredo.

      Although there were less incidence of violence during this election across the country, the real atrocities took place inside Comelec, with vote rigging (cheating), and it was committed by the very people who are in the best position to do so: the current “Yellow Party” administration.

      Aeta

  9. I congratulate, Pres. Rodrigo Duterte, for his victory. He has a lot of work to do. He must begin with the COMELEC. Aquino and the Oligarch have put men there, that have compromised and manipulated the Electoral System of Philippine election.

    They have tinkered both the hardware, and software of the HOCUS PCOS machine, to favor their candidates…

  10. Duterte is a potential dictator. It is one thing to run a city and a completely different thing to run a nation. Combine him and little Marcos and it will be total disaster. Combine him and Leni and it will be total disaster. Here is a video I recently saw on YOU TUBE https://youtu.be/7NrIcuBf7iU

    1. If you can successfully run a city as big as Davao, you can definitely run PH, the economy of which is not even comparable to that of a US State like California or Texas.

      And if ever PH turns out to be a disaster, exporters and OFWs will be happy as the dollar-peso exchange rate will only be in their favor. A weaker peso is good for the economy – tourism, exports, remittances…

      It will be a good time to invest under Du30

      1. I hope everything works out well for the Philippines. I’m sure he will do a better job for the people. He seems to have a hot temper. I believe the problem may come when he is dealing with other countries, China comes to mind especially.

      2. Hi Zaxx,
        a form of investing is to buy shares and stocks, you agree?
        Q1: I probaby cant buy shares & stocks at the Philippine stock exchange, can I?
        Q2: If the answer to Q1 is ‘correct’ then I have to buy those PH shares & stocks at another stock exchange. But where?
        Q3: the (short term and/or long term) goal of buying shares is to make a profit through the increase of the share price (both for the company as for the buyer of shares). But when there is no real middle class in PH, I dont see any profit coming from that side.
        Q4 (remark 1): Because shares are bought/sold almost anonymously how can the company or government find out I own more than 60/40? (Usually my bank (or my broker) will actually buy the ahares for me. At least thats how it works here).

        Thanks for reading.

        1. No idea how to answer that maybe zaxx has an idea or anyone here in GRP do, but I do agree with the middle class being an invisible class in PH. Because, we’re like dancing in the middle of a tightrope, one step to richness and elitehood and one step to poverty…

          We’ll see eventually, if he does fix those things that are wrong in this country. I give him full benefit of the doubt..

        2. Robert, of course you can trade. Just don’t buy up more than 40% of the entire company. How they find out you’re a foreigner? Don’t worry about it – Ph is loophole wonderland. Or you can use your Pinay GF as your proxy. That crazy 60/40 rule is just some stupid shit invented to keep money from coming in. Du30’s camp is gonna rewrite the constitution soon. One big reason I voted him.

          Online brokers at philpad might get you started.

        3. Zaxx,
          thanks. It will be too much for me to cough up money to get 60% majority of all shares. But it certainly is interesting to see whether it is possible.

  11. Zaxx (or anybody),
    (off topic)
    There is something else I dont understand regarding voting in PH.
    There is the total population of PH: lets say 100 million.
    To be eligible to vote one must 18 years and/or older, right?

    But thats not enough.
    To really be able to vote one has to be registered. Why?

    Isnt everybody already registered at City Hall (of his/her hometown) as a citizen of that city/village/town?

    1. Technically, you’re already registered as soon as you are 18. That’s what I knew, I could be wrong though but I tried to have an ID created just so I’ll have less hassles in the future. But apparently when someone does not vote here for a consecutive number of elections, a person’s registration may be nullified or de-activated and he’ll have to “re-register” again. There’s a good chance he may not see his name on the list.

      While a Voter’s ID isn’t really necessary to be able to vote (I did it before), However, if questioned by the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) on Election Day, a voter may present his (or her) voter ID or any other valid ID.

      1. Sanzo,
        thanks. I thought everybody needed to be registered in order to vote.
        After all what you say/said, it still looks complicated and inefficient to me.

        How it works in my neck of the woods (Netherlands):
        You live in city/village/town X, then that person is registered there as a resident of that city/town/village. Based on your birthday, you will receive – automatically – yopur personal voting pass. With that pass – together with an official ID (passport or drivers license) you go to the polling station and vote.
        You will be send your personal voting pass for each election even if you/one missed/skipped an election several times (as long as you are registered as resident/citizen with City Hall).

        So if and when you move from city X to city Y all you have to do is unregister yourself from city X and register yourself at city Y. If you dont, your voters pass will be send to your former address (bec that is your last known address).

    2. Robert,
      I think it’s with the database as well.
      Comelec’s database may not be integrated with those of other offices/agencies.
      Also people are very fluid. One may be living in one city in this election, but elsewhere in the next. Or I may even be already deceased – so Comelec needs a way of tracking.
      Ph needs one central depot – I think a freakin mess.

      1. Zaxx,
        all those things you mention (moving to another city and dying) also happen here (and everywhere else).
        But when I move from city A to city B then I have to report that in both cities and in case I am dead, my next of kin will show my death certificate to City Hall. So everytime when something changes, it is recorded/filed officially within 3 days tops at City Hall.

        This came about – I dont know exactly when – when churches had their own records and City Hall had their own. They didnt match bec they were not complete. Non-religious people werent documented in a church, where-as religious people werent documented in City Hall. At one point in time, this had to change. And City Hall was the obvious place. That is why a church wedding (only) is not recognized as a legal wedding.

  12. 9: Duterte wants a meritocratic, technocratic hiring system for bureau and GOCC employees: “All applicants in bureaus and GOCCs must agree that their names will be published. I will give my staff a limit (deadline) to publish the names, especially those who apply to GOCCs. It will go to the best and the brightest, no political (padrino system)… Huwag kayong manghingi ng endorsement sa politicians. If it comes with one, your application is automatically rejected…If you want an assignment, it should be based on merit…If you’re a smart, then apply. But it doesn’t always work that way because some summa cum laudes are suman-suman (duds). If I can instill in you love of country, then I will know you’ll do your job…You be willing to have your name published in the newspaper. Do not get recommendations from anybody. After all, if something doesn’t work, it’s the president who will have to answer… As long as there’s no parity, you’ll never get good people to work for government.”

    here is the thinkingpinoy.net breakdown of the press conference: http://www.thinkingpinoy.net/2016/05/duterte-digest-service-dds-national-media-guide-duterte.html#more

    Better share this page. don’t rely on ABiaS-CBN, Rappler, GMA and other mainstream media. always check the original source like raw videos on youtube.

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