If a landslide vote catapulted now-President-elect Rodrigo Duterte to power, that same landslide vote did not influence the composition of Congress which remains utterly dominated by Liberal Party stalwarts. Indeed, amazingly enough, Franklin Drilon is set to keep his seat in the Senate despite being one of the most rabid of President Benigno Simeon ‘BS’ Aquino III’s attack dogs long suspected of being a major beneficiary of Aquino’s pork-barrel-funded pet “projects”. So whilst there is cause to congratulate the awesome success of the grassroots-led campaign behind Duterte’s win, the inconsistent expression of that support in the legislature leaves much to be desired.
One thing remains consistent in the behaviour of the vote in these elections — Filipino voters continue to overestimate the power of a president to institute change. My colleague MidwayHaven wrote a while back how Voting For President Is Pointless If You Forget the Legislative Branch…
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Legislative numbers are in this writer’s opinion much more important than whoever we elect as President or Vice President. I’ve met a lot of people who’ve been speaking to me about who they’ll be voting for the top two Executive positions, but I have yet to encounter anyone who would talk clearly about their picks for Senators or even Congressman. Also, there’s what I’d like to call the “Chop Suey Phenomena”: people seem to know all too well who they’d vote for the top positions, but seem to be vague and inconsistent with their senatorial picks.
This is something to seriously think about when one considers that Duterte rose to prominence on the back of a public clamour for deep and radical change, more so considering that this desire for change emanates from a widespread anger over the failure of the “EDSA Spirit” that underpinned the last 30 years of governance. Unfortunately, the composition of Congress still reflects that “spirit” — politicians who were either allied to the clans that propped up the Yellow brand or rode upon the bakla sentiment that saw the stupid political doctrines of widow politics, pedigree politics, “sacrifice” politics, and necropolitics dominate thinking over the last three decades since 1986.
In Duterte is a completely different back-to-basics guy who will likely run a testosterone-fueled administration — the sort of ethic (we hope) that built the awesome imperial societies in Europe and North Asia that were the foundations of the strong, prosperous, enterprising, and adventurous civilisations that dominate the planet today. In Congress, unfortunately, lies its antithesis — the same soft-bellied Showbiz Government bozos that saw the degeneration of Philippine politics into the adolescent victim-pandering joke that is now widely-reviled today.
Ironically, Duterte’s government has much to learn from the administration it is replacing. If there was one thing President Benigno Simeon ‘BS’ Aquino III achieved, it was to create a template strategy with which the Executive branch of the Philippine government could again apply to totally dominate its “co-equal” branches, the Legislature and the Judiciary.
Indeed, Executive power will come to be the guiding legacy that will cap 30 years of “EDSA Spirit” rhetoric that has come to an end this year. Duterte enjoys an awesome enough well of political capital to further develop the Aquino model of Executive power. That Aquino model of wielding executive power was an effective one. It saw the crushing of a sitting Supreme Court Chief Justice, the unlawful incarceration of a former President, the pardoning of a military adventurist who endangered thousands of Filipino lives, the wanton plunder of an entire national budget, and a bald usurpation of an entire military and police chain of command.
Perhaps Duterte’s detractors who include the old mouthpieces of the now-obsolete “EDSA Spirit”, the toothless “champions” of “human rights”, and the cliques of Martial Law Crybabies who led a campaign of fear-mongering in what turned out to be a vain attempt to quash a Duterte presidency were right about Rodrigo Duterte. He is a man who wields power that Filipinos should be afraid of. And this power will be based on a model that none other than President BS Aquino created.
Thus, fear of President Duterte’s government is a legitimate one to harbour. But that fear should be regarded — and faced — within the context of a deep understanding of real change; because…
Our embrace of change can only be deemed real when we do so with fear.
The idea that advocating change cannot be done without being afraid is, indeed, ludicrous. This is because real change is always uncomfortable and its implementation necessarily unsettling — even painful. What sets apart the men from the boys is the ability to face the fear of change and overcome the pain of its implementation with courage. That courage can only be mustered when Filipinos as a people keep their eye on a clear vision of what they will be as a nation by the time President Duterte steps down in 2022.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
What the people behind the Aquino presidency refuse to accept is that they’re in a large part responsible for their opponents winning. Even the Ateneo. They don’t realize they made Marcos Jr. more popular by giving him the attention, making him perceived as the opposite of the administration full of massive flubs. Worse shit made people want the old shit back.
pangit ng legislative department. Delikado si Digong dahil LP ang VP. Self-serving yellows are planning now for impeachment unless DU30 would open Leni’s eyes to the truth and convert her. Alam naman ni leni ang totoo tangina.
#dangersofmajorityvote #democrazy at it’s finest
I, too, would like congratulate Duterte for being the next president of the Failippines. Now he really needs to watch his back, lest his new vice-president Leni Rebredo have his head on the platter—just like what GMA did to Erap.
hurray for Duterte. i think he’ll choose his legacy than be a yellow puppet. the Pilipinos select him for the change ‘cuz of his trademark the ‘iron fist’ and his promises.
The senate results were an utter dissapointment…
Paquiao, he belongs in Manila Zoo not in the Senate. Unreal.
“Pacquiao”…. see how angry I am?
is the partial transmission of voters count final? or is it the ‘voter’s receipt’ the final count?
I only see Mr franklin Drilon as a good team player. despite a high profile status..ive personally witnessed him fall in line in the same queue as mine towards a luggage check in counter..the airline personnels was pretty damn slow. slowly pacing for the check in..he was cool would constantly look at his watch and his still manage to smile while I was quietly cursing them to eternal damnation..
oh..he was seated 4 rows behind me in the economy class..he was already senator then. I do not think he is down to the bone corrupt like a binay..who will sell his soul..even promising the voters he will take out kim henares a successful tax collector of the government.
I voted for Duterte. there is no other choice. ( My ) business is pretty good despite the mediocre showing of the previous administration accomplishing nothing rain or shine, putting the Philippines further in debt of a trillion or 2 who could not even manage a decent traffic system with a huge flood problem.. I wish to see more of Duterte in a baduy sando inner shirt and short sleeve polo unbuttoned on the chest.. to me , he can get away with riding not a Harley or a modern bmw motorcycle..i wish to see him riding a Jiangshe motorcycle still.. because this time this is not about looking good.. it is about doing good..i hope his achievement will pile up… and me not regretting I made a wrong choice anew. wake up Philippines.. its time to rise and shine
>> One thing remains consistent in the behaviour of the vote in these elections — Filipino voters continue to overestimate the power of a president to institute change.
Spot on. This is why I predict nothing will change. For the people in the provinces, the sky is high and the Emperor is far away: it wouldn’t matter if Hyden Toro’s carabao were president.
The de facto kings of the country’s little towns and villages are mayors, criminal gangs, and petty troublemakers who ensure nobody rises above their station without swift retribution. They will remain so. Duterte can’t line them all up against a wall and shoot them, and even if he did, more cockroaches would come out of the woodwork to replace them.
@marius:
My carabao would had won in a wide margin; because I am familiar with the HOCUS PCOS machine. I know how to make my dear Carabao win, more than Aquino and Mar Roxas…Read my comments on the other web article. You will understand, how they did it.
However, they are idiots; because, it is now hard for them to tinker back, what they had tinkered…
Nothing will ever change in this fucked up country as long as Failipinos think in arrogant and self-serving ways.
I really am “Fucked [not Proud] to be a Filipino.”
It’s a landslide win for Duterte and a trend continues:
Marcos – Bright
Cory – Dumb
Ramos – Bright
Erap – Dumb
Gloria – Bright
Noynoy – Dumb
Duterte – Bright
Hopefull this ends here.
Oh God, I hope that Manny Pacquiao will not run for the president on 2022 and won in a huge landslide or else our country will be brought to hell again! Fcuk that Pambansang Kamao, he’s now the Pambansang Payaso! >:(
As planned by the team of Pres. Duterte, the Philippines will already be Federal/Parliamentary by 2022, therefore, it is unlikely now that Manny Pacquiao will become president.
Pres. Duterte won, but Aquino and his Oligarchs made their candidates favored to win the election.
They manipulated the HOCUS PCOS machine, to favor their candidates. The people really wanted change, but Aquino, Mar Roxas and the established Oligarchy, defeated their desire for change. Aquino left , a lot of his attack dogs, and minions in the Senate and Congress, for them to do his will. Aquino will be the “Man behind the Shadow”…
The people voted for the highest bidder. Get out of the city a little and see how votes are really won (congressman, governor, mayor and barangay captain).
The presidential vote is not bought as far as I can see. Vote buying is a local thing meant to control the funds of a province. This is not an isolated phenomenon, but extends throughout the Visayas and Northern Mindanao at least (that is where I have lived mostly in the PI).
Miriam for Justice Minister!
The LP was paying p20k in my province for a straight ticket vote. How much in your province (oops, was that a secret)?
p20k for a family of 3.
Excuse me, all my statements on this website are alleged (and do not intend to violate the libel clauses of the Philippine Cybercrime bill of 2012). I do not need the Philippine internet police knocking on my nipa hut questioning my opinions. I hope this server is outside the Philippines where political thought and social commentary is not considered a crime.
Vote buying in the provinces is so common that it is hard to get a boat to the provinces for days before an election. This is not due to patriotism, but simple economic interest. Why does it rquire a foreigner to point this out? Vote buying is celebrated in the provinces, and results in a family reunion.
Why did LP prosper in congress? They paid the most for every vote. GetRealPhilippines.
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