The overwhelming thumbs-up given by Philippine Congress to the extension of Martial Law demonstrates the immense political capital enjoyed by the administration of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. And, once again, the ineptness applied by the Opposition in its efforts to counteract the trajectory Duterte has thus far put the country in was glaringly evident. In politics, particularly in a “democracy”, popularity is the only true and objective scorekeeper. The agendas of popular ideas and popular people succeed and those of the obscure languish. That’s just the way things are.
So far, three key pillars of traditional Opposition propaganda used by his critics have fallen into obsolescence in this regard: (1) hero-cum-martyr rhetoric, (2) freedom as be-all-end-all, and (3) the “people’s will”.
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The way a “flash protest” perpetrated by a handful of misguided “activists” during a special joint session of Congress to discuss the martial law extension failed to move the general Filipino public and, instead, attracted ridicule handily illustrates the fall from grace of these once-lofty concepts. Despite all the traditional “activist” ingredients — dramatics, noise, and defiance — there was none of the expected outpouring of solidarity; nothing that could shake the confidence of legislators that they enjoy the general backing of their respective constituents in the vote they represent in this exercise.
Indeed, only 60 “youth activists” mostly representing the usual cadre of rally-happy leftist groups reportedly came to show support for these misguided youths now being held in Camp Karingal in Quezon City. The rather infantile logic with which they defend the actions of their “colleagues” and demand their release was summarised in the following statement by the “leader” of this protest rally…
Einstein Recedes, Anakbayan secretary general, said the youth leaders should be freed, since they were only using their freedom to express their disapproval of the military rule.
He noted that if the youth leaders brought banners in support of martial law instead, they would not have been be escorted out of the plenary hall and arrested.
Nothing in what Einstein (note the ironic name) said above addresses the actual basis of their arrest…
[…] the eight rallyists had been taken to the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office to undergo inquest proceedings. They face charges for violation of Article 144 of the Revised Penal Code, or disturbance of proceedings.
Article 144 states: “Disturbance of proceedings. — The penalty of arresto mayor or a fine from 200 to 1,000 pesos shall be imposed upon any person who disturbs the meetings of the National Assembly (Congress of the Philippines) or of any of its committees or subcommittees, constitutional commissions or committees or divisions thereof, or of any provincial board or city or municipal council or board, or in the presence of any such bodies should behave in such manner as to interrupt its proceedings or to impair the respect due it. (Reinstated by E.O. No. 187).”
Anti martial law ‘activists’ showing off their ‘sacrifice’.
Stunts like these now consistently fail to impress anyone.
In short, the Opposition as characterised by liberal and left-leaning elements of the political spectrum had all but lost the Philippines and are in dire need of redemption. That redemption will not come easy considering no less than a thorough overhaul of its noisiest brands, the “Yellow” liberals and the “Red” commies, is required.
In the mean time, while Opposition remains a flaccid force at best, the way has definitely been paved for the Duterte administration to push further its reform agenda consistent in both content and approach to all of what Duterte promised during his campaign. Whilst the “experts” may debate the degree to which he has so far delivered and how promising success looks like over the coming years, the key to the future of Duterte’s “change” agenda is in remaining consistent and transparent. In a democracy, engagement with the people in an honest manner sustains the political capital — a.k.a. popularity — needed to lead people down a difficult path that challenges an entrenched status quo. There is no better way to remain consistent and transparent by simply being honest.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
The Philippines is in the same exact shape that the country was in before Duterte took over, with the exception of the Constitution which Duterte ripped up. The Martial Law Decree and the murders of 7500 of Duterte’s fellow citizens ,on his suggestion “Kill a drug dealer, I will give you a medal’…., have done away with the countries Constitution, its gone, dust ! But other than that ,what has this guy done? NOTHING !!! NOT A FUCKING THING !!
The Political Dynasties should have been Duterte’s targets, but he chose street level druggies, whether they were guilty or not, and now the people that should have been ousted from the Congress have an even tighter hold on the power that Duterte would NEVER try to take away from them. After all Duterte comes from a Political Dynsaty in Davao, and Filipino’s are soooo fuckin stooopid that they do not even remember this.
What this guy Rodrigo Duterte actually represents is not the ‘MASSA’ or the OFW ‘Middle-Class’ ,it is the STATUS QUO….the Oligarchs and the Filipino people are going to wake up to this sad fact and realize that they elected the fuckin idiot and that this idiot , who walks around insulting World Leaders and then does nothing to back up his words, played them like a fiddle, because Filipino’s are very fuckin stupid and do not remember the fact that Duterte is a career Filipino Politician, and they are ALL FULL OF SHIT ! They promise much, deliver nothing, and steal everything, DUH !!! REMEMBER ? its actually too funny to watch it all happen, over and over and over AGAIN.
We are not stupid…we are thinking Filipinos, who love our country. We blog, because, we care.
The opposition, became Obstructionists; the same political tactic of the Aquino Cojuangco political axis, many years ago…political activists on the streets, with the help of the Roman Catholic Church…
The opposition, had shown to us what they can do , during their time of power. They stole thru DAP, PDAF, Pork Barrel Bribery, etc…the Typhoon Yolanda Fund disappeared without a trace. The Mamapasano massacre took place, without even any regret from that complicit Pres. Aquino. The Hacienda Luisita , scammed bv the Aquino Cojuangco family, from the government, was protected by the Aquinos who were in power. Scammers Protectors…
Our country became a Narco country. Politics became Narco politics. The nymphomaniac, Leila de Lima Drug Cartel, together with the help of Mar Roxas, Aquino and the Chinese Triad Mafia, expanded in all Barangays in the Philippines…
Aquino and his cahoots , stole the gold reserve of the the Philippines…deposited them in a Bank in foreign country…thievery on tremendous scale…
Now, all they do is shout and obstruct, the program and agendas of Pres. Duterte. They hire bloggers, who have “superiority complex”, in truth :they are writing nonsense…to confuse us , for the hidden political agendas of the Aquino Cojuangco political axis. They do it also as a diversionary political tactic, to cover their shameless thievery and other crimes, they did , while in power.
The struggle for a better Philippines must be a fight for all, those who love and care for their country !
@ TORO TORO, Sorry, TRUTH HURTS BRO-FESSOR, If Filipino’s have not figured out yet that all the politicians and dynasties in the country are out for themseleves and that your democracy has been hi-jacked, YOU’RE HOPELESS !!! and you Sonny, despite your zeal and eagerness, are HOPELESS if you think Duterte is on your side, killing 7,500 Filipino’s without a trial is no favor.Duterte is just the latest bull-shit artist to come along and promise you everything and give you NOTHING, outside of 7,500 Unncessary and illegal murders of societies so-called ‘WORST’ (I Beg to differ on that, but not here, now!)
@ TORO TORO (TAXI MY SON !) and thius ‘BLAME THE LAST ADMINISTRATION SHIT, aren’t you sick of that one …YET ? OMG, its the same shit every six years….and ITS NOT AN ACCIDENT, wake the fuck up already shit head !
@YOU BLOW:
You refuse to accept reality…all I am blogging are the truth. All happened during the Aquino Cojuangco era. You are a paid hack for them…a hireling , who try to rationalize the thievery and the crimes of the Aquino Cojuangco political axis and their cahoots.
The Filipino people are not as stupid, as you think.
You are just a stupid moron, with superiority complex; who think all your readers, are as stupid and nonsensical, as you.
Get lost, Aquino Cojuangco running dog…we don’t need your nonsense here !
@Yo Blow, in case you missed, this site was already made a reasonable criticism on Aquino Administration even while during it’s term so your accusation of “BLAME THE LAST ADMINISTRATION SHIT” is invalid.
Respect for the truth is an acquired taste.
@ FORSAKEN, THE TRUTH HURTS THESE MORONS HERE, Duterte is the slave of the Oligarchs, just like Aquino, Enrile, The Marcos mob,Arroyo’s and the rest of these scumbags….UNTIL THE PEOPLE GET RID OF THE SCUMBAGS THEY ARE GOING TO BE FUCKED. It is remarkable how a nation of people can be so gad damn stupid year in and year out and yet the Philippines goes through the exact same shit over and over and over again and somehow expects to get different results BUT NEVER DOES !!!Watchung it happen is amusing, for a non-filipino, and the tragedy is that Filipino’s actually think they live in a Democratic society and the fact is that the society is rigged against them, every step of the way…and until they do something DRASTIC about it, NOTHING WILL CHANGE. Duterte PPPFFFF…a fuckin clown and servant all rolled into one.