Annoyance is a political platform: Why Inday Sara Duterte should run for a Senate seat

Inday Sara Duterte, daughter of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, is in the running for a seat in the Philippine Senate according to recent surveys that put her within the “Magic 12” list of “winnable” contenders. She should take the shot. According to her, only annoyance for her father’s critics will be an incentive to run…

In a statement sent to media on Thursday, January 4, she even offered her “slot” in the so-called winners’ circle to members or sympathizers of the opposition Liberal Party (LP), who she referred to as “yellows.”

She had a caveat: the slot would only be open as long as her father’s critics don’t annoy her.

“Huwag lang ako inisin ng mga kalaban ni PRD (As long as the enemies of President Rodrigo Duterte don’t irritate me) then my slot should become available to all the yellows,” said Duterte-Carpio.

Duterte is on to something really powerful. We at Get Real Post, in fact, live and work by a motto that has proven such power: Let your annoyance be your writing mojo. That simple statement encapsulates enough of a raison d’être to sustainably fuel the rise to and sustained place of GRP at the top of the Philippines’ political blogging food chain.

Many in the Philippines’ cliques of Opposition “activists” will likely find Duterte’s statements “mayabang” (arrogant). Well, that’s just typically Pinoy of them to do so. Because, beyond being mayabang, there is truth in those statements that is inaccessible to lazy thinkers. Annoyance is a valid reason to do something. One is usually annoyed when there is a problem begging to be solved. As such, a valid platform to underlie one’s candidacy for public office ideally begins with annoyance.

Indeed, one of the biggest problems of the Philippine Opposition today is that they are still being led by the “yellows” that Inday Sara referred to. The Yellowtards are, indeed, a burning national annoyance and have long been a social problem that needed to be dealt with decisively. The rise of Inday Sara’s father to power was, in fact, built upon millions of Filipinos’ annoyance over the lies and incompetence of the Yellowtards that they had been subject to for several decades. Perhaps his daughter’s stepping into the Senate will be another step towards addressing the groans of annoyance that continue to emanate from the public discourse over the continued noise the Yellowtards add to the discourse.

There is a reason Filipinos are annoyed with the Yellowtards, and this reason was transformed into an effective platform of candidacy by the Dutertes. It would be wise for the Yellowtards to take this annoyance seriously instead of simply turning it into a punchline for their lame quips. This, for that matter, is a call to action for the broader Opposition to ditch the Yellowtards and eradicate any trace of their influence from their ranks — because the Yellowtards and their “thought leaders” are mere intellectual lightweights at best who are unable to innovate past their philosophy textbooks and come up with a compelling alternative narrative to competently challenge the Dutertes.

It’s time for an intelligent and modern Opposition to serve Filipinos well — not one that applies thinking infested by Cold-War-era ideologies and Medieval religions. Perhaps such a rebooted Opposition will share Inday Sara’s and the broader Filipino public’s annoyance over problems that have been allowed to persist unnecessarily and finally implement the obvious solutions.

benign0

benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.