The trouble with the Philippines is that its political discourse is cursed with a lopsided ideological spectrum. There is a “far left” camp consisting of the commies, their terrorist “New People’s Army”, and the so-called Makabayan bloc of front organisations that orbit them. There is also a swathe of confused centre-left to centre-right camps that are each unclear as to what they respectively stand for. What they do have in common is no more than a perverse lust for power and money and a penchant for cult-of-personality brand management as their preferred campaign approach. These are the “tardic” camps of the Yellowtards, Marcostards, and Dutertards.
What is missing is a camp that fills the “far-right” section of this pole. This is the camp whose role it is is to be as ideologically crystal clear as its counterparts on the Left — i.e., clear in its opposition to the woke, fairness-obsessed, atheist, gender-fluid, nuclear family-busting ideology of the commies and their front parties. A far-right party sports an ideology anchored on the core values of country, God, family, and traditional values, among others and upholding the clarity of purpose of a meaningful life led on the back of these foundational schools of thought.
Indeed, the true home of the Roman Catholic Church itself is not the moral fluidity and the grey area “inclusiveness” of the Left nor the selective show-me-the-money ethics of the tardic camps. Its home is the consistent and coherent frame of the conservative Right within which it will need no longer compromise on its core dogma.
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It is now evident that the forever-bickering traditional parties of the Philippines are in severe deficit of charismatic leadership and statesmanship of the sort that builds gravitas and legacies. Unfortunately Filipinos habitually limit themselves to having to choose from among these vermin at present.
Interestingly, recent history showcases a case study of the rise of an alternative to traditional tardic/commie parties. Back in 2017, former Rodrigo Duterte came out of nowhere from the Philippines’ deep south to disrupt Imperial Manila’s inbred political ecosystem of crooked politicians and “thought leaders” and exploit widespread voters’ disenchantment with that landscape to seize the presidency. Unfortunately, just like everything else Filipino, this rare episode of clarity was destined to end in a monumental fuck up that sees the former president today being tried by an “international criminal court” halfway around the world and the machine left in the hands of an heir who, to put it succinctly, is not her father by any stretch of the imagination.
It also didn’t help that Duterte himself was not a true conservative despite his ability to endear himself to the public. His administration was characterised by blanket antagonism of the Church and by his inability to effect coherent stewardship of his government.
Too bad. A resurgence of far-right parties is on-going in the rest of the liberal democratic world also mostly driven by popular disdain for traditional politics in their respective electorates hitting critical mass. From Japan and India to the UK, Germany, and France, the “far right” is on the rise if not already in power. The Philippines, with its dysfunctional traditional parties, is ripe for this too and, given the way things are going, very likely will be a missed opportunity for a similar resurgence of traditional conservative leadership.
If only an ounce of imagination can be applied to drive a bit of political innovation. Filipinos are overdue for a choice that truly mirrors their character as a people — religious, traditional, family-centred, and deeply conservative in their tastes and outlook. It will take a leader and a party that appeals to its constituents along those simple points to achieve a coup similar to what Duterte pulled back in 2017. More important than that is the strategic chops to learn from Duterte’s failure to sustain his legacy.
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