Prologue
Once upon a time in a
land where politics reigned supreme, there came about a legendary juggernaut
with not one, but two heads. Together, they formed an unstoppable force, their
unity striking fear into the hearts of the opposition.
United by a mutual
desire for power and dominance, their unified force knew no bounds as they
swept through the political landscape, crushing all rivals with their sheer
might.
But as the juggernaut
grew more grandiose, cracks began to form beneath its imposing façade. The two
heads, once unified in purpose, now found themselves locked in a bitter clash
for supremacy. Each head hungered for sole control, blinded by the allure of
absolute power and consumed by greed.
At first, their rivalry
simmered beneath the surface, disguised from the public eye. But as tensions
mounted and ambitions collided, the once-unbreakable bond between them began to
erode. Their supporters watched in dismay as the unity that had once propelled
them to grandness now threatened to tear them apart.
The battle for dominance
raged on, escalating into a vicious cycle of betrayal and deceit. Promises were
broken, alliances shattered, and ultimately, the juggernaut imploded upon
itself. The once-mighty force that had commanded fear now lay wasted, messed up
by the very greed and ambition that had powered up its rise.
In the aftermath of such
an implosion, the nation lay scarred and divided, a testament to the folly of reckless
initiative and the pitfall of go-as-you-please clout.
Former Chief Justice Artemio V. Panganiban bannered
his Inquirer column The Bongbong Sara Juggernaut. In the same way, I
referred to the duo as Goliath in my past ATABAY article Leni vs
Marcos-Duterte: A Modern David and Goliath Fight. (Interestingly, that
article fired up a political “war of words” among commenters, drawing a
political line on the sand among readers, even between friends and peers.)
HORRIFYING TOKHANG
Inquirer
columnist Joel Ruiz Butuyan wrote about the juggernaut’s twin heads coming to
blows with each other -- a spectacle deemed to be “horrifying” even by their
supporters.
“Horrifying” is
an apt word. Philstar Ana Marie Pamintuan made it plain in her column Tokhang
brains? which I am excerpting below:
“[A] former Davao City cop told
journalists in a videoconference that Sara Duterte, when she was mayor of Davao
City, was in fact the brain behind Oplan Tokhang in 2012.
“Arturo Lascañas, who claims to
have served as the lead hitman in the Davao Death Squad, said then-mayor Sara
had ordered Ronald de la Rosa, at the time the police chief of Davao City, to
implement Tokhang while her brother Paolo Duterte was running a drug
smuggling ring. Lascañas alleged that he gave ‘Pulong’ Duterte and Dela Rosa a
weekly payola of P150,000 and P50,000, respectively.
“Targets for execution, Lascañas alleged, were trailed through their home addresses and vehicle details provided by the local chief of the Land Transportation Office, who followed the orders of Rodrigo Duterte’s loyal aid-turned-senator Bong Go.”
The following facts back up the three paragraphs
above to be “horrifying.”
1. “President Rodrigo Duterte has made no secret of how
he views people linked to drugs or crime; for him, they are less than human and
deserving of death… Statistics from the Philippine National Police indicate
that police officers and unknown armed persons collectively carried out 7,025
drug-related killings between 1 July 2016 and 21 January 2017, roughly an
average of 34 per day.” (Amnesty International)
2. “[O]fficial police figures have acknowledged just
8,000 “drug personalities” who were slain in official police operations, though
rights groups say the actual death toll may be as high as 30,000 since
Duterte’s “war” began in 2016.” (Philstar January 28, 2021 issue)
3. Beyond the Numbers, a study by The Initiatives for Dialogue and
Empowerment through Alternative Legal Services, Inc., or IDEALS, found that all
cases involved blue-collared workers, with a majority of them working as
construction workers or carpenters. Ninety-nine percent of the victims never
finished tertiary education. Kian, one of the young and poor victims, begged the
police for his life because of his school test the next day. As the catch line of
the Amnesty International report goes: “If you are poor, you are killed.”
4. Five names mentioned are presently prominent public
figures: Former President Rodrigo Duterte, Vice-President Sara Duterte,
Congressman Paulo Duterte, Senator Ronald dela Rosa, and Senator Bong Go.
Adding Mayor Sebastian Duterte to the bunch, they make up a specimen of the so-called political dynasties, which according to Jarius Bondoc in his Philstar column How fragile a state is the Philippines? comprise 75 percent of legislators, 85 percent of governors, and 67 percent of mayors reigning our country today.
Sad to say, Pinoys voted all of them into the
office – a key in answering the burning question: How did we get into this
mess? Let me give it my best shot.
JUAN TAMAD
Looking back, amid the fiery and divisive presidential
election campaign season, I wrote an ATABAY article Juan Tamad Within Us May
Elect Our Next President where I delved into the book, Thinking Fast and
Slow, by Daniel Kahneman, a Nobel Prize in Economics laureate. Kahneman laid
out two systems in our minds. One is “thinking fast” which we do hastily
without effort. The other is “thinking slow” which we do with so much effort. Juan
Tamad illustrates a “thinking fast” persona. Dr. M. Scott Peck, author of
the The Road Less Traveled, explains why:
“Thinking [slow] is difficult… complex… process with a
course or direction, a lapse of time, and a series of steps or stages that lead
to some result. To think well is a laborious, often painstaking process until
one becomes accustomed to being thoughtful.
“[L]aziness. It is very real. It exists in every one
of us – infants, children, adolescents, mature adults, the elderly, the wise or
the stupid… Some of us may be less lazy than others…”
Imagine what will come out of the mind of Juan
Tamad if he dives into the sea of disinformation amid a fiery and divisive
election.
In my past ATABAY article Taiwan 2024 &
Philippines 2016: A Tale Of Two Elections, I spelled out the following two
striking turns of events:
In the 2024 Taiwan election, China pulled out all the
stops to thwart presidential candidate Lai Chen-te, the “troublemaker,” but it
fizzled out.
In the 2016 Philippine election, China made the same
all-out effort to prop up presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte, the
“appeaser,” and it prevailed.
Confirming the second fact, former foreign secretary
Albert del Rosario exposed that senior Chinese officials had grandstanded about
their impact on the 2016 Philippine elections where he says:
“On February 22, 2019, we received information from a
most reliable international entity that high officials from China are bragging
that they had been able to influence the 2016 Philippine elections so that
Duterte would be president.”
The two facts above beg this thought-provoking
question: How come the Taiwanese made it, but Pinoys didn’t? Was Juan Tamad
the culprit?
WARNING
Let’s go back to the word “horrifying.” Rigoberto D.
Tiglao had this lead paragraph in his column in The Manila Times:
“The dubious outfit Pirma (People’s Initiative for
Reform Modernization and Action) with the staffs of certain members of the
House of Representatives was set to tap into at least P5 billion of government
funds intended for poverty alleviation projects to bribe people into signing
the proposal to change the Constitution, which would have given the Lower House
of Congress uncontested authority to alter our basic law.”
Is this the answer to the nagging question of why President
Bongbong Marcos (PBBM) appointed Larry Gadon as his Presidential Adviser for
Poverty Alleviation – notwithstanding Gadon is a disbarred lawyer and in the
face of a projected PBBM’s phony optics?
Epilogue
Judas Iscariot in the Bible is notorious for betraying
Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Yet, in one instance, he remarked, “This perfume
could have been sold for three hundred silver coins and turned over to the
poor.” (John 12:5)
Having one’s finger in the poor man’s pie (at least P5
billion of government funds intended for the poor to bribe people) is worse
than being a Judas.
What is “horrifying” is not only such a predatory act
but God’s act for those who steal from the poor. Here’s a warning:
“Don’t rob the poor and sick. For the Lord is their defender. If you injure them, He will punish you.” Proverbs 22:22-23
Head collage photos courtesy of Facebook, Medium, NPR,
Shutterstock, Free Grace International, & Lazada Philippines
Video clips courtesy of YouTube
No comments:
Post a Comment