Butch Bagabuyo “The world must be made safe for democracy.” - Woodrow Wilson LAST Friday, Senate Minority Leader, Juan Ponce Enrile, was quoted as having said that for Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte to be able to accomplish his campaign pledge of ending the proliferation of drug addiction, drug lords, and the rampant broad daylight killings including smuggling and rape of innocent children, within six months of his presidency, the good mayor has to impose martial law. With due respect, I dare say that the seasoned legislator and topnotch litigation lawyer is dead wrong. Miracles still happen and the late President Cory Aquino could have changed our way of life in 1986 in less than six months when she declared a revolutionary government, not martial law. But that was a long, long time ago. Harry Emerson Fosdick, in his “Democracy,” wrote: “Democracy is based on the conviction that there are extraordinary possibilities in ordinary people.” Further, Channing stated a truism: “The great hope of society is individual character” It is precisely because of these facts that should Duterte become our president, he need not declare martial law. The teeming 14 million of Mindanaoans and the rest of the poor people of our country do not deserve to have martial law. Among the five basic principles of the PDP-Laban is consultative and participatory democracy; hence, martial law is out of the question. The 1986 People Power was a costly “wrong mistake,” and the PDP-Laban has learned its lesson well. Never again shall debilitating greed divide the rank and file of the old reliable PDP-Laban. Truly, the reason why PDP-Laban is burning candles in fasttracking the BMS (Basic Membership Seminar) is precisely to put in place all the five principles of the party before “Super Digong” Duterte is proclaimed winner by a landslide vote which is expected by the great many Filipinos of all walks of life and ages. Trust me, the emerging ruling political party of the country shall see to it, thus:
  • On the very first day of a Duterte-Cayetano leadership, the Filipino people will hear in clear and unmistakable language that the Philippines shall have a government of, by and for the people; no more of oligarchy and hypocrisy; and, the abrupt end of the culture of impunity shall be a certainty.
Further, according to the good mayor Duterte and supported by Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano himself in all their various public pronouncements, there shall be many well-coordinated citizens’ arrests. It is precisely this kind of public cooperation to be led by the rank and file of the PDP-Laban that would put to rest the idea of palakasan and political patronage. Every other Filipino would exercise vigilance which has never been experienced by the Filipinos in the past. Henceforth, and God-willing, there will be equality among Filipinos of all walks of life and ages.
  • Within the first month of the opening of the Congress, the 100 million Filipinos would pressure our legislators to ensure the immediate passage and implementation of a law that would double the salaries of policemen, soldiers, and the lowly paid public school teachers. With this scheme, there would be no doubt whatsoever that the legislators would just have to cooperate. Otherwise, they would have a dose of their trapos’ own medicine. This is the main reason why there would be no need for a martial law regime.
  • Also, in the meantime and well within the first two months of the Duterte-Cayetano administration, the tandem would find ways and means of changing our form of government from the present graft and corrupt-prone centralized government, where only the rich and powerful are elected into office to that of a federal government, be it parliamentary or presidential, taking into full account ethnic divide so that there will be unity among the diverse cultures.
In fact, Mindanaoans know all along that the Lumad, the Muslims and greatest majority of the Christians have been living in peace in our paradise-like islands of Mindanao-Basilan-Sulu-Palawan-Tawi-Tawi. The only few times where there were skirmishes between the military and the few armed rebels were when Imperial Manila and the filthy rich, for no other purpose than to rape our natural resources, create pocket wars.
  • There will be equality in opportunities in life among all Filipinos. The 13 Muslims tribes would unite unlike today where only the favored armed MILF-BIFF get everything from our government, to the exclusion of the peace-loving Muslims and Lumad who have co-existed with us, Christians
The dawning of a Mindanaoan president is a certainty. The dummies of big business cronies of PNoy, the “Hyatt 10,” and Liberal Party scalawags, False Asia and SWS, are definitely on panic mode. The end of their once lucrative trending business is inching. Now that they are forced to make a semblance of what actually is happening, they are now trying their worst to make it appear that the voters’ preference is based on advertisements. But what these manipulators refuse to concede is that the greatest majority of the Filipinos and the world knows that online news has taken over. There is Yahoo, Rappler, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and the blogs. In fact, aside from the Aldub nation of Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza as well as the other entertainment segments of mainstream media, the Internet cafes, wherever they may be, are making a killing in business as a matter of saying. They now profitably operate 24/7 because the youth--those 30 years and younger burn their candles watching and enjoying the huge rallies of the Duterte-Cayetano Tandem from six in the evening until the wee hours the following day. Lo and behold, the repentant seniors--those who could have made a difference in our country if not, for avarice and insensitivity to the plight of the teeming millions of the poor Filipino people--man the Internet cafes without let-up, chanting and cheering with the Youtube replays of the standing- room-onlyallies of the Duterte-Cayetano team anywhere and everywhere the come and go. With the implementation of the  24/7 BMS, first started by the Cagayan de Oro council of the PDP-Laban and now re-echoed across the entire archipelago, the party is confident that by the end of April, this month, Cayetano would emerge as the leading and unstoppable vice presidential candidate. ‘ The reason is simple. In our BMS module, we discuss at length and with passion the evils of oligarchy, cronyism and the trapos. Hence, at the end of every day, every PDP-Laban convert knows that Bongbong Marcos, the namesake son of that ruthless dictator named Ferdinand E. Marcos, is clearly following the ugly footsteps of his father coupled with the extravagance of his mother, Imelda Romualdez Marcos. They also know that Chiz Escudero, the former chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, is undoubtedly the brains behind the pre-mature and fatal entry of Grace Poe-Llamanzares into the presidential race with only one selfish motivation--to become the president of the country through the backdoor. Remember how GMA did it? Because Duterte has attained super rockstar status, his penetrating charisma and down-to-earth lingo in unmasking the real dangers in electing a vice president other than his teammate would make Cayetano a dependable vice president. Trust me, the dawning of the real change we’ve all been waiting for is now a certainty. Undoubtedly, Duterte is the next President of our country if not, the independent Federal Republic of Mindanao-Sulu-Basilan-Palawan-Tawi-Tawi, but only if the Comelec, God forbid, allows cheating. Duterte-Cayetano pa more! Tsada, di ba?