Butch Bagabuyo “People’s body language often reveals that what they way is very different from what they think or feel.” – Allan and Barbara Pease, “The difinitive Book of Body Language” CAUGHT by a pleasant surprise in 2009 by a long lost childhood friend who asked if I can help him in his quest to join politics, I had to buy an international bestseller book on body language. I bought that book because, unlike most of my friends who were easily magnetized by change of fortunes of our common friend, I kept my distance from him for the reason that I have always wanted––and continuing till the twelfth of never––to be identified with the poor. Never with the rich. Deluged with text messages and emails from countless supporters regarding the sad announcement by Davao Mayor Rodrigo “Super Digong” Duterte that he is definitely not running for President in 2016, I revisited my book on body language. Now, I appreciated all the more why the couple, Allan and Barbara Pease, dedicated that book to “all people who have good eyesight but do not see.” A review of the footages attached to all major national and local dailies the day after the announcement by Duterte himself show beyond the shadow of any doubt that “Super Digong” is the most exciting phenomenon in the country today. Without a doubt, Duterte meant what he said. But the wonder of wonders is that people love him all the more. Anyway, based on body language, Super Digong cringed and croaked because he had to say the truth which is in conflict with what his heart and mind are accustomed to. Based on his record, Super Digong is a man who would always go out of his way to help the downtrodden, unlike most of our politicians of today, especially the three published “presidentiables.” But the legions of diehards and well-meaning supporters swear that while it is undeniable that Mayor Duterte does not have the kind of money to spend for the presidential elections next year, the more urgent and compelling reason for that unwanted news was because Duterte did not want to be pictured with the other three presidentiables in the company with the good Cardinal Tagle who is among the most respected men of the cloth next only to Pope Francis in our country today, and definitely, they insist  that Super Digong is honest unlike the three. The pictures practically on all major national dailies showing the three presidentiables with the good Cardinal Tagle speak ugly volumes: two oldies and a convert if not, by DNA. Today, Mindanaoans are fully convinced that our time has come. And as Victor Hugo correctly predicted: “An Army can be stopped but not an idea that has come of age.” Mindanao has long been bullied and abused. And yet it has all the potentials of a great country the likes of Singapore, that tiny city state that sits on top of the world, and Switzerland, a federal form of government, which has practically remained as the only country untouched by the savagery of both World Wars I and II.
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“A person under the firm persuasion that he can command resources virtually has them.” - Livy (59 B.C. AD) Roman historian “It’s now or never,” a song by my favorite Elvis Presley is the theme song of Mindanaoans who, like me, believe that “opportunity knocks but once only.” We now have a leader who has no ambition and does not want to be President but he has all that it takes to be President even as believes that in the Philippines, the presidency is providential––meaning, presidents are made in heaven. Believe you me, both VP Binay and Mar Roxas have all the money in the world. But like their predecessors in the presidential elections of 2004––former Sen. Manny Villar and former Defense Secretary Gilberto “Gibo” Teodoro––both would not fare better and chances are much lesser than junior Sen. Grace Llamanzares, who is so young and yet turning out to be a “trapo” much too soon. (Poe says she is yet undecided but her body language betrayed her not once but even more than twice, and she proudly announced in public that her citizenship issue is like that of the late former servant-leader Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo. But the wife of the late Jesse Robredo, Rep. Leni Robredo says otherwise. Further, the actual citizenship case filed against the late Jesse Robredo shows that the man never renounced his Filipino citizenship unlike that of the junior senator, Grace Llamanzares. Period!) As I have written the other day, based on my readings of what the man has done in transforming “a killing fields” into the 5th safest city in the world, Mayor Duterte is the kind who would rather shoot than be shot at, quick on the draw yet compassionate, and fearlessly impose discipline rather than watch with folded arms if not, in akimbo, chaos and lawlessness. Under the present virtual martial rule by PNoy and the Liberal Party trapos, we live in constant fear of being killed, including our loved ones in broad daylight by ruthless armed rebels and drug lords who want to rule our country with impunity. Enough is enough. Super Digong’s refusal to run for president of our country is mainly because of lack of money. But we all know that more compelling than money and political machinery are warm bodies, We have proven that in 1986 with People Power. Only Super Digong with the poor can solve these:
  • Our Constitutions have spawned the culture of impunity. And only Super Digong has the track record to make our country safe as he has successfully turned Davao City as among the safest cities in the world. So which would you prefer, the culture of impunity under the present constitution and the present Presidentiables or change our Constitution to allow federalism through a revolutionary government just like what President Cory did during her her time?
  • The only way to decongest Metro Manila is by having a federal form of government. Consequently, we will no longer have Imperial Manila as every State shall be independent of the other states. No more favored regions, no more BBL. Only “one for all and all for one.”
Once more, I dare say that the Sunday before the filing of the certificates of candidacy, the country would witness the awakening of the “sleeping giant” – Mindanaoans in Mindanao and elsewhere. Today, the teeming millions of poor Mindanaoans are ready to go fasting and even abstinence for a week or two on May 9, 2016 to install Duterte as the next President of our country or, the first President of the Independent Federal Republic of Mindanao-Sulu-Palawan-Tawi-Tawi. Tsada, di ba?