Not the best but…

Batas Mauricio

JUST exactly what is the reason why more and more Filipinos are openly declaring their vote and support for the presidential candidacy of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte in the 2016 elections? He already said he is a womanizer, he already showed he has a bad mouth and can curse, and he already confirmed he can kill criminal elements even without trial.

If other candidates admitted their being philanderers, showed their bad manners by publicly hurling invectives especially against religious leaders, and threatened, in public likewise, criminals with death, voters would certainly desert them right away.

Yet, Duterte’s poll ratings are going up by leaps and bounds by the minute, indicating that not only are Filipinos willing to turn a blind eye on his personal faults but that he is loved all the more precisely because of his confessions that he is very much like many ordinary citizens in this country, with warts and many other defects. This is simply amazing!

Could it be that Filipinos see in Duterte the power to solve many of the country’s problems, particularly that of corruption, criminality, drugs, and poverty? Could it be that Filipinos believe that he can make the Philippines a safer place to live in, with criminals lying low at least, or summarily executed?

For sure, Mar Roxas, Jejomar Binay, and Miriam Defensor Santiago, also have visions about solving the problems of corruption, criminality, drugs, and poverty, and about how to make our country a safe haven for ordinary citizens. Too, their already long stints in government somehow already equipped them with the necessary experience and technical knowhow to arrive at solutions.

But why is it that many Filipinos do not exhibit the same fascination towards them, which is being unabashedly manifested when it comes to Duterte? What is the difference between Roxas, Binay, and Santiago, on the one hand, and Duterte, on the other? Why is Duterte more appealing to Filipino voters?

In a way, I sense that what Filipino voters are displaying now is similar to what they displayed in 2010 during the campaign for the presidency of then Sen. Benigno Aquino III. It was inexplicable and beyond rational thinking. The point is, at that point in Aquino’s political career, he really had nothing to offer to the Filipino nation.

Yet, he easily defeated his opponents who were more prepared for the presidency than him, riding as he did in the crest of a national mourning for his mother, Cory, who had just died. Noynoy won in 2010 not because he was the best man for the presidency, but because Filipinos somehow thought making him president was the best way to condole with him over a family tragedy.

In 2016, Duterte is also not going to be the best man for the presidency. Yet he is going to be voted for and win barring massive cheating, simply because that would be the best way to tell our politicians who are also running for president that Filipinos are already fed up and nauseated with the system that gave rise to traditional politicians, in the mold of a Mar Roxas, Jejomar Binay, and Defensor Santiago.

E-mail: batasmauricio@yahoo.com