Butch Bagabuyo “The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress.” – Charles F Kettering AS the 53 million Filipinos are expected to cast their votes today, the 47 million others can only pray we become adequate to their needs and expectations. The sad reality is that in elections after elections in our country ever since I first saw the light of day is that the ruling elite in our country would always put their pockets in favor of candidates who can assure them status quo. And the reason is simple: people fear change, forgetting that there can never be progress without change. Precisely because we have been taught in vain that money is the prime consideration in all elections in the past, the ruling elite has consistently prevailed; hence, our country has become the sick man of Asia, enriching the very few at the expense of the great many who are less fortunate, numbering no less than ninety million hungry Filipinos. But, thanks God, the needed change is here. Nothing can stop it from happening because the idea of having a president from the paradise-like islands of Mindanao-Basilan-Sulu-Palawan-Tawi-Tawi has come--it is unstoppable. In the immortal words of Victor Hugo, no army can stop an idea that has come of age. In their most desperate attempt to hang on to power, Imperial Manila, personified by the trapos funded by the ruling elite, unleashed all sorts of lies but all their manipulations boomeranged on them. As in all elections in the past, Imperial Manila was quick to use their favorite and eveready dummies: SWS and False Asia. As we very well know by now, both SWS and False Asia played their games quite well in the beginning as they carried their bags laughing all the way to their respective banks, mostly abroad. They thought that it was business as usual. They practically raked all the embezzled funds from our government coffers to the delight of their principals, the trapos and the ruling oligarchs. But God is good. A phenomenon happened and a reluctant presidential candidate, known for his passion against criminality and the culture of impunity and untainted by graft and corruption in his over 28 years of public service, became the man of the hour. Wherever and whenever he went to meet the people, hordes of the unwashed, of all ages and of walks, came rushing and chanting: Du –ter – te; Du-30, Du-30 in an ascending voice until its highest crescendo. It was this phenomenon that convinced the world, not just the Philippines, that Davao Mayor Rodrigo “Super Digong” Duterte is the man to lead our country, like it or not.
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“Revolutions are not made, they come.” – Wendell Phillips Based on past elections, about 70 percent of our voters cast their votes for the presidency. But in today polls, I have no doubt whatsoever that no less than 85 percent of the voters in the paradise like islands of Mindanao-Basilan-Sulu-Palawan-Tawi-Tawi, as well as 80 percent of the rest of the country, will cast their votes. And this turn out of voters has never been done before, and neither is it expected to be repeated within a lifetime; hence, the first act of the president should already be finalized this day. The only way to prevent a repeat of the People Power fiasco of 1986 is to make sure that we, the die-hard members of the PDP-Laban, made sure that the needed change come our way. I call the 1986 People Power as a failure because it turned out to be no better than a change of the collar rather than the shirt. All the risks ended with the same ruling elite running our country. And that was because we, the teeming millions of the poor, did not exercise our sovereignty. Not this time, hopefully. The needed change is not only urgent. It must start from within all of us. And if it would not be asking too much from all the poor people of our country, allow me the suggest the following change, thus:
  • Please bear in mind that yours truly is but a dreamer who has written his dream of having a president from the paradise-like islands of Mindanao-Basilan-Sulu-Palawan-Tawi-Tawi three times a week since the third week or so of July 2013; and, setting humility aside, none but yours truly has done the same, thus far.
  • A good many opinion writers in our archipelago have advanced the idea that the sudden and unstoppable surge of “Super Digong” Duterte to prominence is due to anger by most of the Filipinos. Anger, they claim, because of the same old unfulfilled promises by our politicians and the people in government. On the other hand, I would like to believe that the Filipino people simply fell in love with our man from Mindanao. We find him as our “last hope” for a better Philippines and Filipinos of all walks and ages. Hence, let us start our day with prayers to our respective Gods and calling. We should all bear in mind, that without God in us, nothing good would happen. And, because hope can only spring from something good and never evil, let us all start our day today with love rather than ill-will. And, in our prayers, let us all pray for our men of the cloth to practice what our Pope Francis has decreed: “Year of Mercy” and all that goes with it.
  • As we go to the polls today, let us all go to the voting centers with the burning desire of changing for the better our country not only for us but for all generations to come. And, let us all ask for Divine intervention so that as we begin our journey for the needed change, God, the Almighty, empowers us all with love and mercy. So that, the Comelec and all those involve in ensuring a clean, transparent, honest and credible elections be upheld to the minute’s detail.
  • Join the PDP-Laban city council in urging all voters to come clean in thought and in deed so that any and all anomalies shall be prevented and nip in the bud, as a matter of saying. And, each one of us can make the needed change by asking the BEI (Board of Election Inspectors) to help our country elect the people’s choice. After all, the BEIs are the country’s first line of defense against cheating in the polls. I would therefore suggest that as we approach them, let us show them our utmost respect and wish them well.
  • And, after voting, help us all celebrate the dawning of the new Filipino under a leader known for his passion to fight with all his might all forms of criminality.
  • Let us be watchers for all the Filipinos so that the will of the people shall be protected and proclaimed; and,
  • Let us all join the street-dancing tonight, so that, in the unlikely event the Comelec allows, God forbid, cheating, we shall immediately execute the perfected People Power.
Duterte-Cayetano/Rufus Rodriguez and team pa more. Tsada, di ba?