El Jefe

Looks like it's in the body bag for Duterte. It wasn't even close. He enjoyed a comfortable lead of about five million. Poe and Mar have conceded. Yup, we're heading there. I'm thinking that since I call Pnoy "El Presidente", I should have a monicker for our new overlord chief executive. How does "El Jefe" sound?

Heading where? Who knows exactly but I'm glad that the answer to my question will be revealed. See, I've always wondered if Duterte is some kind of cunning ultra-pragmatist who's only putting on the tough guy act for the rubes and that his strongman style leadership in Davao was more out of necessity than desire. Maybe he wasn't really serious about the whole "kill'em all" promos and the statement about abolishing Congress (I wish) and that he would become more like a statesman as he comes into power. We shall see, won't we? Already there's talk of a liquor ban and curfew. Ha! How fast can you say, "buyer's remorse"?

Vice-President is neck and neck between the Marcos and Robredo. Maybe Marcos going on about how martial law was so cool and other statements of blatant revisionism hurt him? Perhaps putting a Marcos next in line was a bridge too far.

If Robredo wins, the yellows will have one of their own next in line. It would only be a matter of removing Duterte for them to grab power again. They deny this but come on. They'll probably try.

Will they try to impeach Duterte immediately? Even a dummy like Pnoy might realize that's poor form. The man won by a relatively big margin. The people have spoken and trying to impeach him is like giving a gigantic middle finger to the populace. Sounds like a perfect job for Trillanes.

What if Duterte is killed? That would be ironic but I think that's ridiculous.  

The next six years are really gonna be something.

About Duterte

A lot of people want current Mayor of Davao City, Rodrigo Duterte, to make a run for the presidency. A lot of people too voted for the current clown-in-chief so who cares what "a lot of people" think.

Duterte is an infamous figure. It's always just assumed that he's behind the "Davao Death Squads" that allegedly prowl the streets of his city and summarily execute criminals. He denies personal involvement of course but let's just say that he's "tough on crime", alright?

Vigilante justice is another topic for another time. For now, I think that the people who want Duterte to run for President are naive. The common idea is that Duterte will bring his toughness and brutality to Malacanang and whip this country into shape. The more delusional of his followers think that he'll bring his penchant for vigilantism with him and start rounding up criminals nationwide to be shot.

Let's go over how this might not work:

1. A single city is not the country contrary to what Manila folk like to believe. This applies to Duterte. Duterte may be able to impose his will on a number of people in a limited area but I doubt he can do that on an entire nation of millions, over thousands of islands.

2. He will meet his match. Duterte is the big boss man of Davao because he's entrenched there and nobody has the will to oppose him. Put him in Malacanang and he'll be out of his element. He'll be up against the worst of the worst of Philippine politics; backstabbers, power brokers, murderers and thieves. They won't give two shits about some guy from Davao and will most definitely have the means to retaliate and take care of Duterte if they have to.

3. Duterte is not as well known as his supporters think. People in the South and people connected to Davao know of him. I doubt people in Manila care about places other than Manila. The same goes to the more far flung areas. Duterte even getting close to the number of votes he needs to be a legitimate threat is itself doubtful.

4. No fear factor. Citizens of Davao may fear him but that's the extent of his influence. You can't grip an entire nation in terror by yourself unless you're North Korean.

All of these have to do with his reputation as a strongman. I don't like strongman politics but there is something that I like about Duterte. It's not explored by the media as much as his reputation but Duterte is a federalist. That's something I can agree on.

If he runs on that, I think that's a broader and more appealing message.

The Race

You know what rubs me the wrong way? The way people talk about the elections.

Its never about the issues. Its never about principles. Its always about who's winning, who switched sides, who's backing who or who did what. Its disgraceful. The presidential elections, where we choose a new leader for this republic, is discussed like a horse race. Its morbid. Its demoralizing to hear that what should be a very important event for any democracy, is just some spectacle, fodder for gossip. I never hear, "Oh candidate A believes in say, slowly liberating local economies from the centralized internal revenue allotment so I'll vote for him." Instead, I hear, "Did you hear about that guy who jumped 5 points in the polls? He's such a tool for the administration! Heehee!" We don't know anything about these people. All we know about them are their present loyalties, wealth and what they say they stand for. (politicians are known for keeping promises, right?) NO SOUL.

The candidates' platforms are no more complicated than the directions on a shampoo bottle. "He's on the anti-corruption platform." Really? No shit. Who's going for the pro-corruption platform then? He'll get my vote just for his balls. One candidate vows to end poverty. How? By ending corruption. How? It stops there.

And they're off!