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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Knockdowns

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The President’s ringside presence at the 7th round knock-out victory of Manny Pacquiao in Kuala Lumpur must have capped what was a generally good week for Duterte.

Aside from the ring triumph of the aging senator-boxer, he gained another DDS advocate in the person no less of nonagenarian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who flashed the signature Duterte fist-pump in front of a global media audience.

Mahathir is an irascible elder statesman who doesn’t mince words. He can be counted on to talk tough with the Chinese—as he already has—and say the things they need to hear though not from Duterte, whose country is less militarily ready than Malaysia but much closer to Chinese missile range.

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For their part, the Malaysians must be happy over the impending passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law, capping a decades-long peace process which they helped shepherd as an ostensibly impartial broker.

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Duterte himself had to step in towards the end of the bicameral conference to lend his weight on two thorny issues holding up the process: how to define the coastal waters within the Bangsamoro region, and how to admit any more Muslim-dominated towns (such as those in Cotabato and Lanao del Norte) that might later want to become part of Bangsamoro.

The MILF, through its vice-chairman Ghazali Jaafar, has already pledged to accept the bicameral version of the BBL that Duterte will sign on SONA day, July 23. It’s certainly a signal achievement for Bangsamoro, who alone among all the contemplated federal regions will be allowed to have its own “organic act” in the form of the BBL.

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Speaking of federalism, we’re bemused by some of the increasingly frantic criticisms being leveled at the new federal constitution drafted by Duterte’s 22-man consultative committee (Con-com).

Former Chief Justice Hilario Davide, who earlier likened charter change to a “descent into hell,” objected to the proposed regulation of political parties, tandem voting for president and vice-president, even the college degree requirement for candidates for political office, as anti-poor, anti-Filipino, and portents of an “elitist democracy.” And here we were thinking all the while that getting a college degree is always a good thing.

Former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile worried that federalism would duplicate the bureaucracy of the national government and burden the people with too much taxes. That really shouldn’t be the case if what will happen is simply shifting the reporting lines of the regional offices of national government agencies from Malacanang to their respective Regional Governors.

Senator Panfilo Lacson claimed we don’t need to change the constitution to achieve devolution and decentralization; we just need to implement faithfully the 1991 Local Government Code. The first person he should try to convince of this is former Senate President Nene Pimentel, the principal author of that 1991 law and yet a leading proponent of federalism to this day.

Some 80 professors and scholars, mostly from UP, Ateneo, and De la Salle, have started a signature campaign against the idea of Congress writing a new charter, saying that the risk of regulatory capture by dynasties and vested interests is too great. In sports, that’s called forfeiting the game without putting up a fight—something that, luckily for the country, Senator Pacquiao has never done.

Former Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban alone made sense when he worried in his regular column about the “utter lack of time” for Congress to properly ratify a new charter in time for a referendum next May. It’s a real risk, though still manageable with enough Presidential prodding of the congressmen. And at least Panganiban isn’t throwing in the towel while still in the locker room, unlike all those learned scholars above.

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People are still talking about Duterte’s spectacular ratings in the second-quarter survey regularly conducted by Pulse Asia. The survey was conducted June 15-21, after the release of higher inflation numbers, a second hike in interest rates by the central bank, and the start of his campaign against street loiterers or “tambay.”

Despite these inauspicious events, his gross approval rating rose by 8 percent over the previous quarter to 88% (or +85 net), the highest ever for him. His gross trust rating rose by 9 percent to 87% (also +85 net), his second-highest ever.

What may puzzle people is the big difference between these findings and the results of the earlier-reported second-quarter survey by SWS. There, Duterte’s net satisfaction rating dropped by eleven points from the previous quarter to +45, dropping him from the “very good” to the merely “good” category.

The answer may lie in the fact that the SWS poll was conducted from June 27-30, after the president’s Davao speech on June 23—which Pulse Asia missed—where he called God “stupid”. This seems to be the only variable that would account for a complete reversal of trends in just two weeks.

If true, this would only corroborate the common wisdom that religion is the proverbial “third rail” in this country. Touch that rail only at the risk of getting fried.

Later, after meeting with evangelist Eddie Villanueva, Duterte had to apologize on video, “Sorry, God…If God is taken in a generic term by everybody listening, that’s well and good.” Nonetheless, in his version of a Manny Pacquiao retreating counter-punch, he still reminded his religious critics “never to use the name of God to attack government.”

Just last Sunday, a lengthy pastoral letter from the CBCP was read from all Catholic church pulpits. The bishops pulled no punches in reiterating their usual criticisms of Duterte’s politics and style. Nonetheless, they disclaimed any intentions of destabilizing government, and advised their flock mainly—though not exclusively—to seek peace through prayer and in their lives.

Evidently the bishops are still feeling their oats. They must have come to the same conclusion as ours about why the two surveys were different. The third rail is still live, and it still packs a Pacquiao punch.

Readers can write me at gbolivar1952@yahoo.com.

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