"Yellows have a propensity for twisting everything to their advantage."
"Yellows have a propensity for twisting everything to their advantage."
The other day, the social media buzzed with life as the Yellows celebrated a double victory. First, of course, was the conviction of former First Lady, Rep. Imelda Romuladez Marcos, over corruption charges which were filed more than 30 years ago, long before the presiding judge even took his oath as a lawyer. Second was the “endorsement” of former Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas by no less than President Rodrigo Duterte.
The issue involving Mrs. Marcos is subject to appeal, so this piece will deal with the second item: the supposed Duterte endorsement.
Even Roxas himself was surprised at the report. “Is it real? I have no personal knowledge,” he said.
Vice President in question, Leni Robredo, for her part, was more ecstatic.
“That’s good news. It’s good that President Duterte had endorsed Roxas for the Senate. This is an affirmation that he is very much qualified,” Robredo said.
But wait. Don’t the Yellows abhor everything Duterte? Don’t they even come close to describing him as the devil incarnate?
They even lambast Duterte for endorsing singer Freddie Aguilar’s candidacy for the Senate, questioning the latter’s qualification. Social media posts by personalities identified with the Yellows depict the singer as a clown whose only role in the Senate, if elected, would entertaining the lawmakers with his music.
And now, they are claiming that Duterte’s “endorsement” of Roxas affirms the latter is highly qualified? Will they do the same for Aguilar and whoever is endorsed by Duterte? Will the also express approval of Aguilar’s qualification, because he has been endorsed by the President?
But wait again. Did the President really endorse Roxas?
As reported in a national daily, Duterte, in his speech in Aklan, reportedly told his Ilonggo audience to “vote for Roxas so we would know if he can do something against illegal drugs.”
“Vote for Roxas, he is an Ilonggo. Vote for him, there’s no problem with that. He is running again. Go ahead, why don’t you try so you can see for yourselves. You can only measure a man’s stamina for doing a particular activity for his fellowmen,” Duterte said.
If one read between the lines, one would see that the statement was more of a challenge than an endorsement.
Duterte obviously did not want to offend his Ilonggo audience by hitting their fellow Ilonggo, Roxas. So, he dared them instead: Go ahead and vote for Roxas for them to determine for themselves if their kababayan could really do something good for the people.
And this could be validated by the take-off point of the President when he supposedly endorsed Roxas.
Duterte mentioned Roxas’ name while he was criticizing former Philippine National Police (PNP) deputy director general Marcelo Garbo, Jr.
“This Garbo, I don’t know where he is, that idiot. You know Garbo was the police aide, senior aide of Roxas. This Garbo, he’s handling drugs in Visayas. That’s the police you will see near Roxas there,” Duterte told his audience.
It doesn’t take a genius to decipher the President’s message. At the minimum, he was talking of Roxas’ incompetence in the campaign against illegal drugs as it was no less his aide who was suspected of handling the illegal drug trade in the Visayas, or at the maximum, was even implicating the former Interior and Local Government Secretary himself.
Thus the dare: “Go ahead, why don’t you try so you can see for yourselves?”
The problem with the Yellows is that they have this propensity to twist everything, especially the news for whatever purpose it would suit and serve them.
Discrediting Duterte’s endorsement of Aguilar and then twisting his statement to make it appear he is endorsing Roxas, claiming that it is tantamount to saying that Roxas is very much qualified? Which is which?
Now, let’s paint a scenario. The Palace clarifies once and for all that it is not endorsing Roxas and instead releases a list of candidates it would be officially endorsing for the 2019 senatorial race. All those in the list win. Will the Yellows backtrack from their statement that the President’s endorsement is an affirmation of Roxas’ fitness for the job?
Nah, that won’t ever happen. They will just look for ways to twist something again.