So the administration’s greatest show on earth is over. Now what?
Back to “tanim-bala”? To daily traffic (which was eased for many workers by the simple expedient of canceling work and classes)? To brokedown MRT trains? To grinding urban poverty, and the wretched life of the countryside poor, especially the lumad?
What will the Apec summit bring to the average Filipino?
Government enthuses about the benefits that the new international economic order foisted by Apec, the World Trade Organization, the nascent Trans-Pacific partnership, as well as international financial institutions as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the Asian Development Bank will bring upon the macro- economy of this land of more than a million souls.
That is still debatable. It’s been 27 years since Apec was formed. In 1996, with much less expense, inflation factored in, the nation hosted the meeting of leaders in Subic. Many progressives argue that these international agreements have not resolved our execrable poverty indicia. While there is truth to their arguments, one also wonders where the bigger problems are internal, such as short-sighted and ever-changing policies, lack of political will to undertake reforms, a demented political framework, and lack of national discipline, nay, even a sense of nationhood.
Still and all, one heaves a sigh of relief that nothing untoward happened during the Apec show. In the immediate aftermath of the senseless carnage in Paris, every Filipino could only wish for the best in terms of security for the foreign guests. And while many of us suffered inconveniences, especially the working class who lost daily wages, and those who had to walk to their places of work because roads were cordoned off, we still thank God the show came and left without mishap.
For that, we must credit the Philippine National Police for a job well done. No such thing as over-reaction in the light of what happened in Paris on the eve of Apec. The police were well-trained, well-fed, taken care of by their leadership, and they were in turn cool, patient, snappy. Congratulations!
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Thursday, Nov. 12, while having lunch with friends, we speculated about the forthcoming decision of the Senate Electoral Tribunal. We even took friendly bets. Four of us bet on Grace Poe being disqualified by the SET, four negative. To sweeten the pot, we had another round of bets—will Duterte run for President or not?
Someone said, “pag na-DQ si Grace, tatakbo ‘yan.” I countered, “on the other hand, pag pro-Grace and SET decision, all the more reason Duterte should run.”
I added that Duterte will have a moral obligation to the nation to prevent a “foreigner” from becoming President.
But I did not tell the Davao mayor about that bet, neither my opinion. I have kept a hands-off stance since Oct. 16, occasionally meeting with him, but leaving him to his better lights. If he decides to run, then I will volunteer whatever I can to help. If he decides not to, I will respect his decision. No pressures, no trying to influence the good mayor. It should be a purely personal decision on his part, weighing the interests of the country with his own doubts.
I thought that if the SC justices were unanimous, three or two senators would vote along with them. What happened, as we all know, was only Senator Nancy cast her lot with the justices. Some Grace-Chiz rooters I have talked to kept telling me that they had at least one of the justices in their corner. Surveying the legal erudition of the three, I merely smiled at their “nervous” and over-stretched interpretation of the law, convinced the justices would follow the dictates of the Constitution.
Last Thursday, Nov. 19, Duterte in a speech in Davao, lashed at the SET vote, and said because of this, “my candidacy is on the table.” Two of my Thursday friends called me to say, “mukhang tama ang basa mo.”
So on Saturday, Nov. 21, I decided to fly to Iloilo City to see the mayor, who was scheduled to address a convention of the Philippine Society of Gastro-enterologists. Alan Cayetano arrived ahead of Duterte, and we talked about the SET decision. He confided to me how sad and disappointed he was, particularly at his Ate Pia’s (Senator Pia Cayetano) vote.
When Duterte spoke and started lambasting the SET decision before the physicians who applauded his explanation of the constitutional requirements vis-à-vis the “foundling” arguments of Poe and her spokespersons, Alan who sat on the stage was visibly embarrassed. He wanted to applaud the mayor’s legal and even “moral” points (to borrow Leni Robredo’s succinct description of the matter) because he agreed with these, but how does a younger brother publicly exhibit his disappointment with an elder and only sister?
“Because I cannot accept a presumptive citizen to become President of the land, my own candidacy is now on the table,” Duterte said, and was met by thunderous applause.
“Bigyan mo ako ng Aeta, o Ifugao, o Badjao, basta tunay na Pilipino. Maski plumber, or a carpenter, basta huwag lang foreigner. Especially one who renounced us and swore to a foreign flag, and then, dahil binigyan ng trabaho dito, babalik, and then run for President? Huwag naman. I cannot accept that,” the mayor said.
Leaving the convention at around half-past six that evening, we flew to Manila to attend the birthday party of Atty. Alfredo Lim (the Bicolano namesake of the former Manila mayor who was among Duterte’s closest friends and a law fraternity brother).
There, without first having dinner, Rodrigo Roa Duterte declared: “It may be just a few pieces of paper, but the Constitution is what binds our nation together. Disregard and disrespect that, and we fall apart.”
And then, in the presence of a few media persons who got wind of the social affair from one of the guests, Duterte said: “I have never expressed a desire or ambition to become President. I have given you may reasons so many times before. But this is too much. First the oppression that many ordinary citizens experience at the hands of government officials themselves, such as the poor, helpless victims of “tanim-bala,” and then now, this outright disregard of our fundamental law.”
Finally, “Yes, I am running for President!”
Finally, this space can write—no longer “ewan.”