“What a difference a day makes, 24 little hours.” Thus goes the song in my mind, so while writing this article, I played Renee Olstead, one of my favorite chanteuse, lyrically waxing about a “yesterday being blue, and skies above being stormy, since that moment of bliss.”
In just 24 hours, Philippine presidential politics has been turned upside down, “disrupted,” to use a favorite marketing description these days.
First, in a long and rambling speech, candidate Rodrigo Duterte of Davao, who in a short period of time has risen to national attention—some call it “adulation” for being precisely, “different” than the pack of wannabe’s lusting to become supremo of the benighted land— muttered something “disagreeable,” even “shocking” about the travails of traffic in the metropolis, but this time, using the papal visit as time-frame.
The unintended gaffe and the use of the everyday Filipino expletive, “p*tang ina” eclipsed the story of his being proclaimed official candidate by PDP-Laban, along with his Nacionalista vice president, Alan Peter Cayetano.
Twenty hours after, while expressing sadness and regret over the manner in which an unfortunate lapsus in verbo was interpreted by some, Duterte challenged a high priest of the Roman Catholic Church who publicly excoriated, not just the language, but the persona of the Davao mayor for “killing,” “adultery,” and “vulgarity” which the priest labeled as “corruption.”
Precisely because corruption is such a negative term to an unyielding Duterte, he instead threw a challenge at the high priest of Lingayen-Dagupan, Socrates Villegas, once the favored altar boy of another controversial cleric (God grant him eternal peace), Jaime Cardinal Sin.
“If the Church hierarchy wants me to withdraw because my unintentional remarks cannot be forgiven, I will. I do not crave for the presidency. But the day after, I will engage the priests in debate about the history of the Church,” he said.
And thus, the tempest blew off the lid of the teapot. But not for long.
* * *
For on Tuesday afternoon, while Duterte was having a merienda cena in a Parañaque building where captains of the logistics industry assembled to listen to this “everyday man,” news came around that the national frontrunner, Senator Grace Poe Llamanzares, was disqualified by a division of the seven-man Commission on Elections, on account of citizenship and residency questions that have hounded her since she declared her ambitions.
The quest of the lady whose political capital is derived from the “legendary” fame of the deceased “king” of Philippine movies, suddenly froze in mid-air. Her political fortunes scraped through when the challenge was before the SET, where five of her peers saved her, though one senator and three justices of the Supreme Court deemed her unqualified even for the Senate seat she won handily in 2013. That was Nov. 17. Two weeks later, the Comelec’s first division deemed her unqualified to run for president of the land, an ambition so exceedingly nursed.
One of four cases filed against her constitutionally-mandated qualifications can be elevated to the Comelec en banc, but chances are the whole body will sustain the division. She can go to the Supreme Court, just as the petitioner in the SET will likewise go to the highest tribunal. Three more petitions await Comelec action. Meanwhile, the number of days is dwindling.
What difference a day’s events can make in the political life of the nation.
* * *
Two days later though, Duterte visited Archbishop Romulo Valles of the Archdiocese of Davao to explain the circumstances of the remarks misinterpreted by many as directed against the holy person of the Pope. The good archbishop noted the sincerity of the mayor, who made his own “penance” of donating a thousand pesos to Caritas Davao for every utterance henceforth of the p…i expletive.
That’s going to cost the mayor a lot, unless he truly zips his mouth from such unholy utterances. Or maybe he can say “blip…blip” instead.
* * *
Now for the latest developments in the presidential and vice presidential derby. This comes from the Social Weather Stations, which did its field research nationwide on 1,200 respondents, from 26 to 28 November, a few days after Duterte declared he was definitely in the running:
For President: Duterte-38; Binay and Poe, tied at 21 each; Roxas-15; Miriam-4; with 1 percent undecided/no answer.
For Vice President: Escudero-30; Marcos-24; Cayetano-21; Robredo-12; Honasan-6; Trillanes-5; with 1 percent undecided/no answer.
Wow! Duterte surges; Poe slides.
The survey period does not capture the effects of the Comelec’s disqualification of Grace yet (Dec. 1), nor Digong’s Nov. 30 expletive.
* * *
After the holiday tinsel is taken down in January, elections will be a scant 120 days away. But before that, the question in everybody’s mind prior to Simbang Gabi will be the final Comelec decision on Poe’s qualifications, as well as Duterte’s substitution. The former is an issue of substance; the latter one of minor technicality. And after Christmas, all eyes will be on the Supreme Court. How, and how soon, will the highest tribunal rule?
In the topsy-turvy world of Philippine politics, these elections will be truly “magulo.”