Meaning behind Duterte's words

Many people would probably not agree with me, but what president-elect Rody Duterte is doing is quite insurrectionary--he is testing the stability of our traditional institutions. And these oligarchs are allowing him because it masks the more serious and higher forms of corruption happening at the very top. Duterte is perceived as a "win-win" because of the perception that the alternative is more painful--a revolutionary government which will aim to alter or change the property rights regime of this country.

Last night, as I was listening to the 2-hour presscon of Duterte, I came to the realisation that this man is not what some people, especially those from the alta sociedad think he is. He is actually, a brilliant man, a man who knows the dynamics of Philippine society, all the more reason for him to be branded by his enemies as "dangerous". His deep understanding of the system allows him to engage his listener to intellectual juggernauts just to test how brilliant his listener is and how deep his understanding of Philippine reality is. This is what is happening every single time between Duterte and members of the local media.

There were two things that Duterte wanted us to acknowledge as simple truths: documenting a man like him is not as easy as it seems and second, he wants to read deeper probes about him and about the very reasons why he is acting the way he is now.

For decades, our media has been trained just to listen and document or put into their notes what were verbally and literally said. We forgot that one of the things expected of us is for us to exercise our skills of sifting facts. And for us to skillfully do this, we need to accept that there is a serious disjunction between our values and his set of values.

Notice how Duterte is doing it--he is attacking all traditional institutions which are responsible for our present state of affairs. For centuries, these institutions are hindering the Philippine path towards true liberation and progress.

He began by hitting the oligarchs, then the big syndicated vice groups, followed by syndicated religious groups and then the uniformed services.

Why is he now challenging the fourth estate? Media is one of the institutions of our society. Duterte and the ones behind him especially the ideologues know that in this serious enterprise called change, the counter-revolutionaries would seek refuge behind the skirts of media. Every single time that an act, deemed wise by some, undemocratic by many, happens, this is amplified in quantum leaps by the media.

Members of the media are not just defenders of our our rights; but through the years have become the main apologists of a vicious, inhumane state. Instead of serving as society's mirror, media have become the custodian of tradition--which unfortunately, promotes the status quo rather than pursue a more progressive and more universal viewpoint.

Worst, some have even become puppets and paid barkers of Big Business.

Duterte is treading the right direction--if he is serious in treading the revolutionary path, he should challenge conventional concepts, ideas and thoughts and try to open the minds of the people about different ways of things. This is what Digong is trying to do--he is trying to destroy our faith in these institutions which have done nothing for us throughout the centuries.

Without faith or at least a diminished faith in these institutions, we can now conduct a serious revolutionary change such that the aim is to aid in the withering away of these institutions and the establishment of stronger, more important institutions that would serve as tools for the attainment of the common good.