Deconstructing Duterte and who will oust him in the end

These are most interesting times. As a nation, we are now in a limbo. We don't know where we are going.

After several decades of dependence on everything stateside, we are now going Sino. Yes, Sino. Several years before, we were all up in arms after learning that the Chinese had occupied our precious shoals. Several exchanges went on between China and our country, and several of us, in fact, thousands want to go to those shoals and assert our sovereignty.

Now, our dear president wants us to forget all of those things and when he goes to China, he would probably discuss giving a Chinese firm free pass to construct a bullet train that would connect Clark to Manila. And just probably, he will also allow our nickel production to drop further so that his precious Chinese friends would benefit from nickel price hike in the global market.

Of course, let us understand our President--he's a good and trusted friend of his Davao-based oligarch friends who have trading relationships with Chinese firms especially those run by sons and daughters of members of the Chinese politburo. He will never ever fail his friends---he owes them much.

And since these friends of his have long endured being "second-class" oligarchs compared to those living and controlling Imperial Manila, with him at the helm, it is there time. It is their time to give that "up yours" sign before these hard-nosed Iberians and fellow Chinoys in Manila who have profitting immensely from their control of telephones, water, electricity and basic foodstuffs. As what former president Estrada once said" "weather-weather lang yan."

I remember how Erap and his friends relished those happy times when they use to lord it over the country. They spent so much time discussing about the country while drinking those expensive wines and single malts that they were so drunk, they did not know what hit them in those heady days of 2001.

Of course, many say, Duterte is a different animal altogether. The comparison with Erap is simply very small. They both won on a big margin, both defeated trapos, and they are both love women, song and what have yous. They are both seen as "machos" and some say, in the end, Duterte may probably suffer what Erap got when Erap crossed the rubicon.

Nay, says Duterte's friends, we have Ramos on our side and of course, those who launched that coup against Erap are all our friends too. No one would ever think of ousting Duterte, because even the noisy Left had left the building too. The Right had always been with us since the elections and most of them have their own little kingdoms, their own little sinecures to mind and make some money.

The fact is, public support is simply not teetering to the brink of despair except of course, those from the Fil-Am community who hates Duterte's guts, his tongue as well as his brain. They think he's a psychopath. But, of course, who would dare tell that to him--he's 71 years old with a shadowy group of blood thirsty assassins behind him.

While Duterte entertains us with blood curdling dreams and his never ending avowals of killing everybody who messes up with drugs, many of his friends make a killing inside government, entering into shady deals, getting monthly protection money from firms under regulation and others spend their while punishing those who tried to kill them during the previous dispensation.

Of course, Duterte is a good friend. He always protect his own. He promised to get someone freed and he did, and from wearing neck braces to Versace jewelry come down Glorie. And with her, an army of loyalists now occupying sensitive posts in the bureaucracy to relive the "gloria days"--those nine years of corruption which hit this country in 2001 and ended nine years later.

Never mind that---Joma is just as brat like the others. He wants a candy and Duterte just gave him that. Nevermind his revolutionary and fiery rhetoric about making the oligarchs "suffer" or "down with the system"---those are as old as feudalism. The thing now is collaboration--collaboration with reformed bureaucrat capitalists, extreme would-be dictators and landlords. So what if the ally goes to bed with unreformed thieves in barongs--for as long as Joma gets what he wants, ditch those negative side remarks. We are now in strategic stalemate and not to forget--we are leapfrogging the people's protracted war. Never mind those who risked their futures, and even their lives for the revolution which is supposed to be one that ends with the displacement of the oligarchs--these are all ideals. Real politik dictates a comfortable alliance with a would-be dictator and great if he declares martial law--that would finish the oligarchs off, and the establishment of new ones.

And just don't mind those killings--every revolution has its collateral damages. Drug users? They are not human. They are simply cattle, being fed their daily metamphetamines which fry their brains, making them zombies. And what do we do with zombies? We pepper them with bullets and say thay they fought us.

While the economy spiral out of control, foreigners loathing us, and most even think that it's time to believe that we are really a masochistic race of monkeys, our dear Leader promises to protect businessmen from the impending economic doom. Let's unite, let's be together, and we will face hell together. This is like a Romeo and Juliet thing--you and me against the world. Let's reset the clock. Let's re-imagine the system. The plan is for the system to conk out, displace the ruling powers and create new ones who will now dominate it. I hate the Ongpins, the Tans, and even the Ayalas. I love the Florendoes, the Alcantaras, the Dominguezes and others still not on Forbes 40 Top Filipino Billionaires. Time for the probinsyano oligarchs to get their share of the suffering Filipinos' hard earned money.

Let's get everyone to toe the line. Ban smoking so that everyone follows. Do not give respite to ordinary small and medium entrepreneurs---erase that window everytime they use EDSA and C5. Make car dealers happy, even those selling second hand cars.

Let's get that emergency powers for us to avoid prosecution when we give those contracts to our friends. Let's all gang up on De Lima and make her suffer for prosecuting us when we killed those zombies walking along Davao's downtown. And surely, waste the brains of those who criticize us particularly those noisy Yellowtards online. We are living in an era of dictatorship. Democracy has failed us. Now is the time for us to suffer under the heavy mallet of strong man rule.

This is what several of us, especially in the middle class, wanted right? We desired for this to happen right? And the nightmare is just starting.

My friend just left for Singapore. I realized that most of my classmates in Political Science at the UP-Diliman, are all enjoying their nice jobs abroad. Maybe it's time to abandon everything, leave this cursed land, and just enjoy the Ibiza sunset, while my brothers and sisters cry and howl in the dark.

As what the Pacman had prate in a Senate hearing--God likes killing people. God kills the guilty, especially those who commit heinous crimes. These criminals do not deserve another chance. They ought to be killed by "My God", says Pacman.

And the Pacman might just win Duterte's endorsement for 2022. Great. Imagine that---a Pacman presidency five years from now--I love that.

Willie Revillame, Lim Seng, the 2 OFWs in China and Thoughts of a Poor Pinoy

Dear Kuya Alex,


It was about noon when I heard about the execution of the three Filipinos in China. I cried. And the entire world fell silent. 


I was walking then when I saw several people watching the tele. Their gaunt faces betray the hurt and the sadness of seeing their fellow Filipinos, victims of a brutal and brutish system, getting this punishment. Then, I remember Lim Seng, the Chinese drug lord, falling after one of the bullets fired from the volley of shots of a firing squad of Filipino soldiers hit him in the body.


That scene happened in the seventies, when China was still economically backward and the Philippines in turmoil over what future holds for 30 million or so Filipinos. The Philippines was under Martial rule. The first casualty was Lim Seng. His execution was swift and lethal. That execution was shown over live television. After he fell, the entire country fell silent. My mother and grandmother said that drug pushers and drug syndicates were so afraid, drugs literally went invisible shortly after that live execution. 


I am not entirely sure if the Chinese people militated and prayed before Lim Seng was executed. I really don't remember what transpired shortly after the Philippine authorities wrapped the body of the criminal. And I was'nt able to read any news article that even intimated if Chinese officials went to Marcos and pleaded Lim Seng's case, or that the criminal's body was even transported back to China.


It was a long time ago, when the Pasig river was still clean and you can still swim at Manila bay. It was the time when the peso was still respected and you can even use those centavos.


Forty years past, and we see China become the third biggest economy in the world, while we sank to 126th. Forty years, and the drug problem in the Philippines has reached alarming proportions, with more than 7 million drug addicts and the number of drug syndicates rose from just two in the seventies to about 40 in the 21st century. 


Forty years, and we see China as a global player, while our country remains the sick man of Asia. Corrupt officials have spawn everywhere and even built their own clubs. Lawlessness became a fixture in Philippine society, with criminals and syndicates doing their thing here, even considered this country not just as a convenient transshipment point, but also as a rest and recreation center. 


Forty long years, and China recovered from a brutal civil war, while, the Philippines further slid down the prosperity avenue, not knowing what direction to take, clueless about the future, even more fearful of what that future meant or hold.


Forty years and we see Filipinos, all ten million of us, leaving our homes, looking for a better place to live and breed, like rats out of their holes. While most of China's sons and daughters who abandoned their country while in turmoil, are now back, ready to live in a more prosperous nation. 


China takes care of a billion people, while, us, the Philippines only has our ninety million. But things are getting worse, and people are clueless as to what the future holds, given the sorry state of our economy. Prices have gone up, while salaries remain as they are. More and more of us are being victimized by men exploiters of other men's miseries. Filipinos are looking outwardly, far as possible from here, unmindful of the risks, just to survive. 


Forty years ago, it was the Chinese man who did that. Now, the Chinese man stays contented in his house somewhere out there, while the Filipino scampers almost in all directions, trying desperately to escape the brutal and brutish system that not just enslaves people but alienates them.


Today, the execution of three innocent Filipinos remind us of reality, of the sorry state of our affairs. Had our leaders did their jobs right and prioritized country over self, this diaspora would not have happened. People like Sally Ordinario-Villanueva, Credo and Batain would have stayed and lived on as responsible parents to their kids. 


Kuya, if you hear me, listen closely.


I know that one of the little things that we're supposed to do is tell foreigners how lucky we are to live in a beautiful country such as the Philippines.


I know that it is the responsibility of ordinary Filipinos to tell these foreigners how fortunate we are that God placed us in this land, of many splendours and of amazing wonders.


But, I cannot bear and fool myself any longer.


Kuya, those Filipinos who were executed today and those who still languish in hundreds of jails not just in China but in other countries as well, most of them are just victims. 


Yes, Kuya, they are victims of cruel circumstances. They wanted to fight the inhumanity here, but were'nt able to. This brutal and brutish system is so strong that no man is capable enough of defeating this implosion. 


Kuya, how can I say that we are lucky, when we have government officials, even the Highest of those officials, who tell us to accept the verdict calmly because their innocence or guilt depended on the laws of other countries.


Kuya, there were pieces of evidence which proved their innocence, but the Courts of China closed their ears and eyes and handed down the verdict of death. 


How would I tell these foreigners that it is fortunate to live here, when prices of commodities have gone up, and standards of living here have become a hellish nightmare?


How will I tell my kids that their futures are secure here, when there are more than 35 million families unable to eat thrice a day and about 11 million fathers and mothers without jobs?


How will I be able to tell my kid to respect the laws of this country when these laws enable people to steal billions of pesos worth of our monies kept in Bangko Sentral vaults?


How will I tell my kid to respect the laws when the very people who are expected to implement them are the very ones who violate these laws with impunity?


How will I even share my pride as a Filipino when we allow foreign drug lords to escape jail time and those innocents kept in filthy barbaric prisons?


And how will I ever be so faithful with this government and pay my taxes when I see the roads they built, pot-marked by craters and the bridges they built fall by the weight of just 2o tons?


We, who were born poor and defenseless, we suffer the brutality of the system which our leaders asked us to respect.


We, who were born proletariats, we suffer the cruelty and the barbarity of a system partial to those who have and inhumane to those without.


We, who were born poor, can only cry as Willie Revillame ask us to make a fool out of ourselves in exchange for a few thousands of pesos.


We, who were born poor, have been asked by this government to persevere, be patient, and promised that prices of commodities would soon go South, while we slowly await our deaths.


We, who were born poor, can only grit our teeth and clench our fists, as capitalists and traders exploit our weaknesses and our native intelligence by raising the prices of goods while this government tells us to just grin and bear it.


And, we, who were born poor, are being accused of rebellion and of other crimes when we shout out our souls, our frustrations, our opposition against alienation.


The deaths of Ordinario, Credo and Batain have opened our minds to the truth--the reality that we are being exploited, the Truth that we are being made slaves and the Truth that we are being made zombies, programmed to believe the empty promises of change by someone who does not know even where to go while driving his Porsche.


We cling to the hopes that that day will come, when millions of us, would just rise up and demand that our voices be heard, that these promises be fulfilled and these publicly announced dreams be realized.


When that day comes, those who oppress us, those who mock us, like Willie Revillame, those who make fun of our miseries just to sell their products, they will get the brunt of our anger. Our anger will rise unto the heavens, and God, in His bountil mercies, will send His angels to avenge us. God, we always believe, is a God of Justice. This inhumane system will be crushed. This system which bred corrupt men will be stumped to the ground. This system, which many have exploited and fed with lies, and with bovine wealth, will be split in the middle. True change will come, I believe it will, tomorrow.