(My article for Lupa Ng Araw, my column on OpinYon September 30,
2016 issue)
For the longest time we really had nothing much to talk about as a
nation. There was just politics, showbiz; more of politics, more of
showbiz there was not even a gray line separating them. Peppered all over
were news about killings – and the media told the people what type of killing
it was: riding in tandem, hold up, carnap, kidnap, rape, love triangle, ambush,
harassment, lumad. Nobody was really saying anything whether something
was being done about it or whether there were even results. Media was in
its prime: more sensational news, more money.
Filipinos were the captive audience, the reluctant consumer.
Government allowed commercial television to take over education’s role.
People were force-fed with no-brainer quizzes on equally no-brainer noontime
shows; illusion-filled reality shows, amateur hours with fancy talent names and
rehashed teleseryes occupied primetime; and supposedly factual documentaries
were aired in the dead of the night. The few who had access to cable TV
and the internet had a spectrum of choices – but to each his own topic.
Nothing held the Filipino spirit together.
Then about this time last year people were abuzz with Heneral Luna
and Rodrigo Duterte. Born 79 years apart, both captured the public
attention about the same time: Luna as a movie and Duterte as a potential
presidential candidate. The former was an ilustrado; the latter a
provinciano. Luna the person was found in some outdated elementary school
classroom picture; Duterte in memes and videos on Facebook and YouTube.
Luna did not have the time to be popular during his time or even
after his death. Luna’s fellow illustrados did not like his brazen bravery and
his concept of independence from Americans.
After he died, Filipinos were fed with everything good about the
Americans through massive education and movies.
There was no hint that local blood and gore was discussed. Duterte
was popular only in his hometown but was creating ripples that maybe he could
be the one who could hack people’s woes nationwide.
Both had legendary tempers manifested in their cuss words: Luna
had punyeta; Duterte putang ina. In a previous
blog which also appeared in MindaNews, I wrote that “Unless we shed our
misplaced loyalties to family, clan, tribe, party or organization, I’m afraid
The Fiery General would still be shouting[1] ‘Punyeta’!”
Come to think of it, just within the neighborhood, Duterte is
still spewing ‘Putang Ina’ to show his disgust for drugs, crime and
corruption. Quite a few still could not tell that these words were not
directed at them. Unless of course they are involved in drugs, crime and
corruption or – they are protecting someone involved in drugs, crime and
corruption. It could only be that. If they say they are protecting
the innocent, so are the many who want to stop drugs, crime and corruption.
While Heneral Luna the movie reportedly earned P256M in the box
office, it seems that Duterte’s putang
ina meant more than a
thousand pesos to charity every time he uttered it.
Now there’s the catch: it is not only charity that is benefiting
from the curses. Everywhere he goes, Duterte is distributing millions of
pesos, money that rightfully belongs to the people. Benefits for
veterans, their widows; renovation, refurbishing and building of hospitals;
benefits for fallen soldiers and policemen; financial assistance for returning
OFWs and victims of terrorism; Glocs for those in active duty (this one I have
yet to see in the news but yes, it’s there in the videos) – the list goes
on. Where he cannot physically visit, his messengers are doing it for
him: farm & fishing implements, health facilities, schools, etc. Cuss
words are being translated into tangible things!
Three months into the Duterte Presidency, people are still being
fed with news about killings on TV and newspapers – at least by those that are
already identified as mainstream media, controlled by oligarchs and elites who don’t
want their powers given to anybody outside their clique. Unfortunately this
media can no longer distinguish which killings are by riding in tandems, hold
up, carnap, kidnap, rape, love triangle, ambush, harassment, lumad. They
attribute everything to Duterte and lump everything up into extrajudicial
killings[2] despite the fact that there
is already a legal definition of the term.
So notoriously hardheaded this media has become that they came up
with their own term: Kill List. Instead of helping the reading public
thresh out which ones were killed by whom, media has helped in making things
more tangled and confusing than ever! As it is said in Tagalog, pinaghalo ng media ang balat sa
tinalupan. (Literally, mixing the peelings with the fruit; figuratively,
media got it all mixed up).
Or is it only media that is confused? As I keep asking
myself – “What is it that 16M++ understand that media cannot?” I use the 16M++
as a reference, as many of us already know, to those declared by the COMELEC to
have voted for Duterte as President. We have no way of knowing how many
more were not counted; how many more did not vote but supported Duterte (4 out
of 5 in my own family alone); plus the family members of the 16M++; plus those
who voted for someone else but are directly employed by government they have no
choice but trust that they get their salaries and benefits intact. So
that’s my layperson illustration of the 16M++. Will that explain the 91%
trust rating of Duterte as President? Technical explanations are already
available elsewhere, so look it up there.
Congress has already come up with a more appropriate term, Deaths
Under Investigation[3] (DUI). Would media insist on
their misplaced freedom of the press by insisting on their people-unfriendly
terms?
Tables have turned. People are now talking about how mainstream
media have them had. Change has come. Thanks to Duterte, thanks to social
media. We have changed topics.
* * * * *
19 September 2016
Cotabato City
[2] the killing of
a person by governmental authorities without the sanction of any judicial
proceeding or legal process.
[3]
http://www.congress.gov.ph/press/details.php?pressid=9779
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