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‘Roxas, Binay, Poe blindsided by Duterte’

Walden Bello

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‘Roxas, Binay, Poe blindsided by Duterte’
Our corrupt establishment has been shaken by the amazingly high level of Duterte's support

I have very strong differences with Mayor Rodrigo Duterte on some issues, particularly on human rights and due process. I do not want him to become president because that will lead to a future where the liberal democratic institutions I value will be under threat.

However, I must confess that I am cheered by the fact that our corrupt establishment has been shaken by the amazingly high level of Duterte’s support in the latest polls. These people richly deserve having the rug pulled from under them.

What Duterte actually stands for might be less important at this point than the hopes and aspirations that the masses and the middle class have projected onto him. His candidacy has become the vehicle for people’s anger and frustrations with a dysfunctional system. If Duterte did not exist, he would have had to be created. Indeed, what surprises me is not that he has emerged as a political force but that, given the dismal performance of the EDSA Republic in terms of fulfilling the hopes of 1986, it took so long for a figure like him to emerge on the national stage.

I disagree vehemently with what Duterte stands for, but I fully support his running for the presidency based on his vision for our country’s future. I think his candidacy is good for democracy. This is not only because the possibility of his victory puts the fear of God into our bankrupt elite, but his running opens up the possibility that instead of the fight for spoils among corrupt and inept elites that masks as democratic competition, we might finally have the real, intense give and take of a genuine democracy, where the class divide drives politics.

Duterte also shakes us out of our complacency about human rights and due process. He challenges us to defend these values as being superior to his vigilante morality, and there is nothing like a good strong challenge to keep us on our toes.

Let us face it: a very big part of the country, it is now clear, is skeptical about our side of the debate, mainly because people see so clearly what is rotten in the kingdom of Denmark. This is that the institutions that are supposed to dispense justice, uplift people from poverty, protect their lives and limbs, and uphold due process are working poorly, if at all. We have a herculean task to convince them that despite their current shortcomings, the rule of law, due process, and respect for the human rights of all, are still better for our society than the dangerous shortcuts Duterte espouses. 

Let us welcome this challenge and engage Duterte and his supporters in this debate, instead of badmouthing him, denigrating his supporters as misguided, or questioning the surveys, as the blindsided Roxas, Binay, and Poe camps are currently doing in desperation. – Rappler.com

 

Walden Bello is a former member of the House of Representatives.

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