Joke and Dagger

Title: Focus, or lack thereof

Inflation is rising and has shown no signs of slowing down. The peso continues to depreciate, and is
now predicted to hit Php58-59 to US$1 by 2019. Naturally, the Duterte regime is right on top of it,
trying its darndest to get Senator Trillanes in jail and targeting every last Constitutional check-and-
balance agency there is, because of course this regime had no clue what to do with our economy.

Duterte’s Cabinet Secretaries and supporters aren’t much better:

Rice shortage? Eat protien-infused bukbok rice! (Completely missing the point of NFA
mismanagement.)

Sili now costs over Php1,000 per kilo? Plant your own! (Completely ignoring how karinderia owners
do actually have to buy them in bulk.)

Food prices going up? Eat less, it’s healthier anyway! (Some schmuck from abroad.)

Economy going down the toilet? Kasalanan ni PNoy yan! (More schmucks from all over the place.)

Add this to the hugely offensive shenanigans of people from the Malacanang Materials Recovery
Facility (more formally known as the Presidential Communications Operations Office), and what we
get is a madding crowd of a government that not only cares nothing about the daily lives of Filipinos,
but also cares nothing for basic civility and decency.

Kaya pa ba, Pilipinas?

~~~

On the other side of the spectrum, we aren’t exemplars of focus either.

Two incidents come to mind: Veteran journalist Raissa Robles and her “stragol” faux paux, and Moira
Dela Torre winding up between a rock and a hard place.

On Twitter, Robles pointed out that during a speech, Duterte had said the word “struggle” with what
was considered a Visayan accent, thus “stragol.” While she would later explain why it stood out to her
- Duterte doesn’t usually speak with such an accent when speaking English and thus the sudden shift
to the accent was odd - the original tweet was without context.

So in true internet fashion, people from all sides of the political spectrum piled on, decrying Robles’
disrespect for the Visayan accent. While Robles would later issue an apology on her blog, it strikes me
that the deeper reason for Robles pointing it out in the first place was lost - that Duterte deliberately
changed his accent to appeal to his support base, thus trivializing the Visayan accent.

Meanwhile, 24-year old singer Moira dela Torre appeared and performed in a “Marcos Fest,” the
annual Ilocos Norte birthday celebration of dead dictator/murder/plunderer Ferdinand Marcos, this
past September 16. (As to why anyone would celebrate the birth of someone responsible for over two
decades of mass killings, disappearances, torture, and plunder is beyond me, but what Governor
wants, Governer gets, I guess.) Dela Torre would later claim that she was misled into thinking the
event was called “Ilocos Millenial Event,” and was not political in character.

Once again, in true internet fashion, people from both sides of that particular political divide piled on,
neither side able to accept Dela Torre’s explanation. Netizen @jerichorayel even managed to dredge
up an old tweet of Dela Torre’s where she essentially said that God made Duterte president “for a
reason.”
What stood out to me in all of this was how Dela Torre responded to @jerichorayel: “It's been two
years. I've seen more things, i've learned more. I deleted it because that came from a time when I
didn't know any better. This Marcos Fest was supposed to be called I-Millenial Fest. I AM NOT A
MARCOS APOLOGETIC. Never will i be.”

Certainly, these two incidents have been eye-openers for Ms. Robles and Ms. Dela Torre. But perhaps,
it should serve as eye-openers for us as well. In both cases, neither Robles nor Dela Torre had meant
ill by their acts, and there was hardly reason to doubt their sincerity. Dela Torre even put herself out
there and flat out stated she was not a Marcos apologetic - fairly strong words in a time when other
celebrities tiptoe around the topic of the Marcoses. Most importantly, both of them showed
willingness to learn from their mistakes - which is more than can be said for the entire Duterte
regime.

It’s easy to be triggered, especially online where social media practically programs us to be triggered.
But perhaps we need to step back and take stock at where we should be directing our energies.