I just published DELIVERANCE link.medium.com/MFZh0bcxt5
The Philippines is missing a President. There is no leader. There is only Rodrigo Duterte thrashing around the swamplands of his Id, a gofer perpetually on the watch.
The Philippines is missing a President. There is no leader. There is only Rodrigo Duterte thrashing around the swamplands of his Id, a gofer perpetually on the watch.
With 110 million lives on the line, he delivers a "report" that reels from one low point to another.
He talks of bladder woes, describes the remains of a novel coronavirus victim as "a dirty carcass."
He talks of bladder woes, describes the remains of a novel coronavirus victim as "a dirty carcass."
Duterte yaks about everything, except what his government is doing to catch up with the backlog in containment measures, the protection of health workers and patients, and its obligations to hungry, stranded folk.
The President ignores the tumult of convoluted, opaque social amelioration programs, or the public's need to know about the new dispensation on testing and isolating confirmed and potential COVID19 patients.
Sure, some of us can pore through dozens of pages of bureaucratic how-to's. Duterte, his defenders say, isn't talking to us, but to his base.
What he doesn't tell them, what he withholds from them shows how little he thinks of their capacity to respond to challenges.
What he doesn't tell them, what he withholds from them shows how little he thinks of their capacity to respond to challenges.
Leaders call on a people to help during a crisis. The best tap into their people's reservoir of goodwill and humanity.
Duterte's demeanor and words present the Filipino people as a heavy burden and himself a messiah seeking deliverance.
Duterte's demeanor and words present the Filipino people as a heavy burden and himself a messiah seeking deliverance.
The country is minus a leader.
You can see it in the infighting that takes up so much time, in the policies issued and recalled like so many rolls of the dice.
You can see it in the infighting that takes up so much time, in the policies issued and recalled like so many rolls of the dice.
Leaders educate and inspire. They try to step into the shoes of citizens frazzled by the necessities of survival. But his govt has defiled the concept of "Bayanihan". Instead of partnership and compassion, we see automatons marching in step to the cracks of the lash.
It is an attitude that seeps into the ranks.
Sometimes, because power has its perks, so a thousand Duterte clones try to match his autocratic style. As the DENR undersecretary who "reminds' government employees not "to bite the hand that feeds you".
Sometimes, because power has its perks, so a thousand Duterte clones try to match his autocratic style. As the DENR undersecretary who "reminds' government employees not "to bite the hand that feeds you".
Sometimes, because principles place you in the crosshairs of Duterte's ire. As we saw last night, with Duterte threatening police officials who tried to airbrush his recent kill order.
A hero to Duterte is someone who needs to be taken down for trying to do the right thing.
A hero to Duterte is someone who needs to be taken down for trying to do the right thing.
It is Duterte, more than anyone, who causes the confusion that blocks a people from coming together.
It is almost pathological.
Last week, he brayed about "my money'.
Tonight he doesn't know where to get that money.
It is almost pathological.
Last week, he brayed about "my money'.
Tonight he doesn't know where to get that money.
Last week, he was going to feed you - or kill you.
Tonight he says you're on your own.
Then he puts the onus on God.
Tonight he says you're on your own.
Then he puts the onus on God.
There is no leader.
There's just a wannabe Tony Soprano treating the presidential platform as a psychoanalyst's couch.
There's just a wannabe Tony Soprano treating the presidential platform as a psychoanalyst's couch.
