"Still in a state of Occidentosis"

"Still in a state of Occidentosis"

"I say that Gharbzadegi is like cholera [or] frostbite. But no. It's at least as bad as sawflies in the wheat fields. Have you ever seen how they infest wheat? From within. There's a healthy skin in places, but it's only a skin, just like the shell of a cicada on a tree."

These are the words saidth by an Iranian philosopher named Jalal Al-e-Ahmad, whose observations related to the Western "economic and existential victories" paved way to a series of sorts in an eastern perspective, especially after how western technology, and by implication of Western `civilization` itself has displaced that is homegrown, be it in culture, or in industry.

His word, غربزدگی "Gharbzadegi", is variously translated as "Westoxification," "Westernstruckness", "Westitis", "Euromania", or "Occidentosis". Those names seemed to be pseudo-medical in character as to see a country having its own cultural identity lost or suffered after an unbridled adoption and imitation of Western models and Western criteria in education, arts, and culture; paving way to a country's unjust transformation into a passive market for Western goods and even a pawn when it comes to western-oriented geopolitics.

And that same description somehow made this person also expressed same as Jalal's in having that observation, that of having a country and its people, despite being politically independent in the eyes of every nation, remains preoccupied in its westernstruckness. Also thinking how come that nation, as in any other underdeveloped or developing country has been still preoccupied in its westernstruckness despite having a rich culture, heritage, resources, and minds that can able to shape the fate of a nation's destiny. However, it failed to do so knowing that their systems has profited from that westernstruckness, what more of having its own people "enjoyed" ranging from cellular phones, laptop computers, to those of television programs and the use of English language as a mode of communication.

Ironically, in having a country suffering from that malady, it tries to be as patriotic as its own national colours, that it tries to recultivate its heritage, its ideal, its patriotic sentiment as in its beginnings, or even trying to harness its knowledge brought by westernisation to something that benefits its the country the way its neighbours did for years, as what patriotic-minded educators, industrialists, and other concerned sectors insisted to an apathetic order. After all, it is that same westernisation that has also brought ideas such as democracy, civil rights, and tolerance that has been struggled for besides those of national sovereignty.

Yet in actual, the real essence of westernisation does not lie on these ideals brought by the American or French Revolutions, not even human rights as what idealised by some if not most westernisers, but rather crass, unbridled materialism with the ruling order benefited, or rather profited from it and be redescribed as "freedom of choice". Democracy? Human Rights? What everyone sees is a country, rich in resources and heritage been treated time and again as a source of raw materials and manpower for developed countries, a passive market for imported markets (both west and east), worse, a western-oriented pawn with bouts of Cold War hysteria.

People may still disregard it, what more of arguing those who criticise policies that tolerated that socio-cultural malady, that those who criticise US, NATO, or WTO-oriented policies are also using laptops from Japan or eating Pingles from Procter and Gamble, "isn't it that an oxymoron?" as one critic said.
But these critics did assert the need to industrialise the country and implement agrarian reform? To adopt a non-aligned foreign policy? Nope. They are contented in their occidentified mindsets, that industrialisation and agrarian reform is passe in favour of having unjustly skipped to a "knowledge-based economy" as demanded by multinational and transnational companies, that in globalisation comes hopes of progress, that geopolitics means supporting the interests of the United States as a "world policeman" against rouge states or China as a "banker" that brought economic development.

But how about the developing countries such as the Philippines? Will it remain just third world and dependent on the whims of its developed neighbours? No! Having a people who have educated in the ways of the west yet struggled for national independence must gain control over those who speak on behalf of the west, its machines, its knowledge, and become a producer rather than a consumer. If Korea, People's China, Japan had afforded to be that way, then why not those who struggle? Being politically independent will always be in paper as long as the economy, culture, politics remain at the hands of interests, be it the oligarch and its foreign overlord. Manny Pangilinan for example, he has controlled the telecommunications company PLDT and the electric distributor MERALCO, but his company, Metro Pacific Holdings, is controlled not by his but those of an Indonesian named Antoni Salim. Where's the justice? Pangilinan is as same as Cojuangco or Ayala, but, he relied on an outsider named Salim with the latter having Pangilinan represent his interests in the Philippines!

Anyway, despite such ideal to oppose the prevailing neocolonial setting, reality has made those who oppose policies compel to wear Levi's or any other imported yet cheap products since domestic industry had been crippled decades ago (and for sure the concerned asserted the need to revive that sector!), after all, "Grey Pants are Grey Pants before given labels", or do need to quote Mao Zedong that man decides over those things local or foreign yet beneficial?

"Weapons are an important factor in war, but not the decisive factor; it is people, not things that are decisive. The contest of strength is not only a contest of military and economic power, but also a contest of human power and morale. People necessarily wield military and economic power."

And in it lies the need for nationalisation, industrialisation, protection of small and medium scale industries, agrarian reform, the need for patriotic, scientific, and popular education and culture, and an independent, non-aligned foreign policy. True that the tools surrounding everyone's lives be foreign, but with patriotism and the desire for change, lies the need for self reliance.

"Make way for Duterte!"

"Make way for Duterte!"

(Ramblings after people preparing for the "Punisher" as the country's Leader

And after seeing criticisms that still surrounds him)

"In human life, a leader must emerge who can win others with his faith and make them happy. That is where leadership comes from. The same is true of nations. A nation and a race are called to make the others happy. One nation must rise above the others, and raise the others as well."

At first, this writer is ought to say that the quote stated in this post are the words saidth by the controversial Robert Ley of the German Labour Front of the Nazi party, and this person perhaps somehow agrees to the statement in which a nation whose people born as equals in the eyes of law needs a first amongst them as its guide in this realistic arena called struggle.

That somehow perhaps made people chose to vote for a leader named Rodrigo Duterte.

Known for his cursing, womanising, and even demanding for reinstating death penalty for the corruptors be it druglords or self-gratifying bureaucrats, Duterte also did some welfare for his needy constituents as he promised housing for the poor or even higher wages for the employees, what more of ending contractualisation for the workers or the desire to make peace with the Left by promising to release political prisoners.

Obviously, these smacks of populism as Duterte tried to appease people from all walks of life, particularly the poorest majority whom he tried himself to equate with. Oligarchs may find themselves tremble in fear if not trying to adjust themselves to his vision as the helmsman of the state. Critics speaks about him more than everyone else, ranging from his cursing to dancing with the Left, or perhaps being different from the past heads of state that used to be subservient to the interests of a particular class or gentry such as the oligarchs and its apologetics.

Sorry to say that as Duterte's populism created a series of mixed reactions. Even the Left, despite supporting some of Duterte's promises does not translate to supporting the head of state himself knowing that he belonged to a rotten order same as the oligarchs, landlords, and compradores ruling this nation after or even before 1946; but despite criticism one would critically say that Duterte may have concerned the leaders of the world especially those of United States and China thinking that his promises has moved his people. Obama or Xi Jinping may have nervously asked "What is this Duterte gonna do after Aquino?" after seeing the "Punisher" and his moves, be it as pragmatic as Lee Kwan Yew or as Hardcore as Soekarno with his promise of a non-aligned society.

If one looks back on history, Duterte may have been packaged as a messiah whose oath was redemption: Be it like Dagohoy, Bonifacio, Magsaysay, or even Marcos whose statements and populism emphasises the "poor" as in his "Rebellion of the Poor." And like their followers, people from all walks of life, rich or poor alike, wanted a "messiah" whose goal is redeeming the nation from half-baked promises and eternal miseries, of redistributing justice and development to its constituents. Quite interesting though that as the country's history involved some mysticism, of taking the idea of a "New Jerusalem" seriously in a "Third World" country, maybe the people who elected Duterte thinks that he's more than just elected, but rather "ordained" because of what they've think as capable than those whom they consistently disagreed with such as Mar Roxas and his supporters.

Anyways, if those who remained under Aquino's side under the Liberal Party or its rabid supporters and allies continues to oppose, then Duterte's supporters may afford to say that "it is fine with them" the way people, in seeing comments of these two warring supporters in social media sites may have described it as a "battlefield" of sorts, not knowing that these so-called supporters failed to face the real enemy such as the system whose order meant repression if not misery. Even the Church couldn't escape from Duterte's criticism as the former afforded to criticise Duterte and his policies, but to think that after years of half-baked promises and nonsense rhetorics, that even the Church also afforded to criticise, will people believe in the system's sheer stupidity? Maybe these God-fearing people who rather voted for the man who's willing to be sent to hell, be it critical or fanatical, supported him thinking that he've "represented the truth" rather than a person who consoles them with hopes as any other politico that most of them failed to; that in him they think that they want to make the society reclaim dignity, to hold high the concept of service to one's fellowmen as idealised in the past, that to accept that "life is struggle" as contrary to those who remained contented in their apathies, that to remold a nation that is, rooted in courage and "manliness" (sorry for the term) the way they've voted that being with those attributes stated.

Furthermore, there are no more words to say except that Duterte's moves are populistic as any other charismatic leader, but again, people continues to demand social change that is more than what Duterte's statement that "Change is Coming" in the form of the leader himself. Good it may be that some of Duterte's policies be beneficial for the well-being of its constituents, but as long as rotten system prevails with all its corruption and repression, it will always be a duty for the people to assert the need for that rotten system's dismantlement and to create a society that is just. 

"Solidarity and Brotherhood."

"Solidarity and Brotherhood."

Notes on José Rizal
on the day of his birth

"Solidarity and Brotherhood."

These are the words the Great Malayan José Rizal hath said during his youth at the University of Santo Tomas.

In his time mostly filled with disenfranchisement and injustice towards his fellow brown-skinned folk by the Spanish authorities, the need for solidarity and brotherhood had been asserted as such, in order to counter repression if not to assert the goals of those whose conditions pushed to turn every aspiration into a weapon of struggle.

That even until today there are those who still trying to assert the way it tries to remold character and seeking its own inherited goodness. True that the system has used Rizal as an example of a man who desired for change thorugh productive means including those of a change of one's character, but, he was the same Rizal whose works meant an assertion of a need to realise an aspiration, if not an ideal based on justice, equality, besides those of solidarity and brotherhood of his youth.

But come to think of this: since the system has used those words, how come injustice and disenfranchisement prevail? If they desired change of character, how come there are corrupt personages and repressors in every field? From the halls of Batasang Pambansa to those of social media, such degeneration brought by a repressive order rather negates Rizal into a mere aesthetic as the Philippine flag and various symbols meant to appease the tourist. Furthemore, it is as if that people just agrees to the views of Fray Miguel Lucio y Bustamante that the Filipino does not deserve education, or even help nor solidarity to uplift itself but instead be tied to its own carabao. As time goes by, with age-old repressions and disenfranchisements remain, of modern day Victorinas, Damasos, Salvis, Hermana Penchangs, what more of Tandang Basio Macunats, these personages aggravates tensions that has to be ended with modern day Simouns, Basilios, Salomes, and Cabesang Taleses.

Anyways, solidarity and brotherhood will always be heard same as freedom and justice to a cherished homeland. Rizal was like Rousseau in seeking goodness, of ibarra in a desire for reforms, but having an inconvenient reality has made everyone like Robespierre, a Simoun to justify an action driven by a desire to realise an ideal.

Appraised or Exploited?

Appraised or Exploited?

(Notes after the lives behind the

 Carrot Guy from Benguet,
the Bajau Lass from Zamboanga,
and the Old Tattoo Artist from Kalinga)

"I think it’s partly because of how underrepresented people are represented, and how their narratives are framed. Many people were surprised with Badjao Girl’s beauty (even if she’s more of a Zamboangena.) Many people were surprised at Carrot Man’s looks despite his job. After their photos went viral, they were given opportunities to work and to study, and many people said they should be “grateful” for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to pursue their dreams."

- from the writeup "Why we need to talk about Badjao Girl 
and Carrot Man (again)" 

"Whang Od has become a sensation and people from all walks of life come to get a tattoo from her. She says that tour guides exploit Whang Od, tourists were not disciplined, hundreds line up to get a tattoo from Whang Od and she feels that she will die of exhaustion from this as she cannot even take a good break to eat her meal."

- from the writeup "Whang Od Sensation: 
A Call to Stop Commercialization of Culture"

Reading those notes makes one would feel a sense of unease.

That, amidst praising their beauty or their contributions in culture, it seems that most people sees them as a trend, of making a person, particularly from an indigenous tribe and yet appeared as handsome or pretty be deemed impressive and hence be given a taste of "Civilisation" reminiscent of Worcester's exploits, of fame to appease the people, be it in one's country or even the world in case of Elizalde and his discovery of the "Tasaday", or even the Human Zoos of long ago, being shown to the people for a curiosity. That their culture as but trend to be paid for a few bucks, or that their beauty as one of the examples of tropical exoticism being featured all from the papers to the internet.

It may find it interesting to see these personages as examples of trying to uplift from hardships, of recognising their culture, of being part of those that molded the Filipino identity like Tagalogs, Moros, or Visayans. But as the concerned remembered the past wherein the indigenous being used as an object of curiosity with all of its exoticism, where the so-called "civilised" could inspect the "primitives" that represented the counterbalance to "Civilisation" justifying Kipling's poem "The White Man's Burden", does it translate to help or upliftment? Elizalde's "Tasaday" exploits once showed that there are tribes that were not been reached by civilisation. Of course he provided "help" but those times he has benefited in allowing them to be "displayed" as any other tribespeople whose communities being exploited as such.

And perhaps in reading those notes such as those featured in the page "When in Manila" would somehow made the concerned asked if there should be artsy-like pictures and seducious faces coming from these communities in need of help and empowerment be deemed prerequisites to have so-called "sustainable and pro people" development for these dispossessed people not just these familiar faces? Of having them first be in magazines or various pages all garbed with modernity before providing them what they yearned based from their statements. No wonder this country is been treated by its inhabitants as a third world meme. The concerned pity the ones called handsome yet repressed. The Carrot guy represented those who desired for land to till if not communities to be sustainably improved, the Bajau lass wanted education.
When people fetishise that Bajau lass, Carrot Man, or any other personages coming from displaced communities, of profiting people like Whang Od and its crafts, while casually overlooking the issues behind these beings, people rather leave behind the systemic oppression against Indigenous Peoples and minimum wage earners.

Such nonsense brought by the system through commodifying the dispossessed made the concerned ask: are they really helping these displaced and repressed? They simply yearned for help on behalf of their kind, but people focused heavily in their beauteous appearances and thinking about short-term careers far from their initial long-term desires.
In other words, Non penetrated porn as they looked at the pictures of those folks as if they are being ripped off their clothes, and negated their dreams and aspirations in life and be replaced by a cosmetic impressions. Or in case of Whang Od, be exploited without consideration of her age, of having their heritage be reduced to a mere aesthetic.

Anyways, soon, there will be another viral story of another photo of another Internet celebrity coming from the dispossessed sectors of the society. Be it from the Indigenous Communities to the Undocumented settlers in the cities, of old aged personages trying to keep their heritage to young yet fresh faces yearning for simple yet serious desires for upliftment, Here’s to hoping that people should be more reflexive with their reactions especially in seeing such faces or crafts, more sensitive to others’ struggles in life and its desires for social justice, and more critical of the complex politics of representation, knowing that these people are like all others in a goddamned country: exploited and disenfranchised by an unjust socioeconomic and cultural order.

All despite ceremonies and praises for an Independent Country: Having a Country and people still continuing its struggle for Independence

All despite ceremonies and praises for an Independent Country: 

Having a Country and people still continuing its struggle for Independence

(An Independence Day message)

One would still say that the struggle for independence remains unfinished since 1896 with the reawakening of the Indios or even 1823 with the intention of the Creoles for separatism.

With that despite seeing ceremonies, banners, and hearing various messages paying tribute to the country and its heroes, the revolution the country has waged for years remains unfinished, with all its fundamental problems being tackled and argued by various circles.

Be it against the system altogether or the usual blame game of pointing in a particular entity, that struggle for independence, this time has becoming social in character: It encompasses economic and social issues as the people marches with hungry stomachs due to expensive prices for a reason.

Worse, to see policies, or rather say attitudes, that are worth debatable in various circles. One example would be a person who afford to babble "Happy Independence Day" yet its heart is as much yankee than the yankee itself. Others would say independence as passe and way to go globalisation and neoliberalism as it reduces every symbol, every event, every value, into an aesthetic meant to impress the outsider for a pittance, the rest goes age old repression, disenfranchisement, various forms of injustices, sounds criticisable indeed.

And now, as everyone  hath watched John Arcilla's "General Luna" followed by Robin Padilla's "Bonifacio", seems that people be enticed again to watch something "patriotic" all after being an everyday apathetic and be revert afterwards with their everyday illusion of limitless comforts, if not happiness and its fantastic colours. They may've appreciated Luna's foul-mouthed statements what more of Bonifacio's stubbornness, but that's only for the time being such as "Independence day" for the next day revert to their personal frustrations of attaining what this person said: everyday illusions.

Sorry for that but damn, using those examples, is there really independence in a generation of willing dependents especially to a superpower? Or perhaps preoccupied with fantasy in this continuing past usually filled with misery?
Anyways, despite all these bullshit, the concerned, those who truly adhere to patriotism and nationalism, believes that despite all the ceremonies, the statements, the country has not yet achieved genuine independence in this so-called "continuing past" all because of the hovering shadow of foreign "overlords" in a country's national life, with all of its economic policies, military interventions, and a mendicant foreign policy that is aligned to interests be it the US Imperialists and the Chinese whose revisionism made themselves be "Social Imperialist" in nature. Both "overlords" and its policies, sorry to say, has made people be desensitised as they agreed all in the name of "progress" and yet who really benefits from it? Is it the masses? Nope, it has made the masses stupid thinking that they're the top beneficiary of an overlord's "benevolence", and it's just so unreal that the country remain "its number 1 fan" despite all the historical injustices our ancestors had suffered under such benevolence. And for sure, they did afford to watch something patriotic yet are they really patriotic knowing that they treated patriotism as an aesthetic?

Well, whatever they insist in justifying their illusion such as those of limitless comforts (to the extent of becoming soft), this person say that it is also worth urging that all patriots, nationalists, progressives to stand steadfast to oppose and defeat the continuing stronghold of US imperialism in economy and politics, and to denounce the rising but aggressive Chinese incursion into its sovereign territory, as well as to assert struggle of fellow Filipinos to achieve genuine land reform, national industrialisation,  to deliver basic social services, a patriotic, scientific, and mass-oriented education and culture, and to encourage radical and far-reaching reforms in our institutions that will truly serve the majority of the Filipinos, particularly the poor.

That's all.

"All after using the brush"

"All after using the brush"

(notes after yours truly's artwork) 

"The Red Star and the Black Sun united"

"Nicht durch Reden werden große Fragen entschieden, sondern durch Eisen und Blut"

("Great questions will not be resolved by talk, but by iron and blood")

- Otto Von Bismarck

At first, this writer is to say that these works seemed to be surreal, mysterious, strange. But at the same time, it expresses what the people insists, to reach the heights by going deeper into the abyss especially those who truly desire for a utopian-like change in a still inconvenient society.

"Black Sun,
Red Star,
And the Oak Tree"

"The Courage of the Abyss"

"Morning Star Mills"
(as interpreted by the painter as "The Promised Future")

Bearing some symbols of occult significance, if not those of urban landscape, especially those of edifices of then-utopian dreams and aspirations, those artworks are not just expressions of hope but also an appeal coming from those who have bitterness and hate in their hearts and minds, pointing against an order who, despite all its pretensions, statements, and intentions, it failed to appease the hearts of those who truly "yearn for a better outcome, such as those of a realised tomorrow."

Otherwise, it can be interpreted as a "reaction" from what he sees as just "for arts sake" as in the commodified and commercialised art and culture of the present despite he be influenced from today's artworks he sought: be it the surroundings that involves factories and of the almost lost industrial scene, the agitation-propaganda posters that invokes class struggle, to those of the old artifacts and its folkish impression that mimics the supernatural and the metaphysical. 

It may deem strange but the painter's interpretation smacks of what comes from the books he have read if not the observations he have sought through the years such as factories with its smoke-relasing chimney to those of  antiquated figures in case of an Aztec God and an Ifugao Rice God, as well as the Schwarze Sonne and the Red Star, whose features seemed to be deviant in mainstream eyes and minds. 

"Bulol,
Mictlantecuhtli,
And the Black Sun"

Nighttime over a Busy City

Nighttime over an Oil Depot

However, he also painted what others find it pleasing, in case of cranes enjoying in the middle of a winter-filled night. It was made for his mother, however, the latter prefers a "daytime" setting, and she prefers swallows and sparrows than Japanese Cranes.  

Anyway, this person just introduced his interest in painting and had he painted what comes from his bizarre, deviant mind. That's all. 

Is change truly coming?

Is change truly coming?

This person's view on Duterte and his coming administration

Is change truly coming? Or another consolidation of same old interests?

These are the first observations this writer and others concerned about the incoming administration of Rodrigo "Digong" Duterte.

Known for his foul mouthed statements, womanising, and the "Davao Death Squad" attributed to him. Duterte's populism appealed to various sectors, particularly from the rural areas who perhaps knew that a man like Duterte means a man of action if not a man that empowers the depressed regions, enough to undermine the earlier traits attributed to him.

And perhaps, alongside popular angst towards the present Aquino regime, and the yearness to end corruption and various forms of injustices, people voted personages like Duterte that as if a panacea for social ills and a need for immediate action towards these problems be it crime, peace and order, and various socio-economic issues the common Filipino complains about.

However, with the popular acclaim towards the "punisher", so is the system trying to adjust if not continuously reluctant on the incoming president's views behind the need for "social change", and currently, in seeing system's reluctance to the incoming president's stances, which smacks of a left-populist, and offering cabinet seats to those of personages related to the left, has brought about further important events in the Philippine political scene.

And speaking of the system, mostly from its right-wing and some "centrists" involved, these sectors are justifying their reluctance and even opposition, and mostly are driven by their rabid anti-leftist sentiment, that, as in past administrations, a basis for their actions against both the legal and the underground movement since 1986. The clique even asserts compradore and landlord interests, with the former and its neoliberal-oriented policies, and the latter abhorring agrarian reforms, both desperately trying to consolidate the semifeudal-semicolonial order that the incoming administration wanted to dismantle.

And the fact that Duterte has been trying to present himself as a left-populist in a manner of Hugo Chavez through his fireside chats, of appointing left-wing personages in various government departments such as in Agrarian Reform, Social Welfare, Labour, and perhaps other departments, the system's reluctance and opposition rather exposes its stubbornness with its apologetics insisting the left's "irrelevance" as it favours "continuity" of semifeudal-semicolonial policies and its neoliberal-fascist perspective.
Or perhaps seeing others who are "once leftists" expressing themselves as "leftists" in case of Mike Defensor, who was once a student leader turned member of the Arroyo cabinet and a staunch neoliberal. There are also members of the Liberal Party who end joining Duterte's PDP-Laban out of political survival, even one of LP's coalition partners, the Social-Democratic Akbayan even joined in the PDP-Laban led majority (and perhaps created criticism as such).

But on the other hand, the incoming administration did smack of right-wing view. Knowing that his cabinet also appointed those from past regimes such as from Ramos and Arroyo. His statement favouring burial of the late Dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the National Cemetery at Taguig created an ire of criticism from Martial Law victims, so was his statement opposing active labour fronts that perhaps favours neoliberal interests. His statement assailing journalists for being "paid hacks" did expressed criticism from journalists and media practitioners knowing that his words also smacks of a call for further extrajudicial actions same as the earlier towards labor leaders.

But his anti-crime stance, as well as his misogynistic statements, rather made he still in the limelight with all the controversies related to it. The former, with the controversial "Davao Death Squad" attributed to him and its string of deaths, and the latter, in case of a latest issue about his catcalling towards women- that even the left-wing women's group Gabriela expressed criticism. 

But all and all, it may deem surprising if not strange to some people in hearing Duterte being won from the presidential elections, be it because of his stances involving peace and developent or perhaps his tough guy moves during his stint in Davao City. His foul-mouthed statements and perhaps the extralegal acts done by the "Davao Death Squad" may still create an ire to the people knowing that it made he "unstatesman-like" being the head of state representing his nation in the international community, yet, that same people may have appreciated what likely to be called as the "Davao example" as it invokes peace, order, and even a semblance of development and efficiency in case of relief and rescue efforts. 

The "Davao example" may have been an example of "Change" as his supporters insisted knowing that the town smacks of order and stability, but to others, it may smack of fascism especially after those of extrajudicial killings that may threaten innocents yet mistakenly identified by authorities as culprits for various crimes particularly drug-related cases in the archipelago. His misogynism may still create an ire from concerned women's groups especially knowing that his city has a code that empowers women if not trying to put an end sexual harassments, or his "Anti-Crime Stance" becoming a lazy excuse for others to sate their bloodlust and various forms of vendetta. And as for Left, whom the system detested since the start, Duterte may have appealed to the left for "reconciliation" through a renewed peace negotiations which was stalled few years ago by the outgoing Aquino administration besides the appointment of left-wing personalities in the departments earlier stated and even his foreign policy which smacks of "non-alignment" and contrary to past administration's pro-American policy.
And all of these perhaps made this writer thinks that Duterte's view smacks of political syncretism, of "beyond left-right" politics that appeased various sectors of the society. He may reminds of a Latin American Caudillo or even Indonesia's Soekarno with his Nasakom policy geared against Neoliberal interests. Such moves may still remain controversial to others given what is stated above.

Meantime, the patriotic and progressive forces may still continue its actions against the system through the outgoing Aquino regime while at the same time welcomes Duterte with the latter's willingness to set peace negotiations with the underground left, as well as its promise to release political prisoners, and even the appointment of left-wing personalities in his cabinet.
With the intensification of actions against the Aquino regime and its neoliberal policies, such as the recent occupation of the Department of Education by the youth groups against the K12 program, of calls to prosecute Aquino, Abad, and his clique for the controversial "Pork Barrel" and the "Disbursement Acceleration Program" scams, of calls for defending Philippine Sovereignty against American and Chinese intrusion, with the former over its economic and military policies and the latter with its occupation of disputed islands in the West Philippine Sea.
Such actions have taken extra efforts to expose the Aquino regime as corrupt, as an American puppet, as well as a defender of landed interests given its stubbornness not to distribute Hacienda Luisita to the peasants, as well as its policies that favours interests than those of the people, hence, intensifies people's hatred.

With the political and economic crises worsening on the outgoing Aquino administration, and perhaps the promise of the incoming Duterte administration of bringing changes amidst controversies surrounding him, the people, on alert, may continue watching the system's moves, especially that the president-elect is also represents the system. True that there are stances that seemed helpful to uplift the people, be it the appointment of the left in the cabinet or the need for overhauling the state apparatus in pursuit of "socio-economic changes".

But again, he represents the system that needs to be overhauled or even dismantled, and the system, if remains rotten as in the past centuries, will always be a basis for massive criticism and the head of state be liable for such actions be it his statements or his policies.

So again, is Change truly coming? Or another consolidation of vested interests? Hope the people may answer this question.

Thank you.