Expect cracks, contradictions,
and people taking their words from them
It is expected that this administration’s appeal for “unity” plus its supporters appeal for a nostalgic return to order, no matter how distorted it is shown, seems lasting.
For the administration’s promise of development has shown its otherwise as the president been going around the globe panhandling for investments from the international business community, while his vice president wanting to continue her father’s legacy of blaming towards the opposition instead of resolving problems in education as its secretary.
How “orderly” it is the paranoia and terror that’s being churned on, so’s the “unity” that’s meant submission to their distorted wishes. However, as time goes by people may beg leave to doubt the sincerity of the current administration’s professed attachment to “unity” and the yearness for “order” as its guide to political action. Especially that from seeing the cracks last year to the recent statement about the past administration’s war on drugs in the United States these shows a decision to disregard that of their fellow “uniteam” in favour of their interest.
Of course those who fanatically supported the duo become confused especially after these events. That instead of continuity comes a change of direction that can disregard “unity”. Clearly, Malacanang’s operating principle becomes a principle of inconsistency that benefits one at the expense of another.
And it is not surprising that as contradictions been intensified people, including those who are snared by promises of “unity” are now increasingly becoming concerned especially in seeing their idols showing off their contradictions while failing to resolve the socioeconomic problems a nation still facing.
- The price of rice and other foodstuffs continue to hike yet wages remained low, while traders had to create artificial scarcity in the face of growing demand for food and other basic necessities.
- The abuse and excesses left from the war on drugs and issues on human rights during the past administration left Marcos jr. to question his ally despite insisting that the International Criminal Court as a “threat to sovereignty”. In an article from the Inquirer, the president admitted about abuses of his predecessor making people questioning his ‘unity’ with Duterte. “In my view what had happened in the previous administration is that we focused very much on enforcement. And because of that, it could be said that there are abuses by certain elements in the government and that has caused some concern in many quarters about the human rights situation in the Philippines,” he said.
- Even in foreign relations contradictions also showed such as Marcos kowtowing to the United States in the face of Chinese threat over South East Asia, while Duterte and his allies insisted that his rapprochement with China, did help in averting a possible conflict with that country; but does these kowtowings towards the Yankees and the Mandarins, resolve the problems of affecting sovereignty as that of poverty and injustice?
There are others that’s too many or long to mention, but the “unity” they babbled about, just like the word “change” of the past administration is no different from the false hopes peddled by the compradores and the landlords claiming themselves to be patriotic or democratic. Of course it still continues to sound appealing to the public as its apologists trying to insist, but will the people, especially who sought an inconvenient truth from the realities they face just accept the order’s interpretation?
For now It is well that the people should be under no illusions about the foundations on which their constitutional guarantees and political promises rest. Ultimately, they rest on the changing moods from that “uniteam” as reflected by their political representatives at Malacañang and at the Congress, if not that of their propagandists.
Perhaps with this situation looming, and cracks being exposed throughout, the goal of those who are genuinely worried about the country is straightforward: take unity and change back from them as that of taking back the future from this continuing past, since the current order cannot even embody those thoughts being babbled, much less be used for elections. However, the majority of people, these nostalgic voters, have given these phrases to these elected fools who claim they can, but these same people are fools in and of themselves for thinking that absolute power corrupts utterly.