NO MATTERS what the most rabid set of supporters say, there is a palpable shift in public attitudes and opinion regarding the Duterte administration. In fact, the rising din of troll attacks and staged social media smokescreens, are indications that the public outcry has been hurting the once solid Duterte base of supporters so much so that the electoral online machinery has been activated once again to come to its principal’s defense.
Let us give it to the maverick politician for being able to still enjoy the overwhelming trust of the public with his +66 net satisfaction rating last July 2017 according to SWS. But the recent survey conducted in the latter part of June 2017 asking the public whether they thought it was true that most “tokhang” victims fought against police justifying their killing is telling.
Half of Filipinos, if the results of the SWS survey just released this week were to be believed, apparently do not believe the usual excuse of the police. Twenty percent of Filipinos, according to the survey, felt strongly about the matter. The findings indicate that many Filipinos are starting to form opinions about the climate of impunity that has made a bloodbath in the nation’s urban poor communities.
This was all before the death of Kian de los Santos last August 16, 2017 allegedly in the hands of the police as the CCTV footage and witness accounts bear out. The public outcry culminated in the mass action against tyranny last September 21, 2017 at the Rizal Park in Luneta attended by a throng of 30,000 people despite the attempts by Duterte and the PNP to discredit the activity.
It would be interesting what the next opinion polls will bear out, whether this would display a significant erosion of public trust or prove Duterte’s formidable folk charisma to what has been the strongest challenge to his year-long administration yet. But there are other indications that a tipping point of sorts has been achieved and they all coalesce around a growing sense of public alarm over the culture of impunity that has been on blatant display since Duterte assumed power.
There was the 6.4 billion peso drug haul that went through the Bureau of Customs that implicated members of the president’s first family according to testimonies in the Senate hearings which have since been recanted. It created the impression among the public that the president’s drug war was unforgiving on small and petty criminals, even making it unofficial state policy to liquidate suspected drug personalities, while being soft and tolerating of the big time drug lords. The drug personalities may have been lessened but the supply remains steady and available to those who want it.
Duterte has been declaring time and time again even during the campaign trail that he has no money. This tactic has endeared him to many, even overseas Filipino workers abroad who chipped in their own money during the election campaign period. That is now put in question with the declaration of the Office of the Ombudsman, citing records from the Anti-Money Laundering Council or AMLAC, of transactions amounting to 1-billion pesos. Whether this is an amount of accrued transactions over a long period of time or during the campaign period alone remains to be uncovered. But Duterte has publicly threatened the constitutional body currently investigating him with his usual off-the-cuff machismo.
The culture of impunity displayed by the commander-in-chief as manifested in the refusal to subject himself to constitutionally-mandated systems of checks and balances, is quickly adopted by his police and troops. In fact, the tipping point that will lead to the reversal of public opinion against the current administration is being achieved not because of the efforts of the yellow forces, but by the troubling indications of how law enforcement and soldiers seem to be mimicking their principal in claiming the privilege of being above the law.
The case of 60-year old Lorna Soza of Ormoc City is an example. She was caught on CCTV stealing a cellphone from a store in the city for which she paid the amount of 10,000 pesos and sought forgiveness form the store owner. Despite having no charges brought against her, the policemen still brought her to detention. Five days later, her lifeless body bounded in packaging tape with her head riddled with bullets was found in Kananga, Leyte.
In a display of the contagious death culture currently afflicting the nation, one of the five policemen accused of the murder of Lola Lorna was found hanging from his room last September 27, 2017, three days after the complaint of murder was filed against them by the Kananga police. It will be easy to understand why it will be sooner not later when all these deaths will swing the balance of public opinion against the current administration with certainty. Too much is just too much.