Abellanosa: Not yet done with Ocho Derecho

I READ (somewhere in Facebook) that the 2019 Elections in sum is a lesson on hubris. This of course was directed to the candidates of the Ocho Derecho (and their supporters) who have been described as “tikalon.” Said hubris was due to their hypocrisy as virtue signalers who got support from unregistered millennial living in their bubbles of idealism.

They, again, were wiped up because they are nothing but representatives of an elitist democracy, which the masses are tired of since the failed 1986 EDSA People Power.

Here we go again with commentaries that are nothing but verbal attacks. The problem is when people would start to call such as “analysis” rather than “polemics.” Basically the two are not the same. While both are useful in the world of political discourse, it is important that distinction be made else we lose seriousness and sanity in our reading of things.

It is easy to make polemics these days. All you need are some data not necessarily factual nor in total coherence with each other. Just mix this with some hatred and guts and then you will have enough to do verbal gymnastics. For sure the impatient public who are you audience will love to hear the words “Ocho Derecho derecho sa inidoro.”

This kind of thinking presupposes a lot of things that are questionable in the very first place. Is it really the case that the Ocho Derecho lost because they are all “trash?” Are the common explanations of the pro-Dutertepolemicists believable? Any answer to this, whether it’s a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’, is debatable but perhaps it would be good to do some exploration.

Bam Aquino, among the Liberal Party candidates, has the closest chance to get into the magic twelve. In fact, at some point in the counting, he was number twelve. If the defeat of the Ocho Derecho is a “protest” against the Aquinos, how would we explain that Bam, who is the only Aquino among the oppositionists, has the highest number of votes?

Another. I really find simplistic those who believe and argue that the Ocho Derecho lost because people are tired of “elitist politics.” Just recently defenders of Bato de la Rosa say that the former Philippine National Police chief has a reputable academic achievement. He has a Ph.D. (in something) and was a graduate of the Philippine Military Academy. If these are all factual data then Bato in terms of academic credentials is not among the uneducated. He may have projected an image that he is unlike the legally educated such as Chel Diokno and Pilo Hilbay. Truth to tell though, he is closer to them than to unschooled masses that he associates himself with.

And then the apologists of the administration would again sing their favorite chorus: “the people are tired of the Aquinos.” It’s quite incomprehensible that after being tired with the rule of one “family,” still Filipino are not tired with Imee Marcos who is the sister of Bongbong and the daughter of Ferdinand and Imelda. And then we still have a Nancy Binay who is the daughter of Jejomar and sister of Jun-jun all from the Kingdom of Makati. And here’s one more, we have a Cynthia Villar who is the wife of former congressman and then senator Manny Villar who by the way according to Forbes has a net worth of six billion U.S. dollars. Anti-elitism? So really, what are we protesting against? What “change” do we aspire? What “new morality” do we prefer? What is the reason behind the vote against the Ocho Derecho?

What many have missed or brushed aside in their commentary or analysis is the role of Duterte as the main agent of power and the powers behind him who are yet to be discovered.

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