POST-ELECTION results usher stories of behind-the-scene scenes and campaign gimmickries and trickeries used.
There’s this story spread that Rodrigo Duterte would be the first Bisaya to be Philippine president. Not true. Carlos P. Garcia, the eighth president of the Philippines, was a Boholano.
The yarn was that Garcia was just a succeeded president, after Ramon Magsaysay died in a plane crash in 1957.
Yes, he succeeded Magsaysay, but he also had his own term by winning the 1957 elections at age 61, and served from December 1957 to December 1961.
Another campaign yarn was that only Duterte is a pure Filipino, and that the other candidates have “sagol dugo; dili tunay (mixed blood, therefore not pure). Not true either; Vice President Jejomar Binay, who’s an Igorot, even jokes about the peculiar black of his skin.
Then there’s this tale about an Israeli think tank. It’s said that y-e-a-r-s ago, an Israeli think tank volunteered its services to plan and run the campaign of Mar Roxas for P4 billion. The latter, however, declined.
It was thought that the Israelis went back to the hole they crawled from. No siree, they supposedly found their way to former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s husband Mike, who eventually set his sights on Rodrigo Duterte.
The story continues that when Duterte went to-ing and fro-ing between Davao and Manila, he was assured of funding support. But he was never shown the money, so for some time, it was a no-go.
It seems showing the money depended on Grace Poe’s acceptance of Mar Roxas’s offer to be his running mate. Their tandem was considered by the financiers as formidable and sure to win.
When this “winning team” did not materialize, the promised funding support for Duterte finally came and as the line goes, the rest is history.
“Excitement and fear” is how observers describe the responses or speculations about Duterte’s presidency.
On the “tanim bala” (bullet planting) caper in our airports, he said he doesn’t care whether or not the airport head knows about it; he’ll just dismiss all those involved. Exciting!
But in this country, “due process” is such an abused practice. Will Duterte match his tough talk with speedy action?
On the Freedom of Information bill mothballed by Congress, Duterte will issue an executive order and lead by example, starting with the executive branch. Exciting!
So, with Duterte’s cooperation, we can finally put an end to Sen. Antonio Trillanes’ allegations about Duterte’s millions in bank accounts and about ghost employees in Davao City.
On prudent use of government resources, Duterte expects all government employees on official travel to go economy class. Dapat lang; this is the instruction contained in E.O. 298 signed by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2004.
There’s a caveat, though. Exceptions may be allowed only by the President of the Philippines.
Fortunately for Duterte, his staunch supporter-evangelist Apollo Quiboloy will allow him free use of private jet and helicopter, and gasoline, for daily trips to Davao City.
When President Noynoy Aquino bought a second-hand Porsche with his own money, people castigated him for expensive lifestyle. Will they behave differently with Duterte?
Or will fear set in?
(lelani.echaves@gmail.com)