Much has been said about the Supreme Court (SC) ruling that invalidated the articles of impeachment that the House of Representatives filed against Vice President Sara Duterte. I would just like to add my candid thoughts on the matter.
I was a Marxist when I was younger and sincerely believed in the proposition that the masses are the real makers of history. In liberal democracy, this can be expressed, although weakly, through elections. That is why I am confident that the masses can still correct what the SC recently did by using their right to vote for the country’s next president in 2028.
The presidency, as they say, is not a product of will but is a destiny. If Sara is destined to be our next president, so be it. But the masses have already seen a Duterte presidency and a Duterte vice presidency, not to mention a Duterte mayorship in Davao City. If they want another Duterte for president, what can we do?
But here’s the thing. While the political pendulum did swing to the right in 2022 with the return of the Marcoses to Malacañang via Bongbong, that happened because, first, the Marcoses and the Dutertes wisely united against the Left, and, second, the Left woefully failed to adjust to a political exercise dominated by social media using newer technology.
And then this: the progressives like Bayan Muna were not adequately united with the not-so-progressives like Akbayan. The Left, after all, were still dominated by adherents of the “from the countryside to the cities” doctrine, marginalizing the “insurrection” adherents who are more adept at using the new technology to awaken the masses in the urban areas. A better unity can be had between the two forces in 2028 against the splintered Uniteam if Sara vies for the presidency.
The truth is Sara has already been exposed. But can the Diehard Duterte Sympathizers or DDS catapult her to the presidency by their lonesome? Not if the progressives and the not-so-progressives have a say on this one and play their cards well. Note that the Marcos loyalists would not have been able to vote Bongbong into the presidency without the help of the DDS. So the ball now is in the court of the progressives and the not-so-progressives. Can they set aside prejudices and elitism? They can if the last elections are to be used as an example.
The bigger task now is to correct what the SC did by continuing to expose the contents of the articles of impeachment. The technology for that is already available and media has already been democratized. Gone are the days when the spread of information was so limited only traditional media were able to do it. That will no longer happen in the age of social media. Of course, that will be a difficult battle considering also the proliferation of fake news, name-calling and other excesses.
But it can be done, I am sure about it. I am a believer in the perseverance of the progressives and the not-so-progressives in our midst. That is a truth that history cannot erase. Again, I sincerely believe in that.