No compromise
“Don’t swear, boy. It shows a lack of vocabulary.” — Alan Bennett
AT the very least, President Rodrigo “Digong” Roa Duterte has been consistent in his fanatical and uncompromising war against the drug menace as well as his cascade of colorful swear words and vulgar language.
The latest victim of Duterte’s vituperation, caustic remarks, and ire was former President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino on the war on drugs in which PNoy cannot correctly take credit or feel righteously indignant since the Aquino administration had the most dismal record in drug mitigation.
Thus, it is on the relentless war against drugs that President Duterte will stake his legacy, reputation, career, life, and safety on behalf of the Filipino youth and future generation.
While the Filipino people are generally and unequivocally supportive of the President, the crusade against drugs will be protracted, brutal, and deadly and a no-win situation even though substantial suppression has been achieved.
Nevertheless, President Duterte remains unabashed and unrepentant in his use of profanities, expletives, and colorful language to shock and awe his audience which is ungentlemanly and unpresidential.
On the other hand, Fidel Castro of Cuba, who could deliver unrehearsed and impromptu speeches for four hours nonstop until he collapses or faints from exhaustion and the Havana heat, never resorted to bad language and profanities for “I’m more interested in the prestige a country might have for its struggle and its battles, but not necessarily linked to me.”
Fidel Castro adds, “We must be daring, we must have the courage to tell the truth… and have the errors to recognize our own errors because that’s the only way we can achieve the objective we out to achieve.”
Lastly, Castro believes that “vengeance can find no place in a revolutionary heart.”
The situation in the Philippines is different for the promise of fundamental “change” by Pres. Duterte, though tentative and cosmetic, and if pursued seriously, will be revolutionary and profound.
At this point, Duterte “change” is either not taken seriously or is whimsical, or tending to slide back to the status quo.
In brief, Pres. Rodrigo Roa Duterte needs intellectual thinkers, ideologues and doers who will put substance, doctrine, and timeline to formulate an ideology or credo that will flesh out or rationalize all the “changes” that Duterte had touched on into a coherent and holistic political philosophy.
When all is said and done, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte should compile his “changes” into a cohesive philosophy and separate the frivolous from the serious and doable changes, and from the “joke only” to the fundamental.
You be the judge.