Tough talk and tales can only do so much
In Mindanao over a week ago, I passed through a couple of checkpoints on my way to Talisayan, Misamis Oriental, from Cagayan de Oro City. I was alone driving a rental car on my way to celebrate the annual fiesta of my late father's hometown.
The soldiers at the checkpoints were courteous but firm, asking routine questions like where was I headed, for what purpose, and if they could see my ID. Apart from that everything seems normal under martial law in Mindanao away from the battle that has raged in Marawi for weeks.
Expectedly, people I talked to there are supportive of the martial law declaration. They don't see it as a threat to their civil liberties. They even welcome it as a chance for the problems of Mindanao to be really addressed, with an iron hand if necessary. Obviously, they trust President Rodrigo Duterte with such extraordinary power as if they know him like the back of their hand -no suspicions whatsoever as to motive or design.
It's easy to succumb to a leader's charm and convincing tales. Yet I find it hard to simply trust his recent judgments. Thus, I am one of those who are skeptical about the declaration of martial law in the whole of Mindanao instead of just limiting it within Marawi and its outskirts.
I base my skepticism on what has happened a year into the Duterte's presidency. Except for the war on drugs which has kept our streets safer from thugs but at the cost of so much blood, not much change can be felt one year under Duterte.
Corruption is still rampant and very much part of our culture. Federalism, a key campaign promise, still has to gain a foothold in both houses of Congress. Except for the promise of a "golden age in infrastructure," traffic in Metro Manila remains a problem on the same scale as that in the previous administration. There are no indications of a scientific roadmap to eradicate poverty. Foreign policy, while seemingly recalibrated, is a mixed signal of sorts.
Duterte's Cabinet is an assorted mix of centrists, leftists, and rightists with their own set of agenda riding on the wave of the president's populism. All the while the status quo has managed to make real reform-minded Cabinet members like the erstwhile environment secretary Gina Lopez look odd and extreme enough to be voted down as a heretic on the loose.
Without real reforms taking root, Duterte's temperamental and tough-talking approach has failed to tame Moro and communist rebels. His US-trained and inspired military and the Mao-inspired communist rebels continue to trade barbs about who is taking advantage of the peace talks to fortify their ranks or attack each other's vulnerability. The peace talks, in fact, look in disarray. And some still harbor the fantastic thought that martial law can just bulldoze straight through the enemy and obliterate the latter.
As the president enters his second year in office, I wish him well enough for him to be able to show to the people that his maverick style can achieve some remarkable results. We hope to see some real breakthroughs in a country long saddled by oligarchic rule and a culture of patronage and corruption that hinder equitable maximization of wealth.
Apart from the trademark tough talk, we hope to see more of that political sensitivity and astuteness that made Duterte successful in Davao which was the primary reason why he won the presidency in the first place.
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