Sleepless over no-el
I cannot understand why everybody is going crazy and losing sleep about no elections, term extensions and dictatorships. Whoever said these things are going to happen -President Duterte? But the last I heard, he was ranting about how thankless his job was and how he was ready to step down. Why, he even ordered his soldiers to shoot him if they no longer want him.
So, who has been spreading these dire scenarios and spooking people? The fact that the only identifiable sources of these rumors are critics of the president should have forewarned people about the integrity and credibility of what they are being told. I am not saying no elections, term extensions and dictatorships cannot happen. In the realm of possibilities, nothing is impossible.
But since no elections, term extensions and dictatorships will necessarily have to involve President Duterte, don't you think it is only fair, proper, sane, and logical to hear what the man himself has to say about these things? I mean you cannot just describe the taste of an apple without first sinking your teeth into it. Do otherwise and you are no better than a fool.
And yet that is precisely what is happening. Critics of the president are predicting a leak before anybody has even applied for a water connection. Nobody can force the critics to love the president. But for the sake of their own self-respect, couldn't they at least wait for the president to exhibit the first tangible sign or utter the first hint of doing what gives them the creeps before they jump up and about in fright?
If the president does that, I probably might even find myself joining the heavenly chorus of self-righteous indignation. But at the moment there is simply no reason for anyone to worry about anything remotely as dire. We have far greater things to worry about, like illegal drugs and runaway crime, and against which nothing can succeed unless we all get involved and be united.
If the critics of the president do not like Rodrigo Duterte and hate the thought of him sitting in office, then they might as well shoot their own selves or jump off the nearest cliff. For they had their chance to stop him in the elections of 2016. If they failed miserably in that election, surely it is taxing the traffic too much to blame even Duterte himself for their sorry loss.
The critics of the president should behave like big little girls and boys and just soak up their miserable lot, a fate nobody, not even Duterte, brought upon them but their own selves. The worst people are those who, in times of great adversity, refuse to rise up to the challenge and instead blame the world for messing up their lives.
If there will be no elections but instead term extensions and, worse, a dictatorship, it will not be because the critics of the president said so but because Duterte himself will make it happen. But until the time comes and it actually happens, it is not happening -not today, not tomorrow, not anytime. And it is doing everybody a great disservice for anyone who is not Duterte to insist it will.
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