“Intend to clean”

I would rather play old vinyls on my stereo components of four decades rather than read on modern technology social media postings. That is how antiquated my ways are. Listening to the long playing records of some of my favorite singers like John Gary and Jerry Vale makes me think clearer. Their music is so refreshing that their songs drive me to do things with a dose of exactitude like would, an OCD that I am, do. On the other hand, in those few occasions that I view the internet, time just seems to fly away unnoticeably and unproductively. On top of that, there are things written in the social media that are more emotionally distressing than intellectually engaging.

Few days ago. I chanced upon an internet feature of President Rodrigo Duterte. I was truly glad that despite the rarity of my fb incursions, I accidentally heard the president. Honestly, as I was just mindlessly scrolling my cellphone, I did not know what digital platform it was. But, it looked to me like a Malacanang press conference and so it carried the weight of the highest office of the land. In the flux of statements made by the president, what stood out was his following declaration -- “I really intend to clean the government”.

President Duterte’s pronouncement was clear and emphatic. The millions of his adoring fans must have felt ecstatic. There rose a hope that somehow the Duterte brand of leadership could probably clean the entire government machinery of all perceived forms of graft and corruption. What Duterte declared was likely to increase the 91% survey rating he obtained recently which Poll result was, by itself, already incredibly high. Who knows such a promise to rid the government of all forms of venalities can pad, even higher, his survey mark to 99.9999%.

The .0001% difference represents my vote. Maybe (I use the word maybe because I possess no hard data on this matter) there are few other souls with my negative thinking. Candidly, I personally have lost faith in the president’s believability. His major commitments have failed. His promises, unfulfilled. Did not Duterte assert that within three months of his presidency he would stop illegal drug trade? They have proven worthless even after the passage of four years and deaths to thousands of suspected persons. Did not Duterte shout a promise to the Filipino nation that, upon assuming the presidency, he would ride on a jet ski to the Freedomland to drive all Chinese that have usurped portions of our territory? Look at his apparent tolerance to the establishment of Chinese military installations in areas declared by the International Arbitral Tribunal to be Philippine territory?

Now let us read his latest pronouncement being guided by his many failed past promises. He started with “I really intend”. This is in the present tense. This is not just grammatical lapse. Duterte clearly said he still INTENDS to clean our government and this is after four years as our president. The president thus admits that he has not done anything yet on this his 2016 election promise.

 To me, this is an odious reprising of an otherwise effective election issue. It was part of loads of impactful propaganda that won for Duterte a huge following in the 2016 presidential polls. Without batting an eyelash, I sadly surmise that this most recent Duterte declaration is an adroit maneuvering by him, a grizzled politician, with our cherished aspiration of a clean government. Without doubt, he is on the campaign trail for the 2022 polls by promising to us what he committed but failed in 2016.