The joke is on us

One of my favorite songs by the Bee Gees is the classic “I Started a Joke,” a song that turned out to be a massive hit. This tune came to mind this week when I sat down and began writing this column and thinking about the current tenant in Malacañang and the many off-the-cuff remarks he has made that have later been spun as “jokes.” I’d say we have a comedian as a president if only the joke wasn’t on us – which it is.

Unfortunately for President Duterte, he may think that he can speak freely but the truth of the matter is – the nature of his work does not allow him that pleasure. Anything he says – especially when he is saying it at a public function – is taken as the president’s stand on the subject, and by extension the country’s stand. Whenever he makes a comment in bad taste his spokesmen are left to somehow explain what he really meant. Whenever they can’t do this, they say that the president was only joking.

So it’s all good, right? Wrong. We have been through this too many times to dismiss it as mere jest. And what’s more, it shows that the president deems it appropriate to make jokes about serious matters at serious venues. And if he is merely joking most of the time, how are we supposed to take him seriously? When does the public know when he is serious or when he is just trying to illicit a laugh?

The sad part is our president was elected on the premise that he was 100 percent honest and that he tells it like it is. Filipinos voted for him because they thought that finally they would have a leader who they could trust and who would never lie to them or mince words. That did not happen unfortunately and now we are constantly left wondering what the president really means when he says things.

What’s more there were so many promises made during the campaign that have not come to fruition. In fact, there are many that have not come even close. The president promised to stamp out corruption when he campaigned for the position. This has always been a sore spot for the Philippines because the country has always had a corruption problem. In most instances I think that Filipinos already expect a level of corruption to exist, but are at least hopeful that it isn’t so blatant that there is nothing left for the citizens.

Over the last few years though that has not been the case and President Duterte promised that this would come to end if we put him in power. He said it would be the end of corrupt politicians and political dynasties. However has any of that proved true? He allowed a former dictator’s burial in our hero’s graveyard, released (and put in power) another former president riddled with corruption allegations, and just recently stood by as yet another politician implicated in the pork barrel scam went free. If that’s not business as usual I don’t know what is.

There is a saying that says “when the law no longer protects you from the corrupt, but protects the corrupt from you – your nation is doomed.” That is the Philippines now. The citizens appear to be the government’s last priority. How much longer before there really is no turning back?

Alongside corruption running as rampant as it has in the past, the bloody war on drugs has also not yielded any long-lasting positive results. A smaller dealer here and there a few kilos of drugs off the streets but what has really changed other than several thousand Filipinos dying in the name of stamping out the drug problem? The poor (those unable to defend themselves with money or power) are being killed while big-time drug lords like Peter Lim are being set free due to “weak evidence.” Big time warehouse import drug operations are being pinned on the warehouse security guards – because yes they are the real masterminds.

In the end, I want the president to succeed. I really do because his promises are ones that the country so desperately needs to happen. Unfortunately we have yet to really see any good solid steps towards the fulfillment of these words. The president promised to stamp out the drug problem in six months. That deadline came and went. He is now promising that a drug-free Philippines will be his gift to the country when he leaves office in 2022. So from six months we go to six years. It seems like a pipe dream – but here’s hoping he can keep at least one promise to the people.

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As I mentioned in a previous column, the Balangiga bells are finally coming home to the Philippines. At the time it was a promise and now the promise is being fulfilled. In a ceremony led by Philippine Ambassador to the United States, Jose Manuel “Babe” Romualdez and US Defense Secretary James Mattis – the bells were finally taken down and loaded onto a truck. They will be sent to Philadelphia for restoration before being sent to South Korea to the third bell currently located in a US military museum there.

This is a wonderful Christmas present for the country and something the President has done that has gone right. He nagged the United States to return our heritage and they agreed. I wonder if this will change his opinion on American and Filipino partnerships? I hope so because they kept up their end of the bargain. It will be nice to have the bells back home in Eastern Samar.