Government propagandizing

The success of rulers worldwide has been attributed to many factors — brute and insuperable force, profound intelligence, extra-ordinary leadership acumen, remarkable oratory, and propitious time. However, we learned that the ascent to power of Adolf Hitler was accompanied by massive propaganda. Perhaps, the rise of Ferdinand Marcos was propped up by these factors.

Whether or not the ascendancy of Rodrigo Duterte to the presidency of our land rested on the above or other factors, only future historians can tell. But this is what I dare say in connection with some.

In a television sit-com months before the 2016 elections, Duterte, then a candidate for president, showed brute force. He, in less equivocal terms and without admitting criminal liability, indicated that the elimination of 1,600 persons was an intimidating way to impose peace and order in society.

Declaring a vicious and bloody war on drugs was the most intelligent crafting of a political propaganda. That issue had been there for years, but no previous presidential candidates had the

profundity to raise it as a main political platform. Indeed, it rallied most voters who thought the drug menace could be eradicated in three months! The sloganeering touched favorably the sensitivity of people in all social strata.

Let us go to propaganda. I perceive a creeping disillusion on the administration. The patriots are disheartened to see a “strongman” exposed as a weakling in allowing a foreign power intrude and occupy our land. The same sentiment seizes intellectuals, who also witness the sad spectacle that the president, in his silence in protesting against China’s annexation, is giving away parts of our national territory. The youth movement maybe resurging for they too seem to realize that the president failed to uphold our sovereign status. To patriots, intellectuals and our youth, this failure of President Duterte to assert our sovereign rights is equivalent to high treason.

The high rating of the president is lately getting eroded by a plethora of events indicative of dictatorial tendencies as extrajudicial killings and suppression of opposition. The factors that contributed to his rise are gradually (but irreversibly) affected by the negative impact of his failure to deliver on his highly touted promises. To shore up his control, he resorted to massive propaganda: for us to miss nothing where his administration fails.

Let me cite a topic where I see the president is coping up with some indicators of a popularity that is starting to plummet. This is the area most felt by the “masa.” The people who depend on NFA rice feel the crunch of the absence of the staple. Hunger, historically, was and will be a trigger of revolution. Certainly, our president is conscious of this, as he must be exploring every available strategy to fend off his doom. The other day, Malacañang issued a statement that, by June, rice from Vietnam and Thailand will be available. All media elements have been harnessed. That’s propaganda at work in the president’s hope that it will appease our growing disenchantment.