In the face of a six-year joke

THERE was a time when I decided that I had had enough of Rodrigo Roa Duterte and that I would just move on and write about hopeful things. In fact, while I was critical of his twoweek absence from circulation, I also heaved a small sigh of relief as it gave us a break from his oppressive presence. In hindsight, it was actually a pleasant experience not having him for a prolonged period. It gave us time to breathe and exhale.

Frankly, having him around at a time like this, when we are in the middle of a pandemic, is not reassuring at all. Thus, it can even be counted as a blessing that he was temporarily out of sight.

It was such a welcome break from his stressful presence that I was even given a chance to imagine a world without him. I was pulling imaginary strings, thanking whatever muses were responsible that by 2022 he would no longer be our suffering. I was already focused on writing about alternative models for learning to address our problems in education knowing that eventually the Duterte brand would expire.

Every political leader admittedly brings his or her own brand of terror, but Duterte is a class of his own. The idolatry around him is so terrifying that when he orders people killed, a huge majority of a predominantly Catholic county cheers. He drives people to mindless worship that, while on their own they do not trust China, they fall silent when he declares his best-friend-forever relationship with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Leaders are supposed to inspire people to dream. Duterte has rallied his diehard troops around him to turn our nightmares into their dreamlike inspirations.

He has turned everything into a joke. He proudly announced having molested their house helper as a youth, and then claimed it was just a joke. He tried groping another house helper during his birthday celebration, and his apologists spun it as just an innocent joke. And his loyal minions take these excuses as if they are biblical truths.

It wouldn’t be surprising if we are soon treated to a spin about his retreat from a debate with retired Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio on the issue of the West Philippine Sea, a challenge that he himself provoked. When Carpio accepted it, Duterte made a 180-degree turn and used as an excuse his Cabinet having advised him against it, and thus he passed on the baton to his spokesman Harry Roque Jr. Perhaps this is the joke. Or it is when Roque appeared to have pivoted toward Vice President Maria Leonor Robredo whom he wants to debate instead. The joke could even be when former spokesman Salvador Panelo volunteered to debate with Carpio. It is simply apropos that the names of Roque and Panelo have entered the fray. Perhaps it was deliberate, or not, but it is now easier to spin what can be construed as pure and unadulterated weaseling out by the President into simply another satire courtesy of one who has practically defended his embarrassing moments by turning his tenure into a six-year joke.

Perhaps, the President and his apologists and spinners take comfort in the thought that the joke is always on us, his loyal critics. But what they are missing is that it also strikes even harder his diehard Duterte supporters, or DDS, who defend his actions with utter sincerity by taking him seriously. And when they are told that it is just a joke, they are pushed into taking on a confused state of mind, of being desensitized to a point that they lose the ability for autonomy and reason. It would be interesting to look into the states of mind of the DDS in the future and the damage which their idolatry of Duterte have inflicted on them and their brains.

Take for example his threat to ride a jet ski carrying the Philippine flag, braving the waters of the West Philippine Sea to assert our claim. This is a line that was taken by his supporters as a symbol of bravery, of a courageous man. This inspired his supporters not only to vote for him but to image him as a demigod. That was the dominant narrative, and while I for one thought that he was not serious, I was drowned out by a loyal base that celebrated his bravado like a blessing in contrast to their wimpy image of Duterte’s predecessor, President Benigno S. Aquino 3rd.

And now that he’s saying that it was all a joke, that people who believed him are simply stupid, he forgot the entire logic of the political impact of what he did. Actually, critics were not convinced that he would dare ride a jet ski on the choppy open waters of the storm-prone West Philippine Sea. It was actually his supporters among the 16 million who voted for him who believed him. Thus, when he says people who believed his campaign joke are stupid, then he just practically called many of his DDS stupid.

But then again, this would never have any effect on the DDS. These are people who would swim in shark-infested waters to support the President. These are people who would never blame Duterte even when their loved ones die of Covid-19 or are killed in an illegal arrest. They would blame the virus or China or the Communist Party of the PhilippinesNew People’s Army, but not Duterte.

But there is one hopeful thing about jokes that may just bite Duterte where it hurts. We Filipinos are known for turning our miseries into jokes. We are all by nature Bakhtinian — we can use laughter as a form of resistance to cope with disaster. Every time Duterte defends his offensive speech and actions by telling us these are just jokes, he is practically admitting that he is just spinning the nightmares that he himself has caused.