Duterte's anti-US gamble
For Duterte, however, that road to prosperity cannot be achieved unless the people can disabuse themselves from their beggar mindset and misplaced modesty, and their uncritical acceptance as mere pawns of the US game plan in the Asia-Pacific region. He knows that there is a direct correlation between the people's socio-economic standing and their subconscious regard of themselves as directors of their collective destiny. Thus, he has to shake the biggest symbol of the Filpino's neo-colonial mentality, its historically lopsided relationship with the United States.
Time will tell if Duterte's gamble will pay off. Known American boys (Amboys) within and outside his administration like former president Fidel Ramos and senators Richard Gordon and Panfilo Lacson have already shown some restiveness. The traditional elite and oligarchs affected by the administration's left-ofcenter programs are also not powerless to throw a wrench into the administration's plans.
But as I have said, times have changed. The Philippines is still sitting on vast natural resources, but now it has a younger, more educated workforce who are more open-minded and independent. It also has a vast number of overseas workers and an emerging well-travelled middle class who carry realizations from their experience of either enduring the pain of indignity or seeing the rewards of a more equitable and efficient system in overseas work or tour. The Internet is also breaking the monopoly of information by the traditional powerbrokers and agenda-setters. That is the backdrop that lends some method to Duterte's rhetorical madness.