The Evil, the Lesser Evil, and Digong

Why I support Rodrigo "Digong" Roa Duterte What I'm going to say here may not be any different from the myriad of pro-Duterte sentiments put across daily by Filipinos pining for genuine change. If anything, it might simply reinforce the pneuma that had brought Digong to the seat of power. I have expressed my support for Digong on many occasions, in bits and bobs, from some obscure corner of the cyberspace. I rarely profess support for politicians, if at all. To me they are all the same — corrupt; if not corrupt, gutless, which is by no means a more evolved version of the former, nor does it even run counter to the disposition of the former — only a more diluted variant perhaps. This is one of those instances where I unapologetically pigeonhole a segment of the society: the politicians, the naked emperors whose sheer greed and stupidity are evident to everyone but them. Every election we are treated to a masturbatory display of demagoguery and bravado. Once the fanfare is over, Filipinos return to a life of quiet desperation, to nick a line from Thoreau. Our lives stayed the same, if they did not turn for the worse. If I had made a personal hobby horse out of stereotyping the politikos, it's because we are stuck with the same garden variety of fraudsters election after election. We seem to be perennially wedged between two choices: a rock and a hard place; or, two evils, one being slightly to the right of the evil scale. The most we can hope for is that the least corrupt politician wins — the one slightly to the left of the scale. It's a joke. And we are still rolling with it three decades after. Thirty years is more than an ample time to mature as a participant in the political life of a country (you are a political participant whether or not you fancy being one, or aware of it). But, Filipinos are waking up as a nation. It is important to acknowledge that. Though at the moment we may not be able to fully account for the dynamics in play, it is important to recognize the energy that is rousing us from our collective slumber and prompting us to take on the colossal task of turning this goddamn ship around. All that is needed is a booster: Digong. Rodrigo "Digong" Roa Duterte is as flawed as they come. The man offers no shortage of foibles for which to disparage him. But, there are at least two charges that cannot be leveled against him: that he is a thief, much less a coward. Surely, we hold the chief executive to more exacting standards than having balls or not siphoning people's money into his and his cronies' pockets. Digong, however, has those standards down pat: close grip on legal statutes, strategic mindset, resiliency, rigor, good old common sense, and simply love of country. This is why I support him. Digong is an option that was never on the table until the 2016 national election. Filipinos have suddenly roused to the prospect of settling for a candidate not merely because he is the least crook among a spread of crooks. The lesser-evil tactic seems to be the only available formula with which to choose the leaders of our country. It is a zero-sum game, a no-win solution for the electorate. For the first time, we did not have to compromise as we have done for the last thirty odd years — those years when, due to lack of more viable options, we had squared leadership with pomposity, pedigree, ivory league education, religiosity, sentimentality, appearances of benevolence, and yes, of "decency". Those on the other side of the fence, the Yellow Mob particularly, often confuse the overwhelming support for Digong with idolatry, or blind faith, if you will. The irony is not lost on Digong's supporters, who at one point had backed the Aquinos and their cohort of bullshit artists. The fact they had shifted ground is hardly an upshot of blind faith. It is an awakening. Call me a "Dutertard." It's no skin off my nose.

This piece was submitted to us by Leix Valenciano Holt. To follow her on Facebook, click image above.