Duterte win: The masa’s revenge against Aquino

Our countrymen troop to the polls today. 

By the end of the day, the nation will have elected the next President. By most indications, that person just might be Davao City Mayor Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte.

If that win does materialize, two factors would be responsible for it: first, the so-called “Duterte” phenomenon; second, an apparent seething public anger against the current administration of President Noynoy Aquino.

A political communication specialist recently gave this columnist a good definition of the “Duterte” phenomenon. He dubbed the mayor “the bad boy version” of the late President Ramon Magsaysay, who perished in a plane crash in Cebu some time in the mid-1950s.

Magsaysay was revered as the “man of the masses.” He commanded much affection and until today is seen as the personification of the proverbial champion of the common Filipino.

Magsaysay departed from the erstwhile boxed image of the Philippine president. He junked the “amerikana” in favor of the “barong tagalog.” He mingled freely with the “great unwashed” and charmed the “tsinelas” crowd with his folksy ways.

In some ways, Duterte does mirror the Magsaysay image, although in a contrasting manner. Duterte does not attempt to charm. He spews expletives. His words and demeanor are not designed to endear.

He must be the professional image-maker’s nightmare. Yet, he has managed to command massive following among all social classes. His rise from a virtual political outsider to the frontrunner in this year’s presidential contest is short of baffling and has eclipsed the star of erstwhile pack leader Sen. Grace Poe.

Political observers offer various views on the meteoric rise of Duterte.

Some say this has to do with his promise to wipe out criminality and corruption within the first few months of his presidency.

Others say it is his authentic “masa” appeal. The Filipino masses are always looking for a champion and they appear to have finally found one in Duterte, observers say.

They have a point. It looks like no presidential candidate had commanded the same fervor and loyalty in recent years the way Duterte has. Such display of fervor, of course, is described as “rabid” by those who favor his opponents.

If popularity, overwhelming public affection, surveys, the recent endorsements of the bloc-voting Iglesia ni Cristo and other religious sects are the basis, then Duterte is set to be the country’s next President.

Will Aquino and his cohorts be able to stop Duterte’s ascent to the highest office of the land?

It is safe to presume that Aquino had done all within his powers and the resources of his office to prevent Duterte from winning. In fact, there are speculations that the last-minute media blitz and negative advertisements against Duterte last week spearheaded by vice presidential candidate Antonio Trillanes IV may have been inspired, if not initiated outright, by parties close to the Palace.

While that may not be proven in the meantime, there appears to be enough reason for the future-ex president to panic over a possible Duterte win.

An overwhelming Duterte win would be an indictment of his leadership.

From the perspective of the Duterte faithful, this is an administration that alienated the masses. Aquino, while swearing about his personal honesty, failed to address the most basic of the masa’s needs.

The daily travails of commuters, the agony of the victims of the “tanim-bala” racket at the airports, his snub of the ceremony marking the return of the bodies of the SAF 44, the recent Kidapawan massacre – all these, plus many other betrayal of promises, appear to have underscored that the “masa” are hardly the current Malacañang occupant’s priority.

Add to this the behavior of his sister Kris, who unabashedly used the President’s helicopters to campaign for the Palace bet. Put together, the “masa” appear to have seen that the current President does not belong to their class.

He belongs to the elite.

We think that by lining up behind Duterte’s presidential bid, the “masa” are getting back at the President. This is the masa’s revenge against a presidency that appears to have treated them with much condescension. Against a President who refused to fire his cronies whom the masa perceived to be the cause of their woes.

If Duterte wins this election, it is because the common man would feel he has put in power one who would champion the masa’s cause in Malacanang.

Trillanes’s last-ditch effort to demolish Duterte would then have failed. Dismally.