Sad realities

At this stage in our country’s history we have to bear so many sad realities. To be sure, we have been undergoing so many sad realities in the past and up to the present, particularly our continuing struggle against poverty and our seemingly futile efforts to finally achieve real progress and prosperity. But through all these years, we have somehow coped with these economic and social hardships stalking our land, where the great majority of the poor get poorer and the few rich get richer.

And through all these years, we have also managed to carry on and move along despite the kind of politics and politicians in our country, who are able to win elections more through foul than fair means and with the use of “guns, goons and gold.”  People have somehow endured them by keeping alive their hopes that sooner or later we will finally get rid of them by electing true public servants who considers “public office as a public trust, accountable to the people at all times, and serve them with utmost integrity, responsibility, loyalty and efficiency.” 

But as we go on nurturing this hope, another very sad reality has come upon us and our country which may dampen that hope. And this is the kind of head of state, the kind of president we have apparently elected in 2016. At the start of his regime, the future looked auspicious and bright especially because of his much vaunted promise to fight and eliminate the menace of dangerous drugs and graft and corruption plaguing our country from the time that we became an independent state.

As the years go by in his regime, and even as his promises appear to be empty, people still managed to keep their hopes alive. Recently however, that lingering hope has been seemingly dampened to the point of no return. And this is due to some admissions and statements coming for Duterte himself that further exposed his real personality, nature and mental condition.

During a recent regional conference, he publicly and openly admitted that he “uses marijuana to stay awake.” And shortly thereafter, after obviously realizing that such statement will make a mockery of his war on drugs, he claimed that “Joke lang yun, plastic ang gamit ko. If my remark is ridiculous it must be a joke. Of course it was a joke pero nobody can stop me from just doing my style, it’s too late to change, ngayon kung maniniwala kayo eh di gago kayo.”

Then he also continues to attack the Catholic Church and prelates even after he created a lot of furor for even calling God “stupid.” He resented criticisms made by some bishops regarding his administration especially from the bishop of the diocese of Novaliches, Monsignor Pablo David. And reacting further to such criticism he recently lashed out at all the bishops of the Church saying that “they are better off dead, to the extent of inciting the people to kill them all: “Itong mga Obispo ninyo, patayin ninyo. Walang silbi yang mga gagong iyan. All they do is criticize.”

People are really quite shocked and greatly saddened at this actions and declarations from a person who is the chief executive of the land, the head of state who should be the first one to unity in our country which is vital in the attainment of peace, progress and prosperity.

These latest spectacles displayed by the president of a nation have really caused a lot of doubt about his mental and even physical capacity to perform his job. His public relations men in Malacanang are having a hard time controlling the damage done by his utterances and allaying the growing fears of Filipinos about the dark future of our country. Their explanations however have no effect at all. They are just repeating the “joke” version of Duterte. His spokesperson Salvador Panelo even contrived another explanation especially with regards to Duterte’s incitement to kill the bishops. He said it was just a “hyperbole” to give some “dramatic effect. The bottom line however is that Duterte himself has already admitted that he is a “joker.” So Filipinos now are convinced that they should not believe him anymore, lest they be called “stupid” or “gago.”

Maybe his spokespersons should just advice him to really undergo some medical examination of his physical and mental condition which will clarify and confirm whether he is still fit to be our president.

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