A method to one’s madness

The Free Dictionary defines the phrase “method to one’s madness” as having “a specific, rational purpose in what one is doing or planning, even though it may appear crazy or absurd to another person.” While many experts along with mere mortals in the Philippines have concluded that the Duterte administration, family and political party have gone mad and cancelled each other in the political arena, I will not hastily jump to the same conclusion. In fact, I am convinced that the Machiavellian minds in the Duterte administration have once again come up with a bizarre and twisted plan based on the presumption that “the end justifies the means.” They have crafted plot inside plots inside plots that left many people dizzy and shaking their heads in disbelief but never seeing the end game: The Dutertes remain in power from 2022 onwards, in one form or another.

All the crazy political shape-shifting alongside jumping from one party to another etc. etc., all have this one goal: for “a Duterte” to be Vice President that is one heartbeat away from the presidency, for another Duterte to control the Senate, and/or for “Duterte et al” to be elected in national positions or by way of appointment or negotiations. If President Duterte runs for senator and gets the Senate presidency, he will be surrounded by a majority of Duterte senators who were all his former political appointees. Being Senate president gives President Rody Duterte the power to make political deals to appoint people in various government agencies well after his presidency, enable or hinder the operations of the national government in terms of the Commission on Appointments as well as through the National Budget, promote or block the legislative agenda of the next president. With a majority hold on the Senate, PRRD would end up with his own mini republic. Running for senator is also politically correct and diplomatic since it avoids making unnecessary enemies of those running for president or vice president in the 2022 elections. As they say no harm – no foul.

Regardless of the alleged dramas or “Family Feurds,” if Sara Duterte wins as vice president , our culture is such that her potential sphere of influence will merge with her father whether she likes it or not. On her own, she will be a political influence to reckon with as a vice president who won’t play nice or hold her tongue like VP Leni has done these past few years. With the combined clout or political force of vice president and the Senate president, the father/daughter tandem can be a perennial threat to the next president of the Philippines or provide the perfect alliance. They can be an “enabling force” or the axe that hangs over head. This does not even take into consideration how President Duterte holds members of Congress by the nose and will continue to do so if the Duterte Duo gets their coveted posts. None of the current crop of presidentiables has that sort of power and influence over members of the House of Representatives like PRRD has, and chances are the next president will be the outsider if the stars align for the Dutertes. In terms of tactics, all the placeholders as well as the run of Senator Bong Go for President may be part of a “Good Cop-Bad Cop” strategy where the initial Bong Go – Rody “Contra Bida” tandem was all meant to push voters to Sara and BBM as the fresh alternative.

While I try to be as apolitical as can be, my biggest fear in this future possibility is if all the power gets too concentrated on such a small group or family that does not hold itself accountable to any higher power or institution. God forbid we find ourselves on that same path or road that other countries were way-laid and ended up with power grabs by military or para-military groups or misrule and corruption, such as what happened during the Martial Law years. As frustrating as our politics may be for the good of the country, I encourage everyone to do the simplest single most powerful thing they can do to restore order, sanity and civility in Philippine politics. Get down on your knees in all humility and let us pray to GOD: Please save our country from ourselves.

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While I understand and wish the DepEd well in their plan to promote F2F or face-to-face classes in grade school and eventually all throughout, I am very concerned about the outcome, especially when viewed from the experience of the Netherlands, Japan and other countries that have tried to go through with face-to-face classes only to discover that sending unvaccinated children to school can result in far greater setbacks than the effects of online schooling until they are fully vaccinated. Based on the experience of other countries, the chances or possibility of unvaccinated children getting infected by COVID-19 is not an IF but a certainty! There is so much work and protocols that go into those pilot schools that can all go to waste once one child gets infected. One sick child is going to spiral into a major media crisis and those who don’t believe this should review the public and government reaction to the “story” that a 2-year-old got COVID from visiting a mall! It is worse than 1 step forward – 2 steps back because everyone in the premises end up being tested and quarantined along with their parents or families. Another problem is that many children are often asymptomatic, no visible signs of infection but moving back and forth from homes to school and back home again.

China recently confined or quarantined 1,500 high school students in dormitories and local hotels after some students tested positive for the virus. Does the DepEd or Malacanang have a similar plan and logistics on standby in case a similar incident occurs in one of the pilot schools? I say vaccinate them first!

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