[Rear View] Thanks, Bong Suntay

You remind us of the darkish facet of our nationwide psyche, of a time when one man may unleash a lot hate and anger and intolerance

If Quezon Metropolis Consultant Bong Suntay had made these coarse remarks in opposition to movie star Anne Curtis throughout the Duterte administration, he would most likely be met with laughter from most of his fellow lawmakers — the identical lawmakers who laughed at and applauded each sexist comment made by the previous president. 

These are the identical lawmakers who  permitted the Secure Areas Act or the Bawal ang Bastos Act meant to guard girls from acts of sexual harassment however by no means known as out a misogynist president. And these are the identical lawmakers who enabled the previous president’s bloody battle in opposition to the poor framed as a battle on medicine.

And it was not solely the lawmakers. It was virtually the entire nation. The few who protested had been booed and trolled on social media. Girls who dared converse out in opposition to sexism and misogyny had been threatened on-line with rape.     

So I want to thank Suntay for what he did. He reminded us that public conduct is transactional. Amongst politicians, mimicking presidential conduct was a show of loyalty. “Mas bastos, mas loyal kay bos.” 

He additionally reminded us of the darkish facet of our nationwide psyche, that there was a time when one man may unleash a lot hate and anger and intolerance amongst seemingly well-mannered Filipinos. I’ve seen it on-line. Most likely you probably did too. Mates and family grew to become not solely senseless defenders of Duterte however insupportable assholes as properly. 

In these six years, the nation appeared to have misplaced its ethical bearings. Intolerance and verbal abuse changed civil discourse within the public sphere and even on-line, in our neighborhoods and houses. We started to scorn and keep away from mates, neighbors, and family for being dilawan or DDS. 

In his midnight press conferences, the previous president would ramble on, peppering his stream-of-consciousness declarations with rape jokes and verbal assaults on critics, political opponents, church folks, and journalists. And predictably, on-line trolling and in lots of circumstances, bodily assaults adopted. It was not a frontrunner utilizing his creativeness. He was giving marching orders.

With these in energy perpetuating a tradition of intolerance, we had been choking in an environment of hate, slander, and threats, depriving democracy the air of free expression wanted to breathe. 

Paradoxically, the reprieve got here with the election of the son of a former dictator in 2022.  

But when the demeanor and conduct of Vice President Sara Duterte and her supporters is an correct indicator, the potential return of one other Duterte to energy, deemed by supporters as pre-ordained, poses a transparent and current hazard. Sebastian “Baste” Duterte, the vice mayor of Davao Metropolis and the vice chairman’s brother, couldn’t be any clearer in his name to motion: if voters need somebody like their father to be the subsequent president, they need to vote for his sister.

The Dutertes are anchoring their bid for political resurrection on nostalgia. And what disappoints many people is the unquestioning loyalty of the bottom, the appalling absence of shock over misogynist acts and extra-judicial killings.

Some observers would attribute this to “tribalism,” the predisposition to assist one who speaks like us, appears to be like like us or shares our grievances. Others would say that rampant extrajudicial killings have desensitized a big a part of the populace to some extent the place it was seen as essential to instill self-discipline and defend their communities.

This desensitization, coupled with the repetitive declare that criminality, drug-related crime particularly, is on the rise bolsters the framing of a so-called weak president and the necessity for an additional Duterte to revive order.

Ought to that occur, we might be coping with greater than misogynists in Congress. – Rappler.com

Joey Salgado is a former journalist, and a authorities and political communications practitioner. He served as spokesperson for former vice chairman Jejomar Binay.