Something tells me there are two people currently occupying the office of the presidency, two people who look exactly alike, who possess the same timber in speech, who walk with the same limping gait, but who, individually, are capable of saying and doing two exactly opposite things. One could be the original, and the other, probably a doppelganger, an evil clone if you will. I mean, how else can you explain the present paradox of the Philippine Presidency? Either that or we have a person occupying the highest office of the land afflicted with some variety of political schizophrenia.
The ‘real’ president wears the Yellow Ribbon pin on his chest, replacing the Filipino flag pin most other leaders before him have worn with pride, saying every opportunity he has that the Yellow Ribbon is a symbol of hope, freedom, of the fight against corruption and abuse in government; it’s an ever-present reminder of his being a supposed scion of two so-called ‘icons of democracy.’
Yet the ‘doppelganger’ president signs into law the Cybercrime Prevention Act ever so quickly and, if I may say, clandestinely, without discussion or debate, prevailing over proposed measures people have been clamoring for (FOI Bill). Worse is the Cybercrime law includes provisions that very obviously curtail and undermine our online liberties, our inherent rights to speech and expression, and ultimately, our right to due process and equal protection of the law. Aptly dubbed “cyber martial law,” the ‘take-down’ clause in the law has sent chills down the spine of many a netizen, and has, throughout the world, been slammed by media and freedom advocates alike as being archaic, undemocratic, draconian, and an instrument for authoritarian rule.
The contentious provisions are unconstitutional to say the least; more so, they’re inconsistent with international covenants our country is a party to. Claiming he didn’t read it before signing it leads credence to the urban myth of his legendary laziness; conversely, admitting that he signed it cognizant of the ramifications of the law’s ‘take-down’ clause on the freedom of online Filipinos renders him inconsistent to his claims to being a freedom fighter. Either way, this president is burned. So much for being a self-proclaimed champion of democracy!
The ‘real’ president slams corruption, is unrelenting, unforgiving, unyielding, forcing an ailing ex-president to face unimaginable embarrassment and torment in his hands, hands ever so clean, haciendero hands without a hint of callus, convinced she is guilty beyond doubt of the crimes they allege she’s committed. Well, guilty enough to deserve, without a final judgment from our courts, to take center stage as a national punching bag and object of every presidential speech cum trash talk. She is also guilty enough to give just cause to defying the Supreme Court’s TRO on her hold departure order last year, never mind that it’s a co-equal branch of government, never minding too the precedence, the kind of example the executive is setting.
Yet the ‘doppelganger’president, in his unquenchable thirst for “justice,” in his uncompromising fight against corruption, appoints former Isabela governor Grace Padaca as COMELEC Commissioner, a political ally with a pending case/warrant of arrest, this even as the law is clear that no appointee to the COMELEC shall have participated in the prior elections (Padaca ran and lost in 2010), and in an election year at that, and worse, paying for the bail. Through DILG Secretary Mar Roxas, the president explained that he trusts Padaca—wow, I mean, wow—is that right, gut-feel over judicial process?
The ‘doppelganger’ president also justified the act by saying that he used his personal funds. Sure, the funds may be personal, but his reasons are definitely political, and all within the realm of his public persona and the responsibilities that go with it.
I am at a loss as to how perverse and twisted our country’s leadership responds in situations like this, his actions consistently smack of hypocrisy and double standards. In my book, that bail is a bribe.
(Also, it would’ve been prudent for Padaca to have addressed the issue on her own. By pulling off this cheap stunt, they - the president and Padaca herself- have dragged the Presidency through the mud. What utter disappointment!)
And the comparative study between the disparity of the words and actions of the ‘real’ president and his ‘doppelganger’ goes on and on. Like the Vilma Santos starrer, ‘the Healing,’ which focuses on faith healers and doppelgangers as bad omens (masamang \pangita-in), all this blind faith in the Yellow myth and all the inconsistency and hypocrisy are a bad omen of things to come. And yes, it goes without saying, our country still needs healing – healing from ourselves and our hyper-emotionalism.
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