I heard some time ago from a well-known observer that in politics perception is almost equivalent to fact. This is something that my humble training teaches me to be wary of as, indeed, I am not prepared to accept it. It is averse my view that people tend to confuse what is not still established as some kind of a political fact. I twixt my face when they take as gospel truth even matters that are, at best, debatable. And when it happens that upon such perception they choose their leaders, I can only pray that things turn out the way people hope for.
In my Constitutional Law class the other day, I spent few minutes of my time to find out who among the presidential candidates are the preferences of my students. I have always believed that law students are, by their avowed search for truth and upon the supposed bedrock of their discernment, more capable to evaluate the competences and capacities of candidates and therefore deserving of their votes.
What I discovered veered towards the concept that perception, in politics, is almost like fact. A matter that stood out from the thoughts of majority of my students was that whatever Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte did in that city is also good for the country and for which reason, they are inclined to cast their ballots for him in the May 2016 elections.
To my students, peace reigns in that Mindanao city. When I asked for specifics, someone pointed out that "Davaoenos" (is this how people in Davao are called, like Cebuanos, in Cebu?) are not afraid to display their cell phones while walking on the city's streets because there are no snatchers, a name given to criminals who grab personal belongings like cell phones and run away with them. He explained that robbers either do not reside in Davao for fear of summary execution or they are already buried six feet below the ground.
Is it true that Davao City is safe because mere suspects of petty crimes are afraid of the iron-hand policy seemingly adopted by their mayor? That suspects do not want to join the statistics of the dead? Silence reigned. Hesitation set in. The hands that raised enthusiastically earlier when I mentioned the name of Duterte as a presidential bet remained on the chairs' armrests. I could see furrows on the faces of my students. Why?
Even if I made it clear that I have yet to make up my mind on whom to vote for in May 2016, I ignited a more profound exchange of ideas when I brought back a lesson previously learned by my students. Everybody accused of a crime is presumed innocent until his guilt is proven beyond reasonable doubt. If there is a basic rule of law, that is elementary.
Sanity began to descend upon us. In our discourse, we came to realize, rightly or wrongly, that respect for the Rule of Law is not what apparently reigns in Davao City. The supposed peace in that city is in fact wrapped in a package called fear. Everyone is afraid of being suspected of doing any mischief because there is the chance that the bullets fired from the guns of armed vigilantes can rip thru his flesh.
Our discussion recalled the series of summary killings here in Cebu City. Most, if not all of those who were felled by "vigilantes" in 2004 forward, were mere suspected criminals. The few others who were freed from prison bars but were just the same killed by summary executioners never got the chance to show how reformed they had become.
The perception that Davao City is peaceful because their leadership would not tolerate the presence of petty criminals is not anchored on verifiable fact. It is belied by our own experience. The vigilante killers did not bring peace to us here in Cebu City. They succeeded to make a mockery of our legal system. It must be admitted that efficient police work, coupled with the cooperation of the residents, did the job.
Admittedly, we were not very thorough in our discussion. Time did not allow us to go deeper in our thoughts. But what eventually surfaced was that if the seeming rise in the peoples' acceptance of Duterte is based on the political perception that he'd be an effective manager of peace, then we might be on the wrong track!