The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has released new peso bills now bearing the signature of President Rodrigo Duterte. They feature the same “natural wonders and endemic species, such as Tubbataha Reef and the tarsier”—and the same faces of national heroes.
His hand must have shaken in great hesitation when he etched his signature to the new P500-bill template that still shows the faces of his idol’s nemeses, Benigno Aquino Jr. and Cory Aquino. A long-time admirer of the martial law ruler, Mr. Duterte made sure the remains of Ferdinand Marcos were finally buried with dignity and honor—and to hell with the millions of Filipinos who kicked the Marcos family out of the country in 1986 for their kleptocracy!
This is the kind of self-contradiction the Filipinos will have to deal with for a very long time. We have become the poster nation of the oxymoronic species, with emphasis on the “moronic”! The outside world no longer has the slightest idea where this country is going. By any metric of global strategizing, we are a loose cannon. Our public officials seem to be just winging it and improvising as they go along. God help us!
REYNALDO C. ESCOBAR, rc_esco@yahoo.com