In the beginning, President Duterte tried to terrorize the nation with the bogey of a Chinese military onslaught. Enoch Powell would have dissipated this with the remark to his colleagues at a conference that “history is littered with the wars which everybody knows would never happen.” How that fear of the President could sit snugly alongside staunch belief in China’s friendship is an intriguing incongruence.
For countless Filipinos of all ages who have sung the national anthem daily, hands on hearts, the ideal is that it is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees. A leader in touch with his people would grasp how the ideals of nationalism transcend the pragmatisms of politics.
The pragmatic argument put forward is that of security (might is right), which Bertrand Russell judges to be a negative value. Spreading fear does not make an inspiring leader. Knowing the enemy is essential: Why identify a nation as an adversary without evidence of malice or animosity, and yet turn a blind eye to another who has already done, and continues with impunity, to inflict harm on our resources and citizens? Countries East and West are quite clear as to who resists the rule of law in the West Philippine Sea. So it is with most of us.
The death of President Aquino has added to our understanding of leadership as we deliberate on the coming elections. P-Noy’s personal dignity had deep roots and lent the same coloring to his administration. One cannot give what one does not have. From “Kayo ang boss ko” to “Kill, kill, kill” looks like a quantum leap, but sadly in the wrong direction. At least it demonstrates that quantum leaps are not impossible. May Abe Lincoln’s words ring in our ears up to the voting day: “The ballot is stronger than the bullet.”
Virginia Calpotura, RSCJ, strvirginia@yahoo.com.ph