What greater harm could Pacquiao do after Duterte?

When the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos called for a “snap election” in 1986, opposition leaders went into a mad scramble for the most qualified among them to run against him. In the end, they had to settle for the least qualified but the most likely to win: a “mere housewife” named Cory Aquino.

Amid all the well-oiled Marcos machinery’s assault against her “inexperience” and “total ignorance” about running a government, Cory could only respond: “Tama po sila. Wala akong karanasan sa pagnanakaw!” And the rest is history. The thieving Marcos and his family were kicked out of Malacañang.

1Sambayan notwithstanding, any similar search for the most qualified candidate to oppose the dummy of wannabe dictator President Duterte in the next presidential election is futile. All indications have remained consistently to the effect that whoever Mr. Duterte handpicks to run for president with him as vice president is almost a sure winner. The binary choice is now between his own daughter Sara or Sen. Bong Go, the only two persons on earth Mr. Duterte could trust to yield the presidency back to him. That’s how crazy voters in this country have become.

Qualification is irrelevant. “Winnability” is all that matters now. The overriding goal should be to stop Mr. Duterte from further inflicting himself on this country. Who do the people “adore” more than Mr. Duterte? Only one person comes to mind: Sen. Manny Pacquiao. Sure, he is just a world-famous boxer who knows nothing about running a government and is as ignorant or naïve as Cory was in that regard.

But Pacquiao has had absolutely zero experience when it comes to killing people or ordering anyone killed without due process of law, cussing and cursing in public, coddling high officials despite strong evidence of their corruption and plunder, hiding his tail between his legs whenever China went saber-rattling, abusing, and misusing power to put media outlets out of business for criticizing him and his rotten policies (e.g., ABS-CBN), etc., etc.

We agree with what many are saying: Considering that no qualified candidate from the opposition stands a chance of winning against any Duterte bet for president, what greater harm could Pacquiao do after Mr. Duterte has wreaked havoc on practically all of our cherished institutions? We have seen some indication at least that Pacquiao, despite previously playing footsie with the Duterte regime, is actually capable of making up his own mind when push comes to shove. However chimerical it may be, that hope is the only thing left for this country to hang on to.

MARIUS V. CANONOY
[email protected]