Pissing contest

By their very nature, pissing contests are short-lived and pointless. They can be amusing in the beginning, but soon enough—once the taps run dry, as they inevitably will—what’s left is a foul mess that other people have to clean up while the protagonists swagger away.

And so it was with the ego sparring between presidential aspirants Rodrigo Duterte and Mar Roxas, which quickly escalated from a slapping challenge to threats of a fist fight and a full-on gun duel—never mind that duels are expressly outlawed by the Philippines’ penal code, presumably on grounds that civilized countries no longer need such violent, atavistic methods to settle disputes among its citizens.

Duterte, it must be said, got the squalid ball rolling when, speaking before a group of businesspeople, he went on a tirade and said he wanted to slap Roxas. Or, in his language that has to be repeated verbatim for full outrageous impact: “…Pag magkita kami sa isang kanto dito sa kampanya, sampalin ko yang gagong yan (If I see him during the campaign, I’ll slap that idiot).”

The businessmen reportedly roared at Duterte’s quip, and his supporters lost no time rationalizing, once again, their candidate’s deliberate recourse to crude language to score points against his opponent. Roxas—whether out of genuine pique or on the advice of his handlers that going down and dirty with Duterte was an opportunity to toughen up his image—responded by saying that not only would he slap Duterte, they should engage in a fist fight instead. Of course, the Davao mayor took the sordid tit-for-tat further and invited the Liberal Party’s standard-bearer to a gun duel.

The Duterte camp thinks Roxas deserves the trash talk in the first place because of the latter’s claim that Davao’s vaunted peace and order under the mayor was “a myth.” Roxas himself might not be the most credible person to raise questions about Duterte’s executive capabilities given his own lackluster, some say dismal, performance as transportation and then interior secretary. But let’s be clear: The issue itself remains a valid topic for scrutiny and discussion, if only because Duterte has hoisted his candidacy not only on his much-touted achievements in pacifying his corner of Mindanao, but more so on the often ruthless, unorthodox methods he claims to have employed to achieve that state of affairs, which he now plans to replicate nationwide if elected.

In a subsequent interview, Duterte admitted that the basic figures Roxas cited to back his myth claim of Davao were true—that the city has the fourth highest crime rate in the country, according to police records. But, he said in defense, the figures were high only because it included the alleged criminals that were now gone from the city streets, presumably exterminated by his long-rumored death squads—once again, a proud admission that he has no qualms violating the law on due process.

That seeming whimsical regard for the law to achieve a semblance of order, which Duterte’s candidacy has undeniably made an attractive option among those exasperated by the fraying of the republic on many levels, deserves to be among the chief issues requiring frank, sober and discerning discussion by the public and Duterte’s fellow candidates alike. Vice President Jejomar Binay, for instance, a former human-rights lawyer—what is his stance on Duterte’s avowed methods and record of governance?

While Roxas and Duterte were verbally duking it out, the Philippines was taking part in crucial international climate talks in Paris that would, in part, determine its future as among the countries predicted to bear the biggest brunt of severe climate disruptions. What have the presidential candidates said, if any, about that? Vietnam, the Philippines’ neighbor and coclaimant in the Spratlys dispute, is said to be engaged in its biggest arms buildup since the Vietnam War to gird for a possible confrontation with China. What do Roxas, Duterte, Poe, Binay and Miriam Santiago propose to do to contain further Chinese encroachments into Philippine territory, short of a disastrous war that an ill-prepared Philippines is sure to lose?

The Freedom of Information bill. The question of a viable autonomy for Muslim Filipinos. Inclusive economic growth. Political dynasties. Corruption. The daily transport hell. The list of valid, urgent, life-and-death issues is long, but they will remain unaddressed as long as the public cheers only for the circus.