Since President Rodrigo Duterte assumed presidency, millions of Filipinos have become experts on at least 14 major things.
That’s what Facebook user Bernard Ong surmised. In his post, Ong said Duterte, the ‘Colorful Guy,’ has improved the Filipinos’ IQ.
US President Barack Obama called Duterte a ‘colorful guy’ after the Philippine president, in his outburst, threatened to curse anyone who would ask him disrespectfully about the extrajudicial killings in his country.
Here are the 14 things that Ong said Filipinos have learned because of Duterte and his administration:
- Maritime laws – we give half of what is ours to China
On July 8, before The Hague ruling was released, Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that the Philippines is willing to share the West Philippine Sea and its resources with China with the possible joint exploration of a natural gas field at Reed Bank. But he clarified this statement the next day, saying he meant to say that the Philippines would wait for the ruling and interpret its implications.
- Diplomacy – you bash your biggest ally to please your worst tormentor
Duterte recently made “strong comments” against US President Barack Obama, saying the latter has no right to lecture him on human rights, all the while trying to be gentle in dealing with China, who refused to acknowledge The Hague ruling. China even threatened to imprison “illegal fishers” spotted in the disputed waters.
- Human Rights – dictator who killed or tortured 75,000+ victims gets a Hero’s burial
Duterte maintained his decision to allow the burial of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Recently, in his tirade against Obama and the US, he wanted the Americans to apologize for killings 600 Moros in 1906, but insisted on Marcos’ hero’s burial even when at least 1,500 Moros were massacred during martial law.
- Nuclear Energy – restart a 1960s-design reactor running on obsolete software sitting on a fault line
The Department of Energy is considering putting the Bataan nuclear power plant, built under Marcos’ administration. However, the administrations post-Marcos refused to use it, fearing it was situated close to earthquake fault lines and an active volcano. There were also fears of nuclear use after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine in 1986 and the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011.
- Traffic – just a ‘state of mind’ & requires advanced Buddhist mental training to solve
In an Inquirer report, Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade was quoted saying the Filipinos’ “state of mind” worsens the country’s traffic woes. “Even when there (was) no traffic, (people say) there was. A state of mind adds to the problem of traffic. Let’s stop blaming traffic. If you’re late, that’s that,” Tugade said.
However, the Tugade’s statement was later clarified by Transportation Assistant Secretary for Communications Cherrie Mercado-Santos.
“The prevailing Filipino psyche of using traffic as an excuse must be changed. That kind of state of mind that automatically uses traffic as an excuse, unnecessarily adds to the problem of traffic. What the Secretary is asking, is a change of psyche, a platform of cooperation for citizens to be part of the solution, for Filipinos to simply be truthful,” Mercado-Santos said.
[ads1]
- Math – 600,000 out of 220,000 Filipinos who died from Fil-Am war & famine were Moros. Each victim was Moro & died thrice.
In a speech in front of the soldiers in Davao City for the 10th anniversary of the Eastern Mindanao Command on August 26, Duterte said that Americans killed 600,000 Moros.
“There was this historical injustice committed against the Moro people. The Americans may want to know that during their campaign in Mindanao, they slaughtered 600,000 Moro people,” Duterte said.
According to the book “The Costs of War: America’s Pyrrhic Victories” by John V. Denson, “as many as 220,000 Filipino civilians perished from ‘gunfire, starvation, and the effects of concentration camps.’”
In another book, “The Spanish-American War and Philippine Insurrection, 1898-1902: An Annotated Bibliogaphy,” Mark R. Barnes referred to another book with an estimate of the Filipino casualties during the Philippine-American war.
Barnes referred to the book called “War-Related Deaths in the Philippines, 1898-1902,” by John M. Gates. He wrote, “Gates estimates that for the period of 1898-1903 Filipino rebel soldier and civilian deaths amounted to around 220,000, while the Philippine Island cholera epidemic in 1902 caused the death of nearly 200,000.”
- Culinary Arts – Abus are best served ‘kilawin’ style with salt & vinegar
In a warning to terrorists, President Duterte said that he can eat them alive, after the bombing of the Roxas Night Market in Davao City on September 2 that killed 14 and hurt some 60 people.
“Pag galitin mo akong talagang sasagad ma, kaya kong kumain ng tao. Bigyan mo lang ako ng suka’t asin, kakainin ko sa harap nila ‘yan,” Duterte said in front of the Filipino community in Laos on September 5.
- Budgets – cops & soldiers get 75-100k pay while promising to reduce taxes
During the election campaign, Duterte and his running mate, Senator Alan Peter Cayetano promised the police and soldiers that their salaries will be raised to around P75,000 to P100,000 to avoid corruption. Even after he won, Duterte kept promising soldiers that they will get two times their usual salary, although Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana has told them not to be too optimistic because it depends on “the realities of the purse.”
Duterte’s administration is also eyeing the reduction of taxes. Even the tax reforms are criticized for being a burden on the poor.
Duterte even promised that the pay hike for soldiers would start last August, only for Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno to say that the government could not deliver on that promise. But this did not stop the President from promising a doubled salary increase for the soldiers this December.
[ads2]
- Astronomy – NASA gave out the ‘best president of the solar system’ award
Fan pages dedicated to Duterte posted a meme about how the Philippine president won ‘the best president in the solar system’ award supposedly given by NASA. It’s obviously a false meme, but some supporters still believed it!
- Taxonomy – drug users are not homo sapiens, but hopeless shabutus addictus
After various groups in and out of the country raised concerns about the killings of suspected drug users, Duterte asked: “That’s why I said, ‘[W]hat crime against humanity?’ In the first place, I’d like to be frank with you, are they (drug users) humans? What is your definition of a human being? Tell me.”
- Linguistics – putang-ina is just an expression so fire away in all directions
Duterte’s supporters defended him after he threatened to curse Obama or whoever who asked him about the killings in the Philippines during the ASEAN summit. They said it was simply Duterte’s expression of anger. But after he emerged as the apparent winner in the May 9 elections, he promised to stop cursing. One of his supporters reminded him that if he’s not careful, his mouth can turn out to be his greatest enemy.
- Pantones – any contrary opinion is biased, yellow. That includes Bloomberg, Washington Post, my tita Hillary
Anyone who says something against or notices something amiss with Duterte and his administration are immediately labeled as biased towards the yellow, or yellowtards.
- Connecting dots – randomly link names of people you dislike into a Drug Matrix
The President revealed the New Bilibid Prison drug matrix, tagging Senator Leila de Lima and several other government officials and employees. However, statements from supposed witnesses against de Lima like Edna “Bogs” Obuyes and Jonathan Caranto, are breaking the matrix apart.
Obuyes denied signing a statement against de Lima and owning the BDO bank account with P24-million drug money deposit. The said deposit was signified with questionable deposit slips under Obuyes’ nickname.
Caranto also claimed BDO cleared him from being the supposed owner of the bank account with another P24-million drug money deposit. He also said he did not sign a statement saying he wanted to testify against de Lima because he doesn’t know anything.
- Banking – that bank that says ‘We Find Ways’ takes your over-the-counter deposit on Good Friday
One of the questionable deposit slips showed that over P4 million was deposited on Good Friday back in 2014.
Ong ended his post saying that he agreed with Pink Floyd, who said people don’t need education.
“Midnight press-cons, yes-men and repetition will do,” he said.
Do you agree with him? Have you really learned a lot about these topics under the new administration?
Sources: (gmanetwork.com, rappler.com, newsinfo.inquirer.net, philstar.com, gov.ph)
[ads3]
