By Oliver GeronillaWith the Philippine national elections just months away, a number of potential presidential and senatorial candidates have started to use their political machinery rather cunningly.
Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago's probe on the boondoggles of cabinet members riding on the president's coattails signaled the opening salvo of the polemic blows.
Print, broadcast and new media can surely give you an idea as to how these aspirants think and behave with their idiolect. Endowed with her flair for the connotative use of words, Sen. Santiago does not fail to catch media attention. Not too long ago, she did not even bat an eyelid as she called her foes ``thick-skinned dimwitted rhinos" and ``fungus-faced creatures."
This has been her trademark, a panache that's hard to match especially if you are not used to repartees, or worse, you are linguistically-challenged. Some have attempted to retort, but it's just awfully dry. Take the case of the Health Secretary who defended himself without resorting to rhetoric. It was, of course, a straightforward, logical reply. But it fell flat for those who want to be tickled pink by figurative language, puns, malapropisms and even spoonerisms.
But Santiago does this on the assumption that the best defense is a good offense. All her insults can be thrown back at her, especially with her rumored family problem of mental illness. So she hits first. And she's still burning, because in the 1992 presidential campaign, which she so narrowly lost, the Ramos operatives, especially General Jo-Al Almonte, used the old technique of ``help from the enemy" to defeat her. They turned her against herself. All she could do afterwards was sputter and accuse Ramos of cheating ― as if she hadn't lit some of the same fires.
Other Asian countries don't even come close. Indonesians, not yet fully awake after decades of authoritarianism (not to mention colonialism and empires preceding), provide the most boring contrast ― General Wironto's singing during the last two presidential campaigns was the liveliest things they got. The Malaysians and Singaporeans dare not make light ― they might be doing it in jail. The Thai are just too formal and now they have pretty impressive campaign rules (yellow and red flags) against campaign trickery and extravagant promises.
In the Philippines, it is clear: people vote with their feet, and they take pleasure in watching televised verbal tussles that they can quote and laugh at. Political posturing seems to have seen better days here. Those who still subscribe to it are no longer taken seriously.
As such, when these traditional politicians go on whistle-stop junkets ― with their pockets heaving with soft and hard money ― to win the hearts of the electorate, they compensate their inability to connect with the ``populace" by bringing along entertainers who can gather crowds at the drop of a hat.
Of course, some are lucky to have a captive audience. Take the case of spiritual leaders who have hinted at their intention to run for office next year. Their followers need not be ``entertained" just to make them listen. Their spiritual invocation leaves no room for harangues. In my case, I am simply stupefied. No watertight arguments can change the minds of those who fantasize having a spiritual leader bring the country toward everyone's ultimate dream of peace, unity and prosperity.
And then there are the drifters, the freeloaders and the dreamers. All of them are making their own noises just to be heard. The drifters show how rudderless they are. The freeloaders seem to cling wherever they think they can get noticed. And the dreamers? Well, they're still tied-up building castles in the air.
Then came the wake-up call: two super typhoons that effectively gagged our politicians. All they can do now is mutter and blame those who are in the lower echelon ― the very people who receive orders from them.
But wait a minute. This temporary silence will soon be shattered when their apologists sense that the voters who have been affected by these natural disasters are once again ready to listen to their well-concocted spin.
Is this really an exercise in democracy? You bet it is! Maybe not the most mature one, but one that illustrates perfectly what Aristotle in effect called the 'voting with the feet' method. But people know when their feet hurt and when they are comfortable.
It really makes me wonder how Filipinos will throw their hat in the ring.
Oliver Geronilla, who contributed to an article in the Philippine Daily Inquirer with former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State W. Scott Thompson, is the head teacher of Han Maum Academy, Philippines. He has been teaching ESL since 2000, and can be reached at oliger95@yahoo.com.
