Members of the Philippine Liberal Party and their supporters are feeling a sense of schadenfreude lately. They delight in the thought that President Rodrigo Duterte could be sick. Some of them even claim that he is in a coma. Apparently, someone has been spreading the rumor that he is in a coma. This was after Duterte decided to skip the Independence Day rites this week. Since they haven’t heard from Duterte for a few days, they assume the worse and think that he is ill. For people who are against fake news, they spread fake news really fast.
There’s just no pleasing his critics. When Duterte goes on a tirade, they complain that he is rude and lacks manners. When he is quiet, his critics go on imagination overdrive and assume his cabinet is hiding the real state of his health and well-being. It’s as if Duterte doesn’t have the right to rest anymore. They seem to forget that Duterte is 70 years old, not 20.
Duterte’s critics are contradicting themselves. They act like they are advocates of human rights, but wish harm on their enemies. They make a lot of noise and accuse Duterte of perpetuating extra-judicial killings, but they wish death on Duterte. When you see their posts on social media, you will lose faith in humanity. Some of them wish Duterte is dead already. It would have been different if they wish Duterte was prosecuted for what they accuse him of. At least that would give Duterte a chance to clear his name or provide justice to those killed in the war on drugs. But, no. His critics simply want him gone. They have no respect for human rights at all.
Yes, Duterte’s critics, some of whom are from the Liberal Party and their supporters do not want to give Duterte the presumption of innocence. They claim to be advocates of the rule of law, but do not want to give Duterte his right to due process.
The Liberal Party and their supporters think they own righteousness. They act like they have a monopoly on being right. They blame all the current woes on Duterte and ignore the fact that the Liberal Party was at the helm for six years. They expect Duterte to fix, over a short period of time, all the problems that former President BS Aquino left behind. This just proves that they are vindictive and apply double standards. They did not complain about problems when BS Aquino was in charge, but magnify all the problems now even when they were neglected during his term.
An example of a major problem that BS Aquino government neglected is the management of the Metro Rail Transit. Despite a budget of 3.8 billion pesos, the train system did not improve. It didn’t help that the previous administrators purchased new train coaches that are too wide for the existing train tracks. This was a major blunder that seems to fly above their supporters’ heads. Obviously, the current coaches cannot accommodate the growing number of passengers who use the MRT. In other words, the incompetence of the previous administration is affecting the current administration today.
It would take miracle for the Liberal Party and their supporters to admit that the previous BS Aquino government was neglectful and should take accountability for the current woes today. Unfortunately, taking accountability is not their greatest trait. Even when they were in power, they blamed other people like the previous administrators. Now, blaming the previous administrators only worked when they were still new, but the public got tired of the blame game when BS Aquino still blamed his own shortfalls on former President Gloria Arroyo and sometimes even on the late Ferdinand Marcos.
The Liberal Party and their supporters don’t seem to learn. Their tactic of using negative propaganda is only exposing their own hypocrisy. They should have noticed by now that Duterte doesn’t even play the blame game. Indeed, the only people who spread hatred in Philippine society are ironically the ones who are complaining about human rights abuses.
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