On Promising the Moon and the Star

 

Duterte reigns the nation on his promise of the moon and the star. He didn’t deliver the moon, only it’s moonshine. The star, he boasted with aplomb.

The moon refers to “Until the last drug lord or pusher get killed” Corruption abated. Hellish traffic, resolve. The practice of ENDO (non-regularization of a worker after six months of employment) ended.

Promising the moon on the campaign is a dilemma for a politician. If they don’t promise that’s political suicide. But if he will get the moon, that’s acceptable. People love to be fooled.

Never mind, if the politician had not yet been in the thick of things running the country. Only when confronted with the complexities of running the nation, that politician realized that the moon promised –  the moonshine is only its equivalent.

The “moonshine” here refers to the raw, unfinished version of the moon people dreamed of.

Here’s why.

Take the illegal drug problems. In six months’ time, Duterte said, he will stop the drug menace. Then later, faced with the hard facts of the problems, he raised up his hand, and admitted, he couldn’t handle it, and pass the challenge to anyone who could do it. The people wonder why the drug supplies never dried up? With the continuing buy-bust strategies for a year, expected its supply dwindled. But no. It flourished. Now the National Bilibid Prison (NBP) surged back as the drug dealing center. Meanwhile, the Extra Judicial Killing (EJK) is still part of the landscape.

With the moonshine, people got alerted. This is the redeeming feature. Had it not been Duterte won, it reeled in the nation to drug perdition.

Abating corruption on Duterte’s appointees made a headway in a year. His quip: “mere whiff corruption from anyone of his appointees,” considered them out. It resonated.

Not one who became the MMDA Chairman resolved the monstrous traffic problem in decades.  The root cause of the problem is the lack of roads to accommodate the rising vehicle units using the roads. Add up the non-cooperative, unsynchronized acts of the various stakeholders; the public, the motorist, traffic enforcers, transportation industries. The MMDA runs out of schemes to resolve the problem. It is advisable for the politician not to pledge this moon.

The Labor Department said ENDO after a year is a failure. If one is outside of the government, it’s easy to claim this moon. If on the inside once the stakeholders presented their arguments it’s difficult to balance the interest of the employment supplier and the manpower provider. Yet, problematic to keep the Status quo. Result: stalemate.

Duterte didn’t promise the star. He is the star. Since his campaign started, his colorful language distinguished himself from the other. His unorthodox manner baited the social and the mainstream media hunting for intriguing quips. For them the words coming from his mouth is money. Every day, his diehard fans and detractors are eager to hear him speak, anticipating his next bombshell. Some will get pissed, or entertained. Others stockpiled munitions to use for his downfall.

Every day of the year, Duterte’s star shines to keep people on the edge.