Destiny is complete, fulfilled

By Al S. Mendoza

 

SURGICAL precision it was.

That perfectly describes President Duterte’s inauguration as the country’s 16th Chief Executive on June 30 at Malacanang Palace.

For once, every scheduled move was hit practically on the dot.

Not even a minor hitch marred the occasion.

From the time he left his hotel to his arrival at the Palace, Duterte hurdled every detail almost flawlessly.

From his oath-taking to his inaugural speech, Duterte was obstacle-free.

Destiny is complete, fulfilled.

Oh, yes, the inaugurals’ protocol was followed to the letter that if you had thought this wasn’t the Philippines, you’d be justified.

For the first time since the 1986 Edsa Revolt, we saw none of the country’s patented organized confusion in that historic morning-to-noon Palace show.

Just orderly flow from sequence one to conclusion: like a river rolling smoothly onto the sea.

Which prods me to ask: Why not use the soul of that formula to fix Edsa’s traffic jams?

You untangle Edsa and I tell you, the entire metropolis mumbo-jumbo jumble would be gone faster than when Sharapova changes from her tennis wardrobe to street clothes.

Is my kumpadre-cum-amigo Art Tugade, the new Transportation chief, listening?

Anyway, the hands-down highlight of the June 30 inauguration was President Duterte’s inaugural speech.

Just four words:  Direct to the point.

Again, he reiterated his vow to deal a deadly blow to criminality, corruption, drugs.

And if he was believable making that vow during his campaign sorties, he was again every inch believable last June 30.

That’s the beauty with Digong.

Because he walks his talk in Davao where he was mayor for nearly a quarter of a century, hopes are high he’d also do it for the nation.

He cited in his speech the people’s “erosion of faith” to our government—and he is damn right.

Virtually our masses of people comprising nearly 75 percent of our 102 million population have practically lost all hope of help from the government.

While there is economic growth 6-7 percent annually, the fruits of such have never cascaded down to our poorest of the poor.

Sadly, only the rich continue to benefit amid widespread hunger and want.

Some 1.3 million cannot eat 3 decent meals a day.

About 2 million remain unemployed.

No less than 5 million receive wages that can hardly feed a family of 4.

Quoting national artist F. Sionil Jose, Pangasinan’s pride and joy from Rosales, Mr. Duterte said:  “We are our worst enemies.”

That applies truest to the moneyed, of course.

For the longest time, they make money from the sweat of the toiling masses.

Alas, that thrives because the government has become a perennial willing party to this dastardly, despicable and soul-less act.

Even more bizarrely is that the Church has remained silent to this cancer, social malady, all this time.

With Duterte’s arrival, the thundering cry is, “Change is Coming!”

Might as well rephrase it to:  “Digong is Here!”

Run the thieves, dregs of society, must.

(For your comments and reactions, please email to: punch.sunday@gmail.com)

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