Soon after VP Sara Duterte announced her resignation as Secretary of the Education Department, I received several messages from my friends in Duterte’s camp saying “the gloves are off!”
Of course, my immediate reaction was to tell them that the gloves were already off (literally) when Sara (she was mayor of Davao City then) punched that sheriff in Davao City not once but four times for simply implementing a court order.
Okay, so she was trying to delay the demolition of a local slum, and that sheriff was perhaps too eager to enforce a court order, but must a fist land four times in the face of a law officer?
If this is the kind of arrogance we are shown while she was just a mayor, what more if she occupies bigger offices with bigger budgets creating bigger egos? But she is indeed the daughter of a thug-turned-mayor-turned-president.
And underneath all that nice make-up and foundation, she has already laid the foundation that her leadership can be described in one word: thuggery.
That is why I cringe at the tirades from her supporters about how the Marcoses are said to be a family of evil nature.
One need not go far. Just observe the behavior of these officials and you will see who really has psychopathic tendencies.
So her supporters want her to carry on with the policies and programs of her father.
While at the DepEd, she came under fire for her alleged incompetence. Thus, her resignation will pave the way for genuine reforms on the alarming crisis in our current education system.
Her critics were quick to notice that she would slowly but surely criticize the policies of the Marcos government.
For this, she was “strongly advised” to quit her post as education chief and be the true opposition they wanted her to be.
But of course the Liberals led by Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman would claim loudly that his party is the true opposition saying that “Vice-President Sara Duterte may assume the leadership of the partisan opposition to the Marcos Jr. administration, but the Liberal Party (LP) remains the ideological and conscientious opposition to both the current administration and Duterte’s breakaway power bloc.
Her resignation as a Cabineteer puts to a definite halt all partisan relations between the Marcos and Duterte political camps, which dissolves forever the UniTeam.
And what about that sheriff from Davao? He can also serve “punch” in all of Sara’s political parties in Davao, right?
Parochial mindset
Some of VP Sara Duterte’s apologists say that they would rather have her “be right than popular.”
Okay, but even in the eyes of the wise, she ain’t. Perhaps it is as she wants to be and not as the people feel her to be.
The strength of a true leader lies in a relationship: this is defined as a political bond between the leader and the led. The strength of a leader lies in the goodwill and compassion for the people. The strength of a leader comes from the dynamics of the working class and the peasants participating in the struggle of building a nation together – not dismembering it out on a whim.
The strength of a leader is in the collective identity of the citizens expressed by the eloquence of the heart and not by the choice of words, or in her case, “no comment.”
Now that VP Sara Duterte is officially out of the Marcos camp, she can give all the statements she can possibly express in criticizing freely an administration that was never really in her heart, but only a stepping stone for greater conquests.
She was a stumbling block to many simply because she focused more on parochial matters rather than on national interests
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Random Memorandum: One man close to my heart became a torch bearer in the world of Philippine education.
He worked to “instill nationalism in the youth, to promote more Filipino sources in education, and the observance of a patriotic calendar whereby historical events were taught and observed in public schools.
He asserted that “there is a need of shifting the tendency of our young people from frivolous social gatherings toward serious patriotic commemorations when they may ponder upon the past endeavors.”
He also believed that “the observance of historical events, especially those which led the foundation for the Filipino nation, is an effective way of inculcating nationalism among children and the youth.
While a great deal has been done in recent years along this line in public schools, still there should be greater emphasis upon nationalism.”
He also stressed that “Filipino culture and tradition should be the bases of education in the Philippines,” and that “the educational concept is closely related to nationalism and love of country.”
His name is Jorge Bocobo.
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Factoid: Manuel L. Quezon’s wife Aurora Aragon is his first cousin. She was officially the first wife of a president to be called “First Lady.” Upon Quezon’s death in the US in 1944, she immediately returned to the Philippines, which prompted an offer for her to run as Senator under the Liberal Party for the 1945 elections.
She declined, campaigning actively instead for Manuel A. Roxas who became the first president of the independent Philippine Republic. She declined her pension, saying other widows were more deserving to receive it but her.
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