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TURNING POINT: Game Over

NAAWAN, Misamis Oriental (MindaNews / 18 May) — He is irreverent and vulgar. You don’t want your young kids to go near him or risk being infected by the filth that he spews.

No matter, we have a very popular president whose vulgar charisma enables him to do anything he wants. Good or bad, right or wrong, for the many he is always good and is always right. It is amazing.

Moreover, President Duterte has magic. When he says the word, things happen.

The President has spoken. Amen, said the people. Game over.

We will get what we deserve. Very soon, we will be there.

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The truth in Philippine elections escapes many politicians. That is, even if you have a lot of money but don’t belong to a party with a well-established and maintained political machinery that operates up and down to the grassroots, your chance of winning is pitch dark, unless you are a popular actor or has done something spectacular.

The truth is more evident at the local level where most candidates are engaged in vote-buying. Those with long groomed leaders and runners at the barangay to the purok level often win.

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It is foolish to expect different results from the same people who go through the same old ways and system of doing things.

If we want different results we either change the people or the entire system of doing things. It appears that changing the people to improve their plight, is an uphill struggle; then it might be convenient and easier to change the system to change the people for good.

We have been under a democracy for over half a century. Our democracy, however, has been warped and punctured by a value system that glorifies and ennobles autocracy, plutocracy and indecency, thus the democratic system stalls and is getting us nowhere. It looks like the system fails us in choosing our leaders and in imposing social discipline. It seems democracy as a system of governance is not fit for us.

Will our nation thrive better in an authoritarian rule? Whatever, the verdict of the people in the last two succeeding national elections favours it. A new ballgame may soon play. (MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. William R. Adan, Ph.D., is retired professor and former chancellor of Mindanao State University at Naawan, Misamis Oriental.)

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