Rodrigo Duterte is neither rock star nor religious icon, but a video circulating on social media shows supporters eagerly catching face towels which the Davao mayor had used to wipe the sweat off his face and neck and then thrown at the crowd.
If we go by poll surveys, Duterte will likely be the next president, breaking away from his rivals even after that galling pronouncement on rape which had angered many sectors. Duterte seems to bask in his lead, as seen in his brash statements before the “disappointed” business community—never mind the apparent jitters reflected by the peso and accusations that he has billions of pesos in undeclared bank transactions.
The mayor’s popularity is said to be a consequence of people’s desperation for meaningful change—always promised but never delivered by the leaders who make them. President Aquino specifically styled himself as a radical reformer who would lead the nation into the light after the dark days of his immediate predecessor.
Six years later, the tragic combination of incompetence and hubris of the Aquino administration has led Filipinos to a point where they are willing to gamble with a maverick politician like Duterte.
The gamble is accompanied by rabid defensiveness and cult-like following; any criticism of their candidate is met with almost-reflex attacks, most of which sound catchy but do not follow any logic. Case in point: the mayor’s followers are urging depositors of the bank to close their accounts.
What’s happening with Duterte may be an extreme case, but Filipinos have not been known for cold objectivity in choosing their leaders. On the contrary, they embrace their candidates not just with keen interest but with zeal, often confusing the real person with the larger-than-life image their handlers have created. The pious widow. The scion of heroes. The underdog. The poor foundling. There are countless versions at the local levels.
Unfortunately, the practice persists, and promises to determine the results of the elections we are having in a little over a week from now. A new cycle will then begin—the lionized leaders failing to live up to their promise, the people feeling that they’ve been shortchanged, and then clamoring for that word that does not seem to carry any meaning anymore: change.