PEOPLE POWER ONLY HAPPENS EVERY 15-YEARS: 1986, 2001 and 2016

Yes, 2016. People Power by the ballot happened on that fateful year. Political experts and veteran politicians didn’t see it coming and neither did most of the over 16-million Filipinos who overwhelmingly voted to catapult an unassuming Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Roa Duterte to the highest government position of the land. Davao City’s loss was the nation’s gain.

Scholars will probably be studying what happened for a long time. A humble Pres. Duterte dismisses it as an act of fate because he himself didn’t aspire for it or plan for it like most of his rivals did, but for many Filipinos – it was a deliverance from the decades of traditional politics that hound our unsteady system of government. Populism may be a recent global
phenomenon but it apparently offended the “finer” sensibilities of some perceived elitist-wannabes and the traditional oligarchy. After all, they didn’t go through life trying to hone good manners and right conduct to end up having a leader who exhibits un-“statesman-like” demeanor through his foul mouth and gutter humor.

The fact is, we’ve never had a no-nonsense, hip-shooting leader and self-confessed socialist like Rodrigo Duterte and sadly we may never will. Most Davaoeños are proud of him and so are the over 16-million Filipino voters here and abroad.