President Rodrigo Duterte has told everyone that he had successfully dismantled an oligarch specifically the Lopezes by way of the closure of the ABS-CBN. As can be remembered from his platforms of government when he was still running for the presidency, he promised to get rid of oligarchy and to dismantle the same, sad to say he has dismantled an oligarch who was/is a dissenter to his administration and not an ally. If he is true to his promise in dismantling the oligarchs, then he should dismantle all of them and not the Lopezes only. He must stop playing favorites.
The Villars, Cojuangcos, and Dennis Uy are oligarchs, right? So why is it that he is not pressing them to the full when they are oligarchs? Why is he not giving them some headaches? Is it because they are friends or they have helped him win the presidency? Is it not that his statement in dismantling oligarchy in the Philippines was sweeping? Why is he now playing favorites by giving problems to his oligarch-enemies and by giving favors to his oligarch friends?
The first oligarch to fall under the Duterte presidency was Roberto Ongpin, a former Marcos crony who used to be the biggest shareholder of the biggest online gaming even before the Chinese POGOs came into popularity. Ongpin was shamed by Duterte via national television broadcast for being an oligarch, and without any delay, the former divested from the said online gaming business and sold his shares to a Duterte ally by the name of Gregorio "Greggy" Araneta also an oligarch and a son in law of former President Ferdinand Marcos. This example is actually evidence that the president is getting rid of an oligarch in favor of another oligarch.
Why is he giving favors to his political backers like Sen. Koko Pimentel and his police big whigs like Maj. Gen. Debold Senas who were not sued for violating COVID 19 quarantine protocols but orders the arrest of ordinary people who violate the quarantine protocol. Is justice selective under his watch or is he just playing favoritism?
Does his battle cry TAPANG and MALASAKIT only selective to the extent that he is only courageous and strict (MATAPANG) against his opponents and gives comfort (MAY MALASAKIT) only to his supporters?
Is this the only leadership style the president can offer to the table? Pressure his opponents and dissenters and give comfort to his loyalists and friends? If that is so, then I would conclude that the people who have elected him four years ago had actually erroneously chosen him to lead the country, whose fertile soil and natural beauty was defended by our fallen heroes in the battlefields against the foreign invaders many years ago.
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