UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

By NEILWIN JOSEPH L. BRAVO
As early as three o-clock in the afternoon, people of ordinary walks of life started to mill at the Freedom Park. Some of them wearing Rodrigo Duterte shirts they themselves had printed or bought. There were those too who converted Duterte plastic ads into placards nailed on wood.
Like ants, they multiplied into the dusk and from patches of people came the thousands that had the stretch of Corner Ponciano Bangoy to Roxas filled to every space of real estate. From kids as young as toddlers and senior citizens, they all came that night to spread their arms in a warm embrace to a man they have taken into their lives as lolo, father, brother, friend, son and Mayor.
Who is this man and why do they show them so much love? It’s not ordinary affection. It’s unconditional. It’s passionate. Unselfish. It’s almost like a religion.
His late mother Nanay Soling Duterte would have risen from the grave that night to personally witness this unprecedented expression of support, a King’s coronation it was almost, a canonization. Whatever you call it. It was as electric as Woodstock. A rock concert would have paled in comparison.
Who is Rodrigo Duterte and why are Dabawenyos crazy for him? How rabid can rabid be? This must be the tell-all tale of a man-who-would-be-president.
On stage, as the mammoth crowd estimated at 20,000 roared at the sight of his image magnified by the bright lights and moving strobes, presidential candidate Mayor Duterte kissed the Philippine flag, raises his right hand and declared: “I am Rodrigo Duterte. I am a Filipino. I love the Philippines. It is the home of my birth, it is the land of my people.”
At that note, it’s like the ground caved in. All emotions went unbridled. Some were crying unabashedly. Some were sobbing and holding back. But everywhere you looked, everywhere cameras panned and clicked, people were delirious.
This is a political rally, an ordinary scene for politics-loving Pinoys. It’s the thing in every elections. Festive, dance-filled, entertaining. For those who have lived through many elections, a political rally is nothing much but a fiesta show.
That Wednesday night was different. It was a political rally like no other.
Mayor Duterte spoke for an hour. He has been away from the city since filing his candidacy for President as a substitute for the PDP-Laban Party. He was his usual element—enriching, entertaining and engaging. The crowd chanted his name in many occasions, laughed at his jokes, and received him—everything in him unconditionally–in emphatic approval.
These are people who came on their own. No hakot. No free ride. No free food. No free shirts.
The highlights were not the entertainment on the side although these are also offered free by some artists like Chad Borja, Richard Reynoso, Rannie Raymundo and Renz Verano who lent their talents to sing Makabayan songs. Even the sexy, gyrating Mocha Girls performed for the man they believed would be the country’s best hope. Again, all for free.
Television cameras craned, drones hovered above, photo cameras clicked and recordings rolled. The media, from giant television networks to independent groups, all came to cover the event.
ABS-CBN reporter Doris Bigornia, at the Francisco Bangoy International Airport, rushed her news report before boarding a flight back to Manila with her crew. She recorded her sound bites at the pre-departure area.
“Ayusin natin dahil tinitira na ako sa social media hindi raw lumalabas si Duterte sa atin,” she was overheard saying. She made calls and insisted on the videos she handpicked. Not the ones shown the previous night where Mayor Duterte was merely shown handshaking some crowd in another event.
“Show the videos, halos ikamamatay namin yan dito,” she was heard telling the party on the other line.
The rally spanned through the wee hours of the night, around 10 o’clock to be exact. Before it capped that night, candles were lighted after Mayor Duterte spoke. The burst of light illuminated throughout the area. From an eagle’s vantage view, it would have looked like an ocean of fireflies lighting up below.
From that view, a macrocosm of the country’s current conditions and future holds out to a man in whose hands could turn the sorry to glory, the powerless to the enabled, the criminals to their graves and the corrupt men to jail.
This is Rodrigo Duterte. From zero to hero.