The inertia the PNoy status quo has created for the last six years prior to the incumbent administration has negatively impacted on the pyscho-social and political mindset of the citizenry.
Inertia, according to Webster, is the tendency of matter to remain at rest (or continue in a fixed direction) unless acted on by an outside force; disinclination to act.
Little did we know that this inertia has developed into a curse, a scourge that has engulfed the whole country into a nation of tamed and domesticated people much like the Indios of four centuries hence.
In the ensuing years after a well-scripted clapping of hands greeted his first of six SONAs, earning hosannas when he called us out: “Kayo ang boss ko,” our heads swelled with pride – though somewhat flitting – because he etched an image in the public mind that he of the Yellow Party was the knight in shining armor, rescuing us from the clutches of the infamous regime that he succeeded and whose leader he caused to be jailed for almost six years.
This impression he nurtured like a countrywide slogan to pinpoint the blame to his predecessor as conveniently as he could every time a snafu arises. He cultivated a cult and successfully reined in the mainstream media in Imperial Manila, enabling him to hide and sweep under the rug the corrupt practices now slowly but surely surfacing.
Despite the embarrassing dilemma and scandal the Luneta hostage crisis created on his first few months in office, the man and his cohorts double-timed to cover up his tracks.
He was called a laid back, happy-go-lucky swivel chair Chief Executive, preferring to tinker with the latest of his PS gadgets and chained smoke during informal meetings and get together with some of his closest aides.
His men trumpeted his Private-Public Partnerships and rescinded big-ticket projects already signed by the past regime because these, he alleged in big screaming media headlines, were tainted with corruption and bribery.
Six years of his administration impoverished the millions of rural folks as they grappled with unemployment, poverty and shabu – the poor man’s cocaine -the illegal drugs trade which flourished under his very nose because even high-ranking police officers, governors and mayors and mostly barangay officials were secretly in cahoots with drug lords.
But the cover-up was so smooth that even the illicit romantic trysts of a justice secretary escaped his presidential vision to the effect that shabu addiction virtually sewed up and skewered millions of innocent youths literally from Batanes to Sulu.
Thus, as soon as the newly-installed Duterte government seriously flexed its muscles against drug lords and its network of pushers, the 2,190 days of inertia was ominously disturbed and, like rats escaping from a sinking ship, the evil forces that used to reign scooted and skedaddled in disparate directions.
Just nearly two years of Digong’s presidency, the disbelief among the lower layers of Philippine society about his ability to rule and reign has dissipated. His trust ratings have been the highest among all presidents of the republic.
Thurgood Marshall, the first African American justice appointed by Lyndon Johnson to the US Supreme Court, said: “The measure of a country’s greatness is its ability to retain compassion in times of crisis.”
This quotation is relatable to the present circumstances in our country.
Duterte, while expressing his utter disgust over the proliferation of illegal drugs trade, crime and corruption and displaying prompt executive action, has shown that his government is one which offers a compassionate hand to the poor and the helpless.
The prompt repatriation and homecoming of thousands of OFWs displaced in Kuwait and other Middle East countries is the antithesis of inertia that has hounded this country for the full six years of the previous corruptible administration.
Inertia? Never again! (Email your feedback to fredlumba@yahoo.com.) ”For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord” (Isaiah 55:8.) GOD BLESS THE PHILIPPINES!
