HIS WAY OR NO WAY: A ONE MAN’S RULE

Recently, presidential candidate and Liberal Party standard-bearer Mar Roxas released lambasting statements about fellow candidate, Rodrigo Duterte saying that he is “a threatto democracy”.

The crux of the statements is that the latter, according to Roxas, practices a form of politics, which is his way or no way. Roxas also insinuated that when confronted with what is true, Duterte would answer with invectives, insults or bullets.

How true are these allegations?

Perhaps, Roxas, like many of our fellow Filipinos, is afraid of being subjected to a regime under a one man’s rule. For many years, the Philippines who fought so hard to achieve the elusive right to democracy, has been subjected to a military stronghold, bereft of democracy and freedom. This traumatic and unpleasant experience had molded the people’s minds into automatically rejecting any form of slavery towards unjust rule. Being the freedom lovers that we were born to be, we are in constant fear that the next leader to assume the highest position of the land will take it away, instead of protecting it.

Among the many statements released, what struck me most is the part when Roxas accused the current mayor of Davao City as “the judge, jury and executioner” despite the state of the country “we’re in a democracy”. What makes a country democratic anyway? Simply put, it is a government by the people or a rule of majority. Having had monitored the presidential campaigns closely, I was able to read a lot of articles involving the candidates. The issue that automatically made connection with Roxas’ claims is the extrajudicial killings in the south. Upon reviewing and rereading the articles again, the common denominators for these are, the alleged killings were done without the rule of law implemented. Backing up the issues with the reports from the Human Rights Watch, and the recently releases crime indexes and statistics by the Philippine National Police, it seems that there are many laws and rights being trampled upon with the so called practice of the rule of law. Instead, there is no rule at all.

What happens then to our country if one man’s rule is the rule for all? Chaos? Pandemonium? End of life as we know it?

No. There would be life, or a semblance of it. We will start living our everyday lives in constant fear of being mistaken for a drug user, or our daughters, sisters or wife being victims of the ghastly crime of rape and our sons, brothers and husbands being accused of drug dealers or pushers. Unsolved murders and killings may be a more common occurrence in our national news and media. If left unchecked, a single man’s way may be made toward his own personal interests or that of his families, colleagues and constituents. Anything can happen if one man’s rule becomes the rule for all. Most of these things, however, are at the detriment of a nation.

                                                   

Yes, we are in dire need of change. We have been craving for a leader that is worthy to govern the nation of heroes and great men and women. But how do we select it?  As one of the 21st century’s greatest author wrote, “If you want to know what a man is like, look at how he treats his inferiors.” Would you vote for a man who publicly came out and supported the killings of alleged criminals both minor and not by vigilantes in the form of death squads in his own city? Would you vote for a man who is a self confessed womanizer? Or a man who overtly sent expletives to the leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics because of a traffic situation that is a normal scenario in a country?

By this time, we Filipinos should have learned our lessons from our past decisions. We do not vote based on popularity and we are not persuaded with flowery but empty words and promises. We are Filipinos, capable of making educated choices. We should vote for a leader that is first and foremost, respectable and gives due respect to all, may it be to people, or to the constitution.