Tool for change

PRESIDENT Digong Dada is a tool.

Wait. I don’t mean the slang definition of the word which is a guy with a douchy temperament and is foul mouthed. Well, he’s all that too but what I mean – for the purpose of this column – is the proper dictionary definition which is a means or an implement whereby an act is accomplished.

That was what I understood of his branding during the campaign last year. He was going to be the tool of the masses that have been neglected by the elitist Aquino administration. A government ran by oligarchs, according to Digong Dada’s communicators.

Digong Dada’s administration was selling change. It was the best part of his pitch. In fact, I dare say Mar Roxas lost because he categorically said his administration would not be any different from his friend, Noynoy Aquino. Six years (the term of office of a President) is a long time. Towards the end of Aquino’s term, most Filipinos have had enough of his excuses and his seeming indifference to the masses.

Digong Dada is our generation’s Ramon Magsaysay. His lackeys said so. He said so, too. Methinks it was what endeared him to 16 million voters. Voters who did not mind his douchy temperament and his foul mouth because he sounded like them.

Let’s go back to discussing his being a tool.

Tool to be wielded by the oppressed and exploited labor force. He promised to put an end to the contractualization scheme in the work force. He promised a stark increase of workers’ pension. So far, these promises have remained as such – promises.

Tool to be wielded by the marginalized indigenous peoples and a champion of the environment. He declared his affinity with the Lumad. Yet the killing of Lumad leaders still continue without let-up. Tribal communities have been host to mining firms, especially here in Mindanao.

However, when his environment secretary declared a no-nonsense crackdown on erring mining firms, his cabinet vetoes it. He did say he supports the closure order last week but what he says is entirely different from what his finance secretary is saying.

Tool to be wielded by the downtrodden and disenfranchised urban poor. Having resided in an urban poor community for the better part of my life has put me in the best listening position to the woes of the city’s survivors – people who have no dental and medical plans, who have to eke a living in a day-to-day basis.

However, the urban poor forms the biggest casualty in Digong Dada’s bloody war on drugs. How many times did we witness him giving real drug lords a free pass on live news TV? How many times will we have to listen to him say the poor addicts are not capable of reforming?

I thought we would be wielding this tool for change.

So, who could be wielding this tool now? If you read the dailies and listen to broadcasts of mainstream media you can have a peek at who really wields him as a tool. Nay, weapon. I say the new oligarchs have been brandishing him like a weapon. A weapon unleashed on the very people who put him to power.