Showbiz father-and-son celebrities Gary and Gabriel Valenciano got the twitter abuzz with their contrasting messages amidst the cacophony of voices from the glitterdom on the COVID 19 crisis.
Gary’s tweet was transcendent, perhaps in that sense, more mature. I will pray for your, sir (meaning President Duterte), he said. One intellectual wag immediated posted: he needs it because he’s hopeless, or something to do that effect. The implied conclusion is worrisome, if not outright frightening.
Gab’s tweet came on Gary’s heels. The message is short but severe: step down.
It kindled a verbal arson on social media, especially from the camp of the President, thinking it was a verbal missile aimed at Malacanang. It turned out ,as Gab clarified later, the missive, whose addressee was unnamed, was for Sen. Koko Pimentel who was earlier raked over the coals for allegedly breaking his own protocol as one with a confirmed case.
To late the hero, the damage, or perceived one, has been done. There such a thing as collateral damage in any kind of war, armed or no armed.
In a bigger sense, both were correct and presumptively well meaning, considering the dire strait we’re in given that there is lockdown in more one sense of the word. As it is right now, the pervasive feeling is that everybody is locked up and the chief warden can’t remember where he placed the key.
This metaphor of an analogy captures both father and son sentiment as most everybody’s.
To honestly appreciate Gab’s comment, let’s begin with the idea that we’re in a democracy at this time, notwithstanding some handwriting on the wall that screams ” Made in China”.
“It has been seen that the dangers incident to a representative democracy are of two kinds, so wrote John Stuart Mill: danger of low grade of intelligence in the representative body and in the popular opinion which controls it.”
It seems to resonate from a distant age.
Gab’s broad stroke, while allegedly aimed at someone other than Duterte, might as well be applied to all in leaderships roles and decision makers in government at this difficult time, perhaps even more so.
Remember that a week ago, Duterte himself has admitted to being desperate about the situation one columnist described him at his wit’s end. You know the drift. Can others be in the same frame of mind?
In that context, one like Gab cannot be faulted for challenging whomever that if he cannot step up to the plate, he might as well step down. Which I think is the most patriotic thing to do for anyone who means well for this country.
We are in a perfect storm, so is the rest of the world, and right thinking leaders who are competent and can be trusted are what need now. As it is right now, there’s confusion with the message, with the implementation of programs and an overwhelming and lingering doubt as to the real plan on how to deal with the unseen enemy. Henry Kissinger is clear and heavy on the importance of atmospherics.
It’s no wonder some LGU heads are asking: where’s the beef? In the meantime, more people are doing with less and less everyday, and the ranks of the desperate maybe increasing also, who knows. In the meantime, some Cabinet members are at loggerheads over policy and logistical issues. If the highest official of the land can fall into this mental grip, how much more are the less fortunate? This virus is no respecter of person but woe to those who more vulnerable.
As I write this, Philippine National Police Chief Archie Gamboa has appealed for support for President Duterte in the national fight against COVID 19. It’s no less patriotic than Gab’s tweet.
But patriotism, according to Mark Twain, is about supporting your country at all times, and supporting your government when it deserves it. Thomas Paine went as far as saying that patriotism is defending your country against your government.
In any case, some people, no doubt well meaning, can have a misplaced sense of patriotism. Sometimes who butters your bread messes up with your brain.
A timely caveat: Mill added that the interest of the people is that there should be full liberty of censure on every public officer and on every public act of measure. Attention:Speaker Cayetano and company.
The fitting denouement of this whole story is that on Holy Wednesday Duterte asked every Filipino to pray for help, reinforcing his earlier confession of desperation. Humility over hubris. Nebuchanezzar on his knees.
And it all makes sense in the world that Gary, whether he was a bit prophetic or practical in his tweet, invoked a higher authority to prop up a once bad-mouthing president who threatened to slap the virus earlier, to say it’s too way too much for a puny, ordinary mortal like him to handle. A quick evolution in a single sentence: from mayor to president to mouse.
Gary, Gab and Archie, may your tribe increase.
