gemini://midnight.pub/posts/1069

The Philippines is in a terrible state (just like any other country). The exchange rate of USD to PHP is getting worse, prices of basic commodities and gasoline are steadily increasing, and millions are still struggling to get by with everyday life. These circumstances made the 2022 elections even more important, as the new president will be the one responsible for solving the problems that the country was facing.

These elections had the biggest amount of presidential candidates in the country's history, with 10 fighting for the position. The two main contenders were Ferdinand "Bongbong" R. Marcos Jr. (or BBM) and Maria Leonor "Leni" G. Robredo. Personally, I found Leni a better candidate than Bongbong simply because:

she had an actual plan and didn't spout the same nonsense about "unity"

she attended presidential debates (BBM didn't)

she was not the child of a dictator that was in position for two decades

she has a good track record, unlike BBM who was usually late/absent in senate hearings when he was still a senator

To my disappointment, however, BBM won the election by a landslide, defeating Leni with 31 to 14 million votes. Maybe they rigged the electronic election, or maybe Filipinos just want him to be the president. Who knows. I love democracy.

So it's been a week since BBM has been in position and it has already been terrible.

Neil Mercado: Inflation rate soared to 6.1%, the highest since October 2018. Does the President have any concrete plan to address this?

Marcos: I think I will have to disagree with that number. We are not that high. We have crossed the – our targets were…4% or less.

**Marcos went on to say that inflation is a global issue and has affected imported goods.**

Marcos: Much of our inflation is actually imported inflation. It is imported because it is the inflation on the products that have suffered inflation that we import…. When we analyze, we have to make those categorical differences so that we’ll better understand really what the situation is.

And they even had the audacity to host parties in Malacañang. I thought the country was BBM's top priority?

It doesn't even end there. Sara Duterte, the new vice president (who is also the new head of the Department of Education), has made claims of wanting to bring back mandatory ROTC. If you want to know why this is such a bad idea (and why ROTC's mandatory stature was removed), read this:

Fake news is also rampant across social media. Attacks on the opposition have become so degraded and disgusting that they use insulting buzzwords like "dilawan" (a term mocking those related to the Aquinos, the main rival of the Marcos family). Just reading the title gives me a headache.

I wonder what will become of this country. Will the Philippines fall into another age of dictatorship and censorship, under the facade of a democracy? Will we go through what Filipinos have experienced four decades ago? When will we learn?

Do countries ever find their way into hands other than such?

I mean, even when there's a reasonably genuine "vote" involved, aren't rah-rah-you-must-be-on-our-team-or-fuck-off "citizens" <coughs> essentially incapable of collective behavior that rises above diggin' some stanky national grave?

It's sad to see the Philippines in the hands of incompetent fools

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