Poe: We don’t need a ‘berdugo’ for change

NO LAUGHING MATTER A woman reminds motorists along Timog Avenue, Quezon City, of a serious issue that presidential contender Rodrigo Duterte has treated as a joke. Women’s groups dramatized their protest with a rally on Thursday. RAFFY LERMA

As the day of reckoning neared, Sen. Grace Poe attacked her opponents in Monday’s presidential election, denying she was withdrawing from the race and offering herself as an alternative to a self-confessed executioner (berdugo), a thief and an insensitive nonperformer.

The presidency is not a two-way contest as some have tried to project, she said, disputing the newest voter preference polls showing that the presidential derby was now down to Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and administration candidate Mar Roxas.

“We’re not part of a syndicate to make deals with anybody to remove the options of our countrymen,” Poe said in a Makati press conference when asked if she had received feelers asking her to back out in the tight homestretch of the contest to boost the stock of Roxas who had overtaken her in the latest survey.

She said she had received text messages asking her about the purported withdrawal. She did not mention a name, but also said that there was a candidate’s camp that issued a statement claiming that the fight was now only between two candidates.

“This is not a transaction to sell the dreams of our countrymen,” Poe said, urging voters to examine their choice for President.

Like them, she said, she is dismayed with the country’s leaders who have failed to deliver on their promises. This failure, she said, have prompted some people to favor quick solutions no matter how dangerous.

“I continue to appeal to you because it’s not right that the only options we would have are an incompetent, unfeeling, slow-moving government, a corrupt government, or a government run by a berdugo,” she said, in apparent reference to her rivals for the presidency.

She obviously referred to Vice President Jejomar Binay, who is facing corruption charges, and Roxas, who served as transport and interior secretary in the Aquino administration. Roxas’ departments have been severely criticized for the massive traffic jams, transport woes and pervasive criminality.

But Poe reserved the harshest criticism for the executioner, without naming Duterte, who has promised to impose tough discipline to restore peace and order in the country.

“An executioner who threatens us or a government we are afraid of would not lead us to our dreams,” Poe said. A berdugo, she said, is someone who covers his face and who people do not know, and who acts against his own countrymen.

What she fears most is a government that dictates on its people, that scares its people and does not listen to its people, she added.

Asked about Duterte’s statements, Poe said she was concerned about his claim that he would set up a revolutionary government if somebody tried to oppose him.

“That is the most alarming for me,” she said.

Price of laughter

She said that many people were amused by the mayor’s statements, including her. “But if you think about it well, what is the price of this temporary laughter? We might lose the freedoms we have fought for,” she said.

One example, she said, is losing the right to say that one dislikes the President, for fear of being punished.

There may be a steep price to pay for the semblance of peace that some people want, she said.

Countries run by a dictatorship appear orderly and peaceful, such as North Korea, but its people are not happy, she said.

“If you go to North Korea, it is peaceful there. People follow rules such as where to cross the street. But if you ask them if they are happy, they are not. Because many of them are hungry, many of them are afraid, many of them can’t speak even before their families for fear they would be reported,” she said.

Asked if the Philippines would become like North Korea under a Duterte presidency, she said the mayor’s statements provided a preview of what would happen to the country.

Aside from his threat to set up a revolutionary government if his reforms are blocked, Duterte also threatened to jail his critic Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV.

Free speech

“What for do we have a democracy? No single person has the monopoly of knowing what is right for the country. That is why we should consult different groups,” she said. Part of democracy is fighting for other people’s right to free speech, she added.

Poe also said that what people were looking for was a leader whom they could depend on, who could inspire them and who could lift them out of poverty.

“The country does not have just one problem,” she said.

“We want to be safe, but we also want a prosperous family, we want to give them what they need, and most of all, we want a government we can be proud of,” she added.

In going around the country, she has seen that respect prevails among Filipinos, she said. “Which is why I ask you that I hope our next leader would give us hope and set the right example,” she said.

RELATED STORIES

Poe ‘saddened’ but respects INC support for Duterte

Shifting alliances a political decision; don’t take it personally–Poe

RELATED VIDEOS