It is ironic that the Yellowtards who fancy themselves as champions of democracy in the Philippines are now in the midst of a monumental temper tantrum over the landslide victory in these elections of administration candidates Bongbong Marcos and Sara Duterte. Based on partial results of the unofficial tally reported across media outlets, Marcos and Duterte respectively form the first majority-elected president and vice president tandem in recent history. As such they enjoy an unprecedently strong mandate accorded by the Filipino people. Then again, whether it is a majority vote or the plurality that preceding administrations enjoyed, the real point here is that an elected official serves all Filipinos regardless of who voted for him or her during an election. Corollary to that, Filipinos are enjoined to recognise all elected officials and legislators — even those they did not vote for.
That is how democracy works. People entrust the selection of their leaders and legislative representatives to a system that determines who was chosen by the most voters. The Yellowtards, unfortunately, do not see it that way. They are big fans of democracy when they win but are its biggest detractors when they lose. Worse, they go as far as inciting sedition — even rebellion — to oppose and even depose the legitimate winners of an election. This is evidence of the blatant hypocrisy the Yellowtards apply to their participation in Philippine democracy. Why even field a candidate in an election if their real goal is to acquire power at any cost?
Indeed, the cost to the Filipino people of the Yellowtards’ dishonest regard for Philippine democracy is astounding. The Yellowtards plan to take a destructive role over the next six years rather than one that is constructive and mindful of the interests of the Filipino people. Many Yellowtard partisans have expressed a resolve to campaign for the 2028 elections this early — evidence that this is really all that democracy is all about for them. They fail to realise that democracy and nation building is not just about elections. In fact, the more important aspect of democracy is what happens in between elections. Therefore, how the Opposition conduct themselves over the next six years of a Marcos presidency will be a measure of their true character. Will they act like a child deprived of her candy and remain belligerent throughout? Or will they act like real grownups participating in a mature democracy? This remains to be seen but based on how certain Yellowtards have been behaving lately, there is little promise in seeing that happen for now.
| SUPPORT INDEPENDENT SOCIAL COMMENTARY! Subscribe to our Substack community GRP Insider to receive by email our in-depth free weekly newsletter. Opt into a paid subscription and you’ll get premium insider briefs and insights from us daily. Subscribe to our Substack newsletter, GRP Insider! Learn more |
Why do the Yellowtards behave like this? For clues on the origins of this baffling attitude, we need to look back at how their late matriarch Cory Aquino came to power in 1986. Cory came to power on the back of what was essentially no more than a garden variety US-backed a coup d état. Once seated, she presided over a “revolutionary government” which is really just a nice term for an illegitimate government that operates outside of the frame of the existing law at the time. Most astounding of all, Aquino was sworn in before then Supreme Court Chief Justice Claudio Teehankee. Despite Aquino having effectively broken the law at the time by installing herself as an illegitimate president, no less than the Supreme Court Chief Justice (whose job it is is to ensure things are done in compliance with the effective national Constitution at the time) was conscripted into service to legitimise her “presidency”. One can see just how nonsensical this whole affair was. If one is truly a “revolutionary” leader, then no existing law will apply to the government he or she presides over until such time that the new order is established and a new legal frame supersedes the earlier. An illegitimate power grab can never be “legitimised” within the frame of a Constitution it offended. Aquino even back then was already insulting the intelligence of the Filipino people.
From that brief history lesson, the core DNA of the character of the Yellowtard “movement” becomes really clear. The Yellowtards, at their core, are tolerant of illegitimacy. They live and breath it. This is why, for them, democracy is a mere tool of distraction that they use to continue to perpetrate their nefarious political agendas under the radar of public scrutiny. Unfortunately for them, this modus operandi only worked in an era where Big Corporate Media organisations held a monopoly over mass communication. That era ended in the twilight years of Cory Aquino’s life. The effects of social media on national politics were only beginning to be felt when her son, Benigno Simeon ‘BS’ Aquino III began his ascent to power. Fortunately for the Aquinos, they managed to sneak in a Second Aquino Presidency before Filipinos acquired the tools to keep Big Corporate Media honest and break their power to control the country’s political narrative.
The irony that flies over the heads of the Yellowtards is that it is this very tech-enabled ability of every Filipino to keep powerful institutions like their media industry, their Churches, and their politicians honest today that will also prevent the much-hyped “return to authoritarianism” that that is standard fodder for their shrill “activism” surrounding Marcos’s rise to power. Even today, the mere mention of “a descent to authoritarianism” is enough to induce an eruption of screeching sky-is-falling “activism” across the social media landscape. What more if a sitting leader actually attempts to take steps towards that goal. For that matter, for all the fear mongering the Yellowtards propagate around the idea that a Second Marcos Presidency will necessarily “plunge” the Philippines into a new “Dark Age”, it is likely that even their foremost “thought leaders” will be hard-pressed to describe exactly how Marcos would go about doing that.
Given the improbability of just about every scenario the Yellowtards get their panties all twisted about, one then wonders what it is exactly the Yellowtards want? Do they really want to see a prosperous, strong, and happy Philippines? Nowhere in their rhetoric is there any evidence that they actually aspire to that goal. It seems all the Yellowtards really want is power. Even now, in the face of insurmountable evidence that Bongbong Marcos and Sara Duterte had won these elections, Yellowtard leader Leni Robredo is the only remaining Opposition presidential candidate who has not conceded. That, by itself, attests to her dishonest character. It also serves as an ominous portent to the sort of Opposition Filipinos will have to put up with over the next six years.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
Yellowtards refuse to recognise Bongbong Marcos as their president
Source: Filipino News Bulletin
Post a Comment