After campaigning desperately and bitterly in the past three months—or maybe, six years—it is time for our feuding presidential candidates and their followers to surrender to the will of the Filipino people the fate of their battle to win the presidency.
Anyway, what have they accomplished during this campaign period?
Instead of inspiring us, the voters, they have only demonstrated their mediocrity, bad manners and preference to insult their rivals. Barely outlining how they would deliver their promises to improve our lives, they have instead flooded us with too much of their outrageous campaign gimmicks, dirty tactics, and black propaganda.
They have to stop campaigning on Sunday, anyway, and by advancing the day they’d cease campaigning, they’d be doing us a big favor.
Coincidentally, today exactly 74 years ago on May 6, 1942 was when the Americans surrendered to the invading Japanese forces our island of Corregidor which they used to call “The Rock” and the “Gibraltar of the East.”
Only 11,000 “grim, gaunt, and ghostly” American and Filipino soldiers were physically turned over, but the surrender also included all other troops who were still fighting the Japanese elsewhere in the country.
Lt. Gen. Jonathan “Skinny” Wainright—the Allied forces commander in the Philippines who replaced Gen. Douglas Macarthur after he escaped to Australia on March 11—had to sign an almost unconditional surrender that Lt. Gen. Masaharu Homma of the 14th Japanese Imperial Army demanded from him.
For the past several days before, the Allied forces at Corregidor had been suffering heavy casualties from the enemy’s continuous bombardment and were also short of food and ammunitions. They had no choice but to surrender to avoid losing more lives.
In fact, the general had earlier conveyed in his last radio message to American President Franklin Roosevelt that the battle to defend the island—and consequently, the Philippines— was already lost.
“There is a limit of human endurance, and that point has long been passed.”
Like those American and Filipino soldiers on Corregidor, we have also reached as of today our limit of patience from listening and watching our candidates’ mudslinging and use of black propagandas.
Besides, any mudslinging or use of black propaganda at this time is unfair to the accused candidate and to us, the voters. With limited time before Election Day, no accused candidate could explain and defend himself against a vicious black propaganda. Neither could we assess its truthfulness.
The intentions are, of course, to divert the accused candidate away from his winning campaign strategies and to confuse us, voters. After succeeding in creating a chaotic situation, the accuser and his minions could then launch their evil plans and cheat their way to undeserved victory.
Our mass media practitioners—in their exercise of press freedom—should never allow themselves to be used as instruments in spreading any black propaganda. Comelec should consider their use as an election and criminal offense.
The week-old allegation of Senator Antonio Trillanes that Mayor Digong Duterte is illegally keeping P211 million at the Bank of the Philippine Islands is an example of a mudslinging that is unfair to the mayor and to us, voters, simply because it was intentionally released to leave little time for its verification and clarification.
Obviously, it is black propaganda against the leading presidential contender that his shrewd rivals are encouraging, fanning, and possibly, even funding.
After all, why would a tail-ender vice presidential candidate become an attack dog against a non-rival? Why doesn’t he pick a fight against his fellow vice presidential candidates from whom he could steal some votes?
BPI couldn’t confirm or deny the veracity of the allegations because doing either would open it to court cases involving violations of the bank secrecy law. It would also risk triggering a bank run from secretive big depositors who may start worrying that their bank deposits are being leaked freely by the bank’s employees and officers to malicious parties.
So far, what has this black propaganda accomplished?
The mayor’s loyal followers—who now comprise the biggest group of voters—are simply treating it as another futile attempt by a failed coup d’état leader to weaken their trust and confidence on their chosen leader. In response, they have become more committed to him.
Yes, the previously undecided voters might now go to his rivals. But some would choose to abstain instead of voting, or join the mayor out of sympathy.
But the pragmatic ones who have rationally concluded that the mayor would win on May 9 have started openly supporting him. They include the political clans of the Singsons, Pinedas, Remullas, Fuentebellas, Garcias, and recently, Herbert Bautista of Quezon City.
They have jumped into his bandwagon and have been joined lately by the members of the Iglesia ni Cristo.
They all know that vicious black propagandas are only launched against winners.
Unfortunately, those who have joined his rivals’ camps for years now would continue to pursue this black propaganda until Election Day and beyond.
They should realize that surrendering or conceding early is much, much better.
