Day of sharp contrast

By Artchil B. Fernandez

July 26, 2021 is a date forever etched in the history of the Philippines. On that day, the country ended almost a century drought of an Olympic gold. But it was also the day the Philippines’ worst nightmare delivered his last SONA. History will remember it as a day of sharp contrast between a sore loser and a heroic winner, depression and inspiration, darkness and light.

Du30’s last state of the nation address is record-breaking, the longest so far – two hours and 46 minutes. Aside from its length, Du30’s last SONA is the worst ever delivered by any president. It had no substance. It was shallow, hollow, and stale. Du30 delivered it like a student in a hurry to finish a useless report, torturing his audience with lengthy, senseless and pointless ramblings, rants and ad libs peppered with lies and falsehoods.

Excuses, excuses, excuses, these are the core of Du30’s SONA. “I thought it was like in Davao. You can coerce, intimidate or bribe them, or give them money,” was the pathetic alibi for his epic failure of eradicating illegal drugs in three to six months (and until now) despite slaughtering thousands of suspected drug addicts/pushers.

Du30 also blamed the limits imposed by the Constitution for his failure to curb corruption (which has worsened under his rule) and institute meaningful reforms. He advised the next president to impose martial law to stop corruption. Historical fact, corruption was institutionalized by the dictator Marcos when he declared martial law.

Hidilyn Diaz, the current darling of the nation who brought home the country’s first Olympic gold on the other hand used the hardships and difficulties she encountered as inspiration to achieve what no Filipino athlete before her has done. She did not give in to the challenges, did not look for excuses and remained resolute in face of adversity. Had she had Du30’s mentality she definitely would have failed to win the gold.

The supreme irony of it all, the Du30 administration is one of her tormentors. When she complained of insufficient government support to athletes in their preparation for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, she was included in a matrix of destabilizers and accused of plotting to overthrow the government. Fanatics and paid trolls of the administration harassed, insulted, and threatened her (now they changed script). There was a time she and her family feared for their lives. It is a big slap to the administration that the person it disparaged and ridiculed is also the one who gave the nation its highest sports honor.

Tokyo’s triumph of Hidilyn Diaz is the ultimate rebuff to Du30. The contrast could not be any sharper – a woman wins the first Olympic gold for a country ruled by a misogynist autocrat. Du30 has consistently belittled the capacity of women. He always emphasized that the presidency is not a job for a woman. Sexist joke is a staple of his public speeches. He ordered soldiers to shoot women rebels in the vagina and vowed he would personally take responsibility if they commit rape.

Strong women are Du30’s Achilles’ heel. Vice president Leni Robredo, Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno and Sen. Leila de Lima had been pilloried and insulted by Du30 simply because they stood-up to him. Hidilyn Diaz who dared to air the grievances of her fellow athletes joined their rank and was hounded by the administration. She responded by bringing home the elusive Olympic gold, a fatal insult to a misogynist.

Du30’s dismal SONA and Hidilyn Diaz’ inspirational triumph brought to light another high contrast between them, faith and unbelief. In many of his public appearances, Du30 mocked God and used the Almighty as fodder of his tasteless speeches. He called God stupid and derided the heart of Christian faith, Jesus Christ’ suffering and death on the cross by making fun of the Divine’s great love for humanity.

In contrast, Hidilyn immediately fell down on her knees and gave thanks to God upon realizing her historic victory. She attributed her win to Divine will and publicly showed the medal that propelled her Olympic success; Our Lady’s miraculous medal.

Du30’s hubris and Hidilyn’s great humility are in full display on July 26, 2021, the day faith trumps pride. It was the day, to quote Mary’s Canticle God “cast down the mighty…and exalted the lowly.”

Indeed, on July 26, 2021, the Almighty brought down Du30’s master China and lifted up the lowly Philippines. What made Hidilyn Diaz’ victory the sweetest to the Filipino people is she defeated China. Contrary to Du30’s defeatist and cowardice pronouncement in his last SONA that it takes war to beat his boss China, Hidilyn Diaz showed to the world that China can be vanquished without war.

While in Manila Du30 was singing hosannas and praises to his master China, pledging his fealty and great love to an imperialist aggressor who stole Philippine territory, Hidilyn Diaz 2,995.80 kilometers away in Tokyo humiliated his bosses in Beijing by decisively crushing China in the Olympics. This is the reason why the whole country was reverberating with great jubilation and rejoicing on the news of Hidilyn Diaz resounding trouncing of Du30’s home country.

The contrast between patriotism and treachery, love of country and selling one’s country to foreign power, loyalty and treason are in full display on July 26, 2021. In the halls of Congress, Du30 defended his subservience to China by parroting its lies, justifying his being a modern-day makapili, while Hidilyn Diaz in the competition hall of Tokyo at same time was asserting the supremacy Filipinos over the foreign aggressor.

The Philippines’ first Olympics gold earned by a woman who defeated the country that rob the Philippines of its territory and is ruled by its misogynist, God-mocking puppet is the perfect poetic justice.

July 26, 2021 is a historic date for Filipinos. It is a day of clear contrast between patriotism and treason, faith and disbelief, woman power and misogyny, inspiration and desperation, humility and pride. On that day Filipinos saw the contrast of light and dark.