Like father, like daughter

By Alex P. Vidal

 

“It is double pleasure to deceive the deceiver.”—Niccolo Machiavelli

SARA Zimmerman Duterte-Carpio, 42, said she will not run for president in 2022.

“I am not being coy nor am I doing a last minute. If the whole country doesn’t want to believe that, then I can’t do anything about it. Not everyone wants to be president. I am one of them,” Sara reportedly told Reuters recently.

“I thank all of them for their trust and confidence in what I can do but my refusal to run for president is not the end of the world.”

Her father, President Rodrigo R. Duterte, earlier declared he did not want his daughter to run for president saying “women are not fit for president,” a statement that drew a flak from Miss Philippine Universe 2020 Rabiya Mateo, 23.

“My daughter is not running (for president). I have told Inday not to run because I pity her that she will have to go through what I experienced,” Duterte, 75, said at a public event in January this year.

“This is not for women. You know, the emotional set-up of a woman and a man is totally different. You will become a fool here. So… that is the sad story.”

Tell it to the marines, President Digong.

Like father, like daughter.

 

-o0o-

 

They “will not run” months before the campaign period, but “they are running” months before the election day. And win.

A tactic or political strategy that worked wonders for Mr. Duterte in the 2016 presidential election.

“The whole secret lies in confusing the enemy, so that he cannot fathom our real intent,” Sun Tzu wrote in the The Art of War.

When a person is confused they hesitate, wondering what will happen and what they should do.

In war and in election, hesitation can be fatal when it hands the enemy the initiative, giving them first strike or the choice of the next move.

“Hesitation by officers has a devastating amongst conscripts who assume that if officers are not sure what is going on then their doom is assured.” (Changing Minds)

When Mrs. Duterte-Carpio, now the mayor of Davao City, “changes her mind because of insistent public demand (for me to run for president)” in the eleventh hour, her political party, Hugpong ng Pagbabago, has already wormed its way to the different cities, municipalities, and provinces nationwide and secured the commitments of major political leaders and local organizations.

It’s when her rivals are confused and caught flat-footed that Inday Sara will end up capturing Malacanang in a blitzkrieg.

Father Digong will have the last laugh.

We are not born yesterday, that’s why we know, we are aware, and we understand.

 

-o0o-

 

MY friend in Brooklyn, a brave and articulate Caucasian woman, asked me yesterday (February 25) if I experienced harassment while riding in a subway train these past weeks.

“I learned from the news that there’s an upsurge of hate crime perpetrated against Asians like you,” she muttered.

“So far, I haven’t experienced one,” I answered her. “But I will always be on guard.”

Her concern came as New York City increased police patrols and investigations to fight a rise in hate crimes targeting Asian people amid the coronavirus pandemic.

She informed that police would step up investigations and patrols of subway stations, quoting New York City Mayor Bill del Blasio.

There were 28 coronavirus-related hate crimes committed against Asian people in New York City in 2020, compared with three such hate crimes in 2019, according to New York Police Department figures.

There have been two hate crimes against Asian residents in New York City so far this year, according to the NYPD, up from zero of such crimes during the same period last year.

The most recent incident occurred on Feb. 15, according to police officials, when an unknown assailant allegedly used hate speech against an Asian man in Manhattan’s Harlem neighborhood before punching him and stealing his phone.

There’s no substitute for being alert all the time.

 

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)