Reshaping 2022

By Artchil B. Fernandez

The sudden and untimely death of president Noy could be an event that can reshape the 2022 election.

PNoy’s unexpected passing injected something into the body politic whose impact is not immediately known but can be felt few days after his death.  There is consensus among pundits and keen observers of Philippine politics that his departure added an important variable in the 2022 equation.

Senate minority leader Sen. Franklin Drilon said the death of the former president can reshape the 2022 race. Drilon said the unforeseen death of PNoy can revitalize the moribund opposition. “Certainly, if it would have an effect, it will be positive for the opposition because people would realize and begin to look inward” and this “will fuel a powerful drive for the return of decency, dignity and diligence in government.”

Segundo Romero, an Inquirer columnist wrote that while he was “deeply saddened by President Noynoy’s death” he also cannot “avoid a little smile when I sense that these Aquinos, President Cory included, uncannily wield death like a timely, compelling flare that tilts and pulls the nation closer to its destined path.”

“How death affects politics belongs to the “outside” of politics – i.e., the contingent and the imponderable,” contends sociologist Randy David. “Whatever PNoy’s death might mean to the nation’s political life, particularly in the light of the 2022 presidential election, we cannot therefore presume to define it. It may not necessarily take the form of a clamor for another Aquino, but because it has happened so close to another presidential election, PNoy’s death is bound to shape the discourse on the presidency,” he maintains.

One such discourse which has started circulating in traditional and social media is the sharp contrast between the previous and present administrations. Nothing clearly illustrates the contrast than the manner both administrations speak. Under the Du30 administration cursing, cussing, and the use of dirty and foul language are the standard while courtesy, decorum, politeness, and civility are the hallmarks of the previous leadership.

Globally, the previous administration gained international respect with PNoy invited to speak at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland while the current administration is an international pariah. Under Du30, the Philippines is listed in the top ten worst countries to work and is recently ranked by Global Finance magazine as the riskiest to be in among 134 countries in the world.

Du30 is named in 2021 by Reporters Without Borders among the 37 global leaders who are press freedom predators.  “Thanks to collusion at all levels within the state apparatus, Duterte has an arsenal that he can use to wage ‘total war’ against journalists, an arsenal that includes spurious charges of defamation, tax evasion, or violation of capital legislation; rescinding broadcast licenses; getting accomplices to buy up media outlets and bring their journalists into line; and using an army of trolls to subject journalists to online harassment,” RSF said.

In contrast, while PNnoy’s administration had testy relations with the media journalists generally performed their job unmolested under his rule. PNoy did not use the apparatus of the state to harass or intimidate the media despite the critical stance of the fourth state vis-a-vis his administration.

The biggest contrast between the present and the preceding administrations is on their handling of China’s aggressive expansionist drive, particularly the bully neighbor’s theft of Philippine territory. The previous administration stood up to China and successfully got the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague to invalidate China’s nine-dash-line.

Groveling at China’s feet, becoming its lackey if not outright puppet is the defining characteristic of the present administration’s relation with the bully behemoth. Despite China’s blatant and shameless grabbing of Philippine territory, Du30 continues to praise the aggressor. Filipinos are wondering why China has a tight, vise grip on Du30. While Du30 had no qualm bearing his fangs on the West his legendary puppy behavior towards China, like a love-struck teenager made Filipinos highly suspicious.

The politics of contrast could be one of the defining if not the most defining feature of the 2022 electoral narrative. The contrast between light and dark, decency and vulgarity, competence and incompetence, suaveness and rudeness, finesse and coarseness, favorite and pariah could be a powerful framing of the 2022 elections.

Outpouring of tributes and praises not only within the country but from around the world put into spotlight the legacies, accomplishments, and achievements of PNoy’s administration which stand in stark contrast to the mediocrity, cheapness, and dullness of the present dispensation.

If the politics of contrast becomes the dominant theme of 2022, then PNoy’s death will reshape the electoral contest. Should people once again thirst and hunger for the exact opposite of the current administration, the continuity narrative will no longer resonate and will place the administration and its bets in a difficult situation. Making contrast dominant in the national discourse is the biggest challenge facing the opposition but PNoy’s death may have made the task easier for them.

Assuming that the politics of contrast dominates 2022, reshaping it, it will be the ultimate vengeance. In 2016, Du30 effectively deployed the politics of contrast by portraying PNoy as weak and feeble and offered himself the exact opposite thus his bravado and braggadocio.  The same could also undo Du30 and cruel but inept rule.