I pity the fisherman who took the jet ski ‘joke’ as a sign of hope

President Duterte, in a recent public address, derided those who believed in his jet ski promise, basically calling them idiots for doing so. He justified it as a campaign stunt, an act of bravado in the middle of his 2016 presidential run. Duterte cited the impracticality, such as the distance to the disputed waters, the size of the waves, and how he’d run out of gasoline before even reaching his destination.

But in his derision, Duterte seems to belittle the intelligence of his audience. Even back then, no one expected him to literally jet ski into the ocean. Not even the fisherman who asked him the question. The same fisherman who knows the waters well enough to ask for actions against China’s encroachment on their territory.

Instead, Duterte’s hyperbole was supposed to be a symbol of hope. The Philippines was coming off a great victory in 2016, having won an international ruling in Hague against China. Now, there was this upstart candidate, who, even with his exaggerated delivery, promised to uphold this ruling.

But fast forward years later, the same candidate is now ‘good friends’ with China, who accepts every overstep, and most recently, called the Hague ruling as a ‘piece of paper meant for the trash can’. I could just imagine being that fisherman, who went home all those years ago, believing ‘change was coming’, only to see the opposite six years later.

‘It’s just a joke’ has been the common explainer for Duterte’s missteps and shortcomings during his term. Even his ever-loyal interpreter, Presidential Spox Harry Roque, would be willing to challenge the limits of human imagination just to spin the narrative into his boss’ favor.

But what seems lost on Duterte and his camp is that for a nation that has a litany of problems, every promise of change comes with unbridled hope, and with every retraction – aka ‘joke’ – comes with an even greater sense of disappointment.

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Source: we the pvblic