It cannot get warmer than this; the last one month has been a month of accusations, rebuttals and trying to woo the gullible voters with all kinds of tactics
ranging from point blank accusations to unconfirmed reports.
The trend continues unabated and we expect that many more accusations and slandering will be hurled in all directions with the strongest candidates facing the
most flak and the most serious allegations ranging from making personal attacks to dig out some skeletons.
The public has had enough of the daang matuwid policy of the current government and were badly dissatisfied with the results of that policy; this was the latest line
of attack by Senator Poe who is also a powerful bet for the upcoming Presidential elections in Philippines less than a week away.
This province of Cavite is one of the most industrially developed of the provinces and is developing at an astronomical pace; it happens to be having a
sizable voting population most of whom are politically well-informed. That happens to be the reason for the candidates concentrating to a large extent on this Luzon province.
The sentiments were expressed by Ms Grace Poe who participated in a motorcade election rally for nearly seven hours organized by her supporters.
In a well attended press conference, she badly decried the inefficient government for its bad policies and bad implementation of some good policies;
this has led to overall dissatisfaction and discontent among the voting public.
Continuing her tirade against the ruling government, she explained the reasons as to why she had been on the offensive against the aimless
governance that was prevailing now, she went on to say that it was there for all to see that the well being of the common man has been grossly disregarded.
As a matching response to that, the masses have also started to disregard the current government and paying them back in the same coin.
The government has failed miserably to set their priorities in order to benefit the poor and the middle class.
This disregard of their welfare is going to be paid back with interest by the disgruntled citizens; they will also disregard the current regime because of their callousness and inaction.
Poe’s attack on the government’s passive governance is also in line with the reported comments of Duterte that the
general inaction, neglect of the citizens and inefficiency of the government machinery was the reason for general public
embracing him and making him the front runner in the race for the Presidency.
In fact, her criticism was as a result of a question about her reaction to Duterte’s claim that hatred towards the government was the cause behind hid rapid march.
During the series of election rallies, the voters are being warned that the common man is always the sufferer whenever there is violence and electing
someone who resorts to violent recourse could be detrimental to law and order in the country.
While continuing her tirade against the present rulers, she did not miss the chance to have a swipe at her other competitor Duterte; that was also a
necessity because he is the candidate who had emerged as the front runner in the most recent opinion polls.
Her attacks were directed at Duterte because he had made the crime and the drug peddling in the country his poll plank; it is also common
knowledge that he holds an unenviable reputation as a hard ruler who had suppressed crime in the Mindanao region.
Grace Poe went on to add that, as a peace loving citizen it was also her dream that her homeland is bereft of problems of crime and
corruption but her opinion was that Duterte cannot do what he has been claiming, i.e. eradicating crime within six months.
Without naming him, Poe also had an issue with the manner in which Duterte had cleared the crime scene in Davao; he had made a name for himself
by bring the drug cartels, the criminal gangs etc under control with his powerful stand.
But, to put down here competitor (Duterte), she seemed to be advocating justice for the criminals by asserting that no one has the right to
use unconstitutional remedies even for eradicating crime.
She tried to associate these rough-arm tactics with the poor being at the receiving end in all such situations.
Author: Umrao Singh
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