I consider public opinion like a pendulum that swings from right of center to left of center. Not far left, because that would have required the communist party to take over the country’s governance. The pendulum of public opinion in a bourgeois republic like ours — with a history of waging a people power revolt — swings in a very limited space: the center.
Currently, the pendulum of public opinion is swinging to the left of center. That is a public opinion that cannot be swayed by social media posturing. A public opinion that moves to its own beat, not dictated by money and social media creators. A public opinion that has now had enough of the reports about corruption, especially those related to flood control projects.
Public opinion is the engine that runs our current political setup. Meaning, it determines how our electoral setup runs. In 2022, public opinion was right of center. That was why the Uniteam of Bongbong Marcos and Sara Duterte won.
In fact, it was actually Sara’s time. The Duterte brand of leadership carried the Uniteam. Had Sara and not BBM run for president, she would have won. But it was BBM who had the money that Sara didn’t have. There were rumors about BBM and Sara splitting the presidential term: BBM would be president for the first three years and Sara would be president for the remaining three years, with BBM voluntarily resigning to allow the vice president to take over. I don’t know if the rumor is true. Another rumor says that Marcos reneged, thus causing the Uniteam split.
Unfortunately for Sara, the pendulum of public opinion for 2028 seems to be swinging to the left of center. The Duterte brand of leadership has been exposed as bankrupt. The so-called diehard Duterte supporters, or DDS, have been marginalized. Proof of that is the mockery thrown Robin Padilla’s way by the left and the elite. The killings under former President Rodrigo Duterte never ended the illegal drugs problem and those killings are now being investigated by the International Criminal Court, or ICC.
Consequently, the pendulum of public opinion for 2028 is swinging to the left of center. The Duterte experiment is no more. That is the reason why there is a growing clamor for Naga City Mayor Leni Robredo to run for president. The thinking is that the time is right for the left of center to take over after the right of center, as represented by the Uniteam, has come to be seen as largely a failure.
Interestingly, the President who exposed the flood control scandal is Marcos, the son of the original “Macoy,” the dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. BBM cannot, therefore, be expected to lead an all-out war against corruption, considering the issues raised against his father in the past. Robredo — a “pinklawan” (a coined term for someone who is both pink, Robredo’s color, and yellow, the color of the late former presidents Cory Aquino and her son Noynoy — seems to be the bigger personality if the 2028 polls become a morality play. More than that, the Dutertes are known to be pro-China, which could become a major issue in 2028.