“Mabuhay ang Pilipinas”

By: Bob Boyer

 

Three years ago this month of June, a close Filipina friend in Manila was watching with rapt attention as Leni Robredo took the oath of offi ce as Vice President of the Philippines. My friend shared the moment with facebook friends: “I am teary-eyed while clapping before the television! I am so happy for the Filipinos! Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! Mabuhay tayong lahat!”

I shared that celebratory moment in this column (July, 2016) and provided the context: “Mrs. Robredo had been elected the 14th Vice President of the Republic of the Philippines on May 9. It was a pretty remarkable achievement for her for a number of reasons. Many of the people attending the inauguration and the larger reception for 3,000 of her supporters that evening sported T-Shirts that proudly proclaimed, “From 1 Percent to Vice President” (Philippine Daily Inquirer, July 2, 2016). She started the race solidly in last place among the six candidates, with just one percent of the people favoring her. Her come-from-behind victory nosed out Ferdinand (“Bongbong”) Marcos, Jr., who had been the front runner. Marcos had greater name recognition . . . , had spent more time in the public eye, and had been favored by . . . Duterte, who won the presidency by a landslide. Despite the odds, Robredo . . . won by a narrow 263, 473 votes.”

Just about a year and a half later, I returned to Vice President Robredo in my December 2017 article for this column in which I picked out highlights from my previous eleven articles for 2017. In reviewing those articles, as I then noted, “Quite to my surprise, four of the twelve clearly focused on ‘Strong Filipino Women.’ That has been a recurring theme in my writing for the past twenty-fi ve years . . . . I guess that shows how ingrained strong women are in the social fabric of the country, as I see it.” Robredo was featured in one of the four articles.

Hence writing of Robredo in December 2017 gave me the opportunity to review the Vice President’s fi rst year and a half: “The Vice President had hoped to fi nd some common ground with Duterte when he appointed her to his Cabinet (Housing and Urban Development), but that hope quickly faded. She was ordered to stop attending Cabinet Meetings, and Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr . . . insists he will replace her as Vice President . . . In my observations, it has been mostly women opposing Duterte’s extremism.” So much for the hoped-for “common ground.” Still, Robredo had established a principled, polite counterpoint to Duterte.

And, fortunately for Robredo, Bongbong Marcos was wrong. The offi cial elections commission confi rmed Robredo’s victory. My recent review of the Philippine press suggests that Robredo continues to maintain a polite distance from the president while at the same time not backing down from opposing him. Two recent events demonstrate this rather pointedly. Robredo and Duterte shared handing out awards at the Philippine Military Academy’s May 26, 2019 graduation. The May 27 “Philippine Star” has a photograph of the event, taken as the Vice President accepts the President’s extended hand (and a bow) with a slight smile and direct eye contact. Remarkably the president’s speech that day included another of his now-notorious rape jokes. Just three days later, Vice President Robredo, at the May 29 graduation of the Philippine Science High School, attacked a culture that permits, even encourages physical—or verbal—attacks on women. She called for change, “And that begins with calling out behavior that is disrespectful and abusive to women . . . . Not making excuses for it, not attempting to justify it, but recognizing it for the injustice it is, and taking the necessary steps to ensure it is not repeated again.” (“Rappler,” May 29, 10:30 a.m., on line). She did just that.

Bob Boyer welcomes your questions at Robert.boyer@snc.edu.