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Yet there are those who pitied how the vice president was treated. Says Adonita Cara, “grabe kayo… haha. ang ibig sabihin ni Binay, wala syang nagawa na super laki kumbaga small time lang, kasi nga lagi ngang dinedelegate ni Pnoy yung magagandang activities sa mga kapartido at kakampi nya… (You guys are too much. What Binay means is that he is unable to work on anything major, just small stuff, because PNoy delegates all the good activities to his allies and co-party members…) try to think deeper po.”
Still others urged caution on the part of the UP students, reminding them that during Martial Law days, speaking up against those in power can land you in jail, or worse, buried under the ground.
Some netizens, on the other hand, felt seemingly baffled as to the VP’s decision to attend such a forum in the first place. Economist and Instructor at the Ateneo de Manila, David Yap, offers an explanation in his Facebook post. Yap is of the opinion that it was a calculated move on the VP’s part.
“Why would he willingly attend a forum full of people chomping at the bit to eviscerate him? The answer is simple—he wanted to get eviscerated.” Yap states.
He further elaborates that Binay entered UPLB knowing full well that both the enlightened students and the middle to upper-middle class netizens of Twitter and FB who are delighted at the public roasting are not his voters to begin with. He had no plans on impressing them. Instead, Yap explains, what he did was create a greater divide between the “intelligent” middle class and the lower class who are loyal to him.
“His attendance was not about convincing these people—it was about drawing a sharp contrast between people who oppose him and people who support him. His attendance and subsequent public ‘humiliation’ at the hands of the perceived middle-class and upper-middle class lends momentum to the idea of a class struggle. He wanted to show people how he would be brutalized by university students upon graciously accepting an invitation to a college forum. He doubled down on his supporters.”
Yap ends by emphasizing again that what Binay did was all part of the plan. “What he did wasn’t stupid. If you thought that it was stupid then you are underestimating your opponent. What he did was an intelligent and calculated decision underpinned by a recognition that the poor and lower income classes outnumber the wannabe illustrados.“
