Team DailyPedia
Mae Paner—a political activist and actress, better known as her alter ego, Juana Change—posted a call for vigilance on her Facebook page last May 19. Paner explained that presumptive President Rodrigo Duterte had “blind spots” and thus needed help from the public.
“The corrupt are scrambling for positions,” Paner stated. “The evil are manipulating behind his back. He needs an honest to goodness people’s council who will find, vet, fact check, oppose, expose, or stop other people with ill intention.”
Will Peterson, a lecturer from Flinders University in Australia, agreed. “Exactly,” he said, “as otherwise the rats will just rush right back into the ship.”
Netizen Maria Lourdes Polotan, however, is not so sure about Duterte’s having blind spots. “…blindspot ba ang pagpili kay Mark Villar bilang DPWH Secretary o bayad-utang ang tawag doon? (Is appointing Mark Villar as DPWH [Department of Public Works and Highways] secretary a blind spot or is it returning a favor?)” she asked. “Sa tingin mo hindi nya alam na ang napipisil n’ya na AFP Chief of Staff ang nagsagawa ang madugong pagwasak ng protesta sa Hacienda Luisita? (Do you think that he doesn’t know that the guy he favors to be AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines] Chief of Staff is the same guy behind the violent dispersal at Hacienda Luisita?) He knows what he is doing.. hindi blind spot. (It’s not a blind spot.) these are his choices and exposes the real him.”
But Facebook user Robert Tan countered that “kaya kelangan ng check & balance, kung may independent audit mula sa citizenry… pati ang governance din ang pwedeng bantayan, at maari din gumawa ng mga (That’s why check and balance is needed, if there is an independent audit from the citizenry, we can watch over governance and we can create) protocols on how to expose such infractions.”
