Is The Short Story “Disguise” Ishi Approved?

                   If you are searching for a story to read, I truly recommend the short story “Disguise”, especially if you are a Filipino. This truly won’t let you down. From its entertaining aspect to its interesting aspect, I certainly would give it a perfect score. Not to mention the scenes and characters that reveal some real life events and people. After reading the story, I knew that I had to make a review out of this, so let me first talk about its synopsis.

          The story starts with a mayor who wants to catch the criminals who are targeting taxi drivers, so he decides to disguise himself as one. Now, let us talk about the characters. The author did a great job giving hints about who the mayor actually was. The lines of the mayor, especially the use of curse words helped me realize that he is actually our President Duterte. The author purposely showed how the people adored him and how warmhearted the president was. On the other hand, I believe that the criminals in the story who target taxi drivers, resemble most of the law breakers of the society. Now, since we know that the mayor is Duterte, the setting must be Davao City. The author did a wonderful job on implicitly showing how Duterte controlled and did his best to make Davao city safe for his people, for it was somehow portrayed to be an unsafe place before. This was really a good addition to the story, since it helped the story gain more meaning. Now, let us talk about the plot and conflict. For me, they were pretty simple; however, the story was still very entertaining to read because of the unique characteristics of its characters and the underlying context behind it. The conflict may have been simple, but it showcased Duterte’s bravery and love for his people, while the plot contains a very meaningful context.

          As I finished reading the text, I realized that the story was trying to show how Duterte sincerely cares and loves his people even if he may seem violent and scary. It was also explicitly shown how he can go through and do anything just for his people’s welfare and safety. This story was used to show the people about Duterte’s potential as a President, for he was the one handling Davao when it was deemed as one of the safest cities. Since this was published in the year 2017, a year after Duterte launched the extrajudicial killings (Johnson, 2019), I believe this was partially created to remind those who were hating on Duterte about his capabilities as a president, and show people that some violence wouldn’t hurt if it is for the whole society or country. 

          Even after three years, I believe that this story is still significant, especially because of the pandemic and situation we’re in. This may have been because of how Duterte changed over the years, and also due to the sudden changes in everyone's lives. Because of this, even more people started losing faith and started hating on the president for his actions. A huge part of this is because he has not been properly handling the situation even before the virus started spreading in the Philippines. This could be seen when he rejected banning Chinese nationals to enter the country and deporting Chinese nationals who have already entered the country (Robles, 2020). Him doing the opposite could’ve positively affected our situation right now greatly. With this story, people could remember or imagine how Duterte was before he even became president. And with this, you could actually form an image of how our situation right now may have been different if Duterte remained the same as described in the story or if he was not our president.  

          Reading this book helped me see who Duterte was before. It enabled me to see the features he had that made people vote for him as president. I needed this since I am not really updated with the news and most of the comments I hear about Duterte are negative. I always wondered why they were very angry. After reading the story, I realized that it may be because of the expectations they had for him that were not met. Nevertheless, I really recommend this story. Not only did I learn about the president's past, but I also got to understand the present issues of the country. 

References: 

Bengan, J. (2017). DISGUISE.pdf. Retrieved September 13, 2020, from https://drive.google.com/file/d/1b4b49HV8Ip2I-1VcwXDwtIZSE9URybkd/view?usp=drivesdk

Johnson, H., & Giles, C. (2019, November 12). Philippines drug war: Do we know how many have died? Retrieved September 12, 2020, from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-50236481

Robles, A. (2020, March 18). Coronavirus: Philippines will not deport Chinese nationals, Duterte says. Retrieved September 13, 2020, from https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3048935/duterte-says-philippines-will-not-ban-or-deport