THE Marcos-Romualdez regime's all-out persecution of former president Rodrigo Duterte and his daughter, Sara, to ensure that their clan maintains power after 2028 has been an abject failure. It has also backfired, turning Duterte and his daughter into folk heroes. Only analysts living in ivory towers, columnists seeking a post in this administration, or the outrightly clueless writers would have the temerity — or imagination — to claim that the Dutertes are 'fallen idols.'

I'll enumerate the qualities of a folk hero scholars generally agree on to show that the Dutertes are the country's folk heroes, our first since perhaps President Ramon Magsaysay of the 1950s.