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The Only Thing That Interested Me in BBM’s SONA
There is only one sentence in President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s latest State of the Nation Address that truly interests me:
“Kaya dapat nakakintal sa puso’t isipan ng mga Pilipino ang lifelong learning at continuous self-improvement.”
Rendered in English, the statement reads:
“Lifelong learning and continuous self-improvement must be deeply ingrained in the hearts and minds of Filipinos.”
Of everything spoken from the podium, this single statement transcended politics. It did not ask Filipinos to applaud a reported accomplishment, believe another political promise, defend an administration, or condemn its opponents. Its truth does not depend on whether one supports or opposes the President. It speaks to every citizen regardless of political affiliation because it places neither a politician nor the government at the center of national progress. It places the individual Filipino there.
Ironically, this sentence—if translated into meaningful legislation, coherent public policy, and sustained community programs—could yield consequences far more profound than any of the applause lines that echoed through the plenary hall. Yet it received no ovation. Perhaps it drew little enthusiasm because true education rarely offers the immediate spectacle that politics demands. Investing in human capacity is like planting a forest: the seeds sown today may take years—or even generations—to reach maturity. Political applause is immediate but fleeting; educational investment is gradual but enduring.
Strip this statement of the President’s name, voice, and political identity, and it loses none of its validity. A DDS, a Kakampink, a Marcos loyalist, or someone entirely indifferent to politics can recognize its worth. Its truth does not derive from the authority of the speaker, but from the reality it expresses:
- Lifelong Learning develops what people know and can do—strengthening competence in a rapidly changing world of technology, evolving industries, and shifting responsibilities.
- Continuous Self-Improvement develops who they are and how they live—cultivating character, discipline, health, ethics, and civic responsibility.
Together, these twin pillars prepare citizens to adapt, solve complex problems, resist manipulation, and create meaningful opportunities.
To be clear, self-improvement alone cannot fix every broken institution or eradicate corruption. Nor does this perspective grant government officials an escape from accountability—Filipinos must remain relentless in demanding honest, competent, and responsive leadership. However, systemic policy and individual growth must go hand in hand; even the best policies fail when executed by individuals who neglect their own ethical and intellectual growth.
We must abandon the myth that electing a political savior will, on its own, transform the nation. We cannot demand discipline from leaders while tolerating indiscipline in ourselves, condemn dishonesty in public office while practicing it in daily life, or expect national excellence while settling for personal mediocrity.
The most vital message in the SONA was not a grand promise of what the government will do for us, but a timely reminder of what Filipinos must continually do for themselves—and, ultimately, for one another. Lifelong learning and continuous self-improvement do not render government obsolete; rather, they cultivate citizens capable of demanding better governance, electing wiser leaders, building resilient institutions, and sustaining lasting national progress.
The future of the country cannot be left solely in the hands of politicians. It must be built within the hearts, minds, character, competence, and daily conduct of the Filipino people.
Better Self • Better Life • Better Nation
How Colonialism Shaped the Filipino Character
Ask a hundred Filipinos what makes a Filipino a Filipino, and you will likely get a hundred different answers — hospitality, resilience, family, faith, humor, an uncanny gift for finding joy in hardship. Ask a hundred more, and darker answers will surface too: a fatalism that shrugs at misfortune, a habit of measuring themselves against foreigners and coming up short in their own eyes, a suspicion of the next province that borders on hostility. Both sets of answers are true. Neither tells the whole story on its own.
This four-part essay is an attempt to tell that fuller story — not by cataloging Filipino traits as though they simply exist, the way eye color or height exists, but by asking where they came from. A people’s character is not accidental. It is built, layer upon layer, from the specific things that happen to them over specific centuries, under specific rulers. For the Filipino, those centuries were largely colonial ones: 333 years under Spain, nearly half a century more under the United States. To understand the Filipino today without reckoning with those years is to admire a house’s furniture while ignoring the foundation on which it was built.
This essay draws on historical record as much as personal reflection — the documented mechanisms of colonial administration alongside the lived, inherited patterns still visible in Filipino life today. Where the two meet is where this essay lives.
Part One lays that foundation, tracing the Filipino from a people already possessed of their own culture and governance before any galleon arrived, through the long violence of Spanish rule, to the betrayal that followed when a nation Filipinos had mistaken for an ally simply became their next colonizer.
Part Two turns to what survived — and what may have even been strengthened — through all of it: the hospitality, the resilience, the family loyalty and communal spirit that colonization tested but did not break.
Part Three turns to the cost — the fatalism, the regionalism, the colonial mentality that took root during those same centuries, planted deliberately by rulers who profited from a people divided against themselves and unsure of their own worth.
Part Four brings both halves together, arguing that the strength and the wound were never separate stories. They came from the same three hundred years, visited on the same people, and they live on, side by side, in the same national character today.
The writer does not pretend to have the final word on Filipino identity — no single essay could. But for a people whose history has too often been written by outsiders, and too rarely examined by themselves, even an incomplete reckoning is worth attempting. As you read what follows, you might find it useful to ask the same questions of your own family, your own province, your own habits of thought — because the history in these four parts is not abstract. It is, in some quiet way, still writing itself through each of us.
Understanding the wound is the first task. What a Filipino chooses to do with that understanding — for himself, his family, his country — is a separate reckoning, for another time. But understanding why we are the way we are remains the first step toward deliberately deciding who we choose to become next.
Quezon’s Curse
Did Manuel L. Quezon, the second president of the Philippines who served from 1935 to 1944, unknowingly curse the nation when he declared, “I would rather have a government run like hell by Filipinos than a government run like heaven by Americans”?
The Americans eventually ceased governing the Philippines by force after the Second World War. It was not independence that the Filipinos were granted on July 4, 1946, but freedom. The Americans did not save the Philippines from Spain, as some uninformed Filipinos and the rest of the world wrongly thought. The US coerced Spain into selling the island to them. So, the Philippines was passed by a colonial tyrant to another… to a more powerful and ruthless tyrant.
Let this be clear… The US did not save the Philippines from Spain. The former forcibly grabbed our nation from the latter.
When the Americans finally turned over the reins of government to Filipinos, Quezon could have been the happiest man alive had he lived to witness it. At last, the Philippines had a government run by its own people.
But as the saying goes, “Be careful what you wish for.”
Our country has since been governed by Filipino politicians. Given the Philippines’ governance over the decades, how would we assess the performance of those who have served in the different branches of government since the Americans passed the baton of leadership?
Only the blind — and those who benefit from the system — would deny how badly the nation has deteriorated. Only the naïve would refuse to see that the Filipino spirit seems lost. Like a dried leaf in autumn, it drifts wherever the wind blows. The Filipino identity has become like a shattered mirror. Each broken piece reflects a different truth, yet none shows the whole picture of who we once were or what we should be as a people.
As a nation, we are as fragmented as the islands that form our archipelago. The colonial strategy of “divide and conquer,” once used to weaken and subjugate us, continues to linger in our society. Even today, it keeps us deeply divided.
And all this appears to trace back to what now feels like Quezon’s curse — “a government run like HELL by Filipinos.”
For how long have we been led by politicians who seem to have descended from hell itself? Would it be unfair to describe members of the executive and legislative branches as soulless demons who take turns plunging their hands into the nation’s coffers, depriving the people of the services and opportunities they deserve? And what of those in the judiciary and the military who appear to look the other way?
One cannot help but recall the countless anomalous “flood control projects” — billions poured into programs meant to protect communities, yet every year, towns and cities continue to drown while only a select few grow richer. What was supposed to shield the people from disaster has instead become another avenue for plunder.
The sad reality is that the Filipino people cannot simply play the victim. It was Filipinos themselves who summoned these demons from the depths of hell and enthroned them in Malacañang and in Congress. In short, they voted for them. And the sadder part is that even now, when it is clear as day that the devils they have chosen are guilty of corruption, many still continue to support them.
Thus, Quezon’s pronouncement refers not only to Filipino politicians but also to the Filipinos who placed them in power.
“Kawawang Inang Bayan.”
Would we not, at times, be tempted to think that perhaps we would have been better off had the Americans continued to run our government?
Would we not be tempted to accept their old justification for staying on Philippine soil — that Filipinos were not ready for self-governance?
Yet perhaps Quezon did not curse us at all.
Perhaps what he offered was not a prophecy of doom but a challenge — a declaration of faith in the Filipino people’s capacity to govern themselves, to learn from their mistakes, and to shape their own destiny. The tragedy is not that Filipinos were given the reins of government. The tragedy is that, over time, many surrendered vigilance, traded principles for convenience, and allowed power to fall into the hands of the few.
A government “run like hell by Filipinos” was never meant to be permanent. It was meant to be corrected by an awakened citizenry. Democracy was supposed to be a system in which bad leaders could be removed, corruption punished, and the people remain the true sovereign.
But when a nation grows tired, when poverty silences voices, and when hope is repeatedly betrayed, tyranny does not need foreigners to thrive. It is cultivated from within.
Quezon’s words were not a curse. They were a warning wrapped in hope.
What turned that hope into hell was not Filipino governance itself, but Filipino complacency. We allowed demons to rise not because we were incapable of self-rule, but because we stopped guarding it fiercely.
In the end, the real question is not whether Quezon cursed us.
The real question is whether we, as a people, abandoned the responsibility that freedom demanded.
The More Painful Injustice
ICC’s decision denying former President Rodrigo Duterte’s request for interim release elicited different reactions. As expected, his supporters grieved; his critics rejoiced. Social media erupted. Commentaries burst like fireworks. Lawyers, influencers, and armchair experts all rushed forward with their own interpretations and opinions.
But buried beneath this noise is a truth many refuse to acknowledge: the corruption allegations against the sitting political powers remain unresolved, uninvestigated, and—most damning—protected.
And yes, we should not disregard the corruption committed by previous administrations as well.
At this juncture, we must confront the question everyone keeps tiptoeing around:
If extrajudicial killings can be considered a crime against humanity, what then do we call the corruption allegedly committed by officials of the incumbent government—corruption so massive it starved hospitals, crippled schools, and robbed the poorest Filipinos of the help they desperately needed?
What do we call leaders who tolerated the theft, shielded the thieves, and—worst of all—turned out to be thieves themselves?
Which is the greater sin: the murder of a few thousand, or the plunder of billions?
Who committed the graver crime: the fingers that pulled the trigger, or the hands that emptied the nation’s coffers?
The corruption committed by those in power—whether yesterday or today—is not petty, not the old excuse of “traditional politics,” and not the sanitized label of a “budget anomaly.”
This is plunder disguised as governance.
Billions meant for healthcare vanished while patients slept on floors, dying without medicine.
Billions meant for classrooms disappeared while children learned beneath leaking roofs.
Billions meant for poverty alleviation were used by the corrupt officials to fatten their bank accounts.
Every peso stolen by those in power translates to: a child who goes hungry, a mother who dies untreated, a worker whose future evaporates, a community trapped in poverty, a family whose hope is extinguished.
We must stop pretending corruption is merely a financial crime.
It is a human rights violation with casualties, as real and as tragic as any body found in an alley.
The painful irony?
One man faces the hostile ICC for killings.
But the many government officials accused of stealing the nation’s lifeblood face the friendly ICI who might possibly give them a simple slap on the wrist.
The ICC cannot touch them — and that is their shield under the Rome Statute, the ICC only prosecutes:
genocide
crimes against humanity
war crimes
aggression
Corruption—no matter how destructive—does not qualify.
The ICC can examine killings linked to a past administration.
But the alleged plunder committed under the current administration is untouchable.
They are shielded not by innocence, but by the ICC’s jurisdiction.
They know it.
Their lawyers know it.
Their political allies know it.
This is why they look unbothered.
This is why they speak as if justice is optional.
Because for corruption, under international law,
The Hague has no handcuffs.
But viewed through the lens of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), the crime committed by corrupt members of the Executive and Legislative branches of the Philippine government remains evident.
The Philippines is bound by the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC).
Under UNCAC, corruption is not merely illegal. It is seen as a violation of human dignity.
Corruption becomes a human rights offense when it deprives citizens of healthcare, destroys education systems, blocks justice through political interference, deepens poverty, and kills through neglect and substandard infrastructure.
Every bridge that collapses because of corruption, every medicine that never reaches a dying patient, every student robbed of a proper education—these are casualties of today’s corruption.
UN bodies cannot jail individual senators, cabinet members, or presidents. But they can expose a government’s failures. They can embarrass a nation on the global stage. They can pressure for reforms and sanctions. They can help freeze stolen assets hidden abroad. And they can force the world to see what our own institutions refuse to confront.
And in the quiet between outrage and applause, a single question remains: Whose crime weighs heavier on the nation’s soul?
Let us stop pretending this is a simple comparison.
Duterte is being investigated for the bodies we saw. But incumbent officials are being accused of crimes whose victims we don’t always see— because the victims are the millions who are slowly suffocating from poverty, hunger, broken hospitals, broken schools, and broken futures.
A bullet kills instantly.
Corruption kills invisibly.
But the graves are real.
Sometimes, corruption is the quieter executioner.
The true tragedy is not that the ICC is pursuing Duterte.
The tragedy is that the officials accused of bleeding the nation dry will never stand before The Hague, never sit behind glass in an international courtroom, never be held criminally accountable in the same way.
They will sleep soundly knowing that international law cannot touch them—not because they are innocent, but because their crimes fall outside the narrow definition of “crimes against humanity.”
They are safe. Not because they are righteous.
But because corruption is not in the ICC’s vocabulary.
And that is the Philippines’ most painful injustice.
What Now, Philippines?
Yesterday, I spoke with a friend here in South Korea, and we discussed the situation in our country. She was as gravely disappointed and angry as I was (just like the millions of our countrymen back home) by the blatant plunder of our national coffers. The story of the flood control program, a tragi-comedy, has taken many twists and turns, and the plot continues to thicken.
We agreed that it was right for the South Korean government to halt its P28-billion loan to the Philippines amid corruption concerns. I added that no financial institution anywhere in the world should lend to the Philippine government until those who stole from the nation’s coffers are brought to justice—and a transparent, foolproof system of government spending is implemented. Mga kapalmuks kayo, mangungutang tapos paghahati-hatian lang ninyo.
We disagreed as to who should be blamed for the flood control project scam. According to her, by virtue of command responsibility, the President is most guilty. She considers it improbable that the Chief Executive did not know about the wrongdoings of his alter egos from the very beginning. Why did it take him three years to expose the corruption happening right under his nose? His duty is supposedly to prevent such corruption practices from happening under his watch. Did he only discover the substandard and ghost flood control projects this year? And why did he exclude himself from blame when he said, “Mahiya naman kayo” during his SONA a couple of months ago? That should have been “Mahiya naman tayo.”
And if these demonic acts of plunder also occurred during the times of Presidents Duterte, Aquino (Noynoy), Arroyo, Estrada, Ramos, and Aquino (Cory), then all of them should be held accountable as well. “Mahiya naman kayong lahat.”
I told her that blaming the President is correct. Still, half of the blame should be borne by the Filipino electorate who voted for those greedy politicians, fattening themselves like pigs in the supposedly august halls of Congress, now nothing more than a stinking sty of corruption.
We deserve the leaders we elect. There are many Filipinos who are very angry with what the politicians are doing, not realizing that they should be partly to blame for what is happening because they voted for those corrupt leaders. The truth is “Nakakahiya tayong lahat.”
Suppose we are genuinely seeking accountability and transparency. Why is nobody suggesting that the yearly National Budget from the time of Cory Aquino (1986) to Marcos (2025) be scrutinized and checked to see how the budget of DPWH (and other government agencies) was allocated each year? It is not only the records of the budget of the DPWH that should be scrutinized but all the departments of the Executive branch. The records will definitely show who, among the Senators and Congressmen (past and present), made “insertions.” A thorough investigation and accounting should be made to determine who among the members of the Executive and Legislative branches of government, past and present, colluded to plunder the nation’s coffers. The truth is written in all those documents.
We also agreed that the Philippine government, as presently constituted, has lost its credibility to govern. Which branch of government is trustworthy now? The Executive or the Legislative branch?
That is for you (the readers) to answer. But as far as I and the friend I talked to yesterday are concerned, it’s scary to entrust the future of our nation to anybody from Malacañang, the House of Representatives, and the Senate.
What about the Judiciary? Can the Filipino people trust our Justices? Did they perform their solemn duty to intervene and restore constitutional order when they were flooded with petitions challenging the constitutionality of the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA)? What happened to their hearings? Did they do something to prevent the kleptomaniacs from dipping their hands into jars of people’s money? None that I could recall (and please correct me if I am wrong).
If none of the three branches of government could be unequivocally trustworthy, what about the fourth estate, the media? Do they genuinely care about the Filipino people? My answer is simple: they are too busy building their business empires.
But if neither government nor media can be trusted, then the responsibility ultimately falls on us, the Filipino people.
The last question we addressed in our conversation was, ‘What should be done?’
What should the Filipinos do now?
I was surprised that she was thinking the same thing I was… REVOLUTION.
We agreed that all the investigations being done by both the lower and upper chambers of Congress on the flood control project anomalies will amount to nothing. Even the planned independent commission cannot be expected to be genuinely independent. The loyalty of the members belongs to the authorities that appointed them.
Politicians have their way of sweeping under the rug the messes of their colleagues. They have mastered the art of compromise to such an extent that, in the end, only the lowly contractors will serve prison time.
Meanwhile, the equally guilty, high-ranking individuals in the government—who belong to wealthy and powerful families—will only receive a slap on the wrist.
Honestly, I have entirely lost my faith in our government. I don’t know who among them can be trusted. Even the international community has doubts about the moral ascendancy of our leaders to hold the reins of government. The South Korean government is the first to cast doubt on the trustworthiness of our government. And soon, other countries may. For the first time in my life, I find myself hesitating to say I’m from the Philippines.
Somehow, the only credible government institution now is the Military. They are our “second-to-last” hope. They need to take control of the government, either peacefully or by force. Everybody in the government must resign. The Military must investigate the widespread corruption and send to jail all those who are found guilty. They must do a comprehensive audit and accounting of all government expenditures. They must start with the yearly National Budget from the time the Marcos dictatorship ended up to this year. They should not leave any stone unturned.
The crooks must be prevented from running for any public office. When finally justice is served, the military shall order new elections to elect a new government.
If the military will not take over, we could be heading in the direction that the Indonesians and the Nepalese went. We must not allow the present government officials to continue running the affairs of government.
As I said before, the Military is our “second-to-last” hope. But our final hope—the true hope—rests with us, the Filipino people.
It’s time to breach party lines and set aside ideological differences. Let’s stop supporting any politician and stand together in love for our country. The slogan should be clear: “Save Our Nation,” not “Save a Politician.” We have been exploited and betrayed by greedy politicians for too long—it’s time to take back our country.
And when the time comes to exercise our freedom of suffrage again, we must vote for the most qualified leaders. It’s time to weed out the politicians and choose leaders who are true statesmen, not career (greedy) politicians.
It’s time to reclaim our nation. The time is now. When we march to the streets, bring no party banners, only our nation’s flag.
Malaya Ka Ba Juan?
Kumusta Juan? Usap nga tayo sandali. May itatanong lang ako. Nakita mo naman siguro ang pamagat ng akda kong ito na nakasulat sa itaas. Iyan ang gusto kong itanong sa iyo. Totoo bang malaya ka na? Wala na nga bang sa iyo’y umaalipin? Wala na nga bang sa iyo’y pumipigil upang makamit mo ang mga pangarap mo sa buhay? Wala na nga bang sagabal upang marating ng bayan mo ang kaunlaran?
Syempre ang una mong reaksyon eh, “Ano bang tanong ‘yan?” Napaka-absurd! Obvious naman na malaya ka na dahil wala na ang mga Kastilang umalisputa’t sa iyo’y umalipin. Maging ang mga Amerikanong pumalit sa kanila ay matagal nang wala, pati nga base-militar nila’y pinalayas na natin ‘di ba? Napakatagal na rin namang tapos ang World War II at ang mga Hapon na nandito’y hindi mga sundalo kundi mga turista at mga asawa ng mga dating OFW sa Japan.
So, wala nang sagabal sa pag-unlad mo dapat ‘di ba? Kaya sasabihin mo bang malaya ka na? Wala na rin naman sa Malacanang ang mapaniil na diktaduryang Marcos. Kahit na nga ba alive and kicking pa ang aleng Imelda pero harmless na s’ya. Pero teka, ‘di ba Marcos din ang nakaupo ngayon, at may kapatid pa siya sa Senado na posibleng mamuno doon. Hala, pinsang buo pa pala niya ang nagpapatakbo ng Kongreso ngayon. Pero hindi sila ang kaaway at hadlang sa pag-unlad mo.
Kung gayon, kung hindi sila, eh sino kalaban at sagabal sa pag-angat mo sa buhay? Iyon bang nasa kabilang kampo… ang mga Duterte? Ay naku hindi rin. Mali ka t’song.
Hindi ang mga Marcos o Duterte at kung sino mang kumakampi sa kanila ang batong suong mo sa balikat kaya sa buhay ay hindi ka makausad. Hindi sila ang mga tanikalang nakakabit sa iyong mga paa kaya hindi ka makahakbang patungo sa mga pangarap mo… kung may pangarap ka nga.
Eh kung hindi sila, sino ang kaaway na hanggang ngayon ay umaalipin sa iyo kaya hindi mo masasabi na malaya ka.
Eh sino?
Nasaan siya?
Nakatira s’ya sa bahay n’yo. Isinusuot nga n’ya ang mga damit mo, medyas , at sapatos. Pati underwear mo! Pati nga pala toothbrush mo. Kumakain nga s’ya sa pinggang kinakainan mo.
Ano ulit kamo? Sino? Tatay mo? Nanay mo? Hindi kaya isa sa mga kapatid mo? Kuya mo? Engot! Ikaw iyon. Ang matinding kaaway mo ay ang sarili mo. Manalamin ka nang makita mo ang itsura ng totoo mong kaaway. Sige na humarap ka sa salamin.
Ayaw mo? Nahihiya ka! Ayaw mong aminin na ikaw mismo ang dahilan kung bakit hanggang d’yan lang ang narating mo. Ayaw mong aminin na ikaw ang pinakamatinding sagabal sa ‘di mo pagunlad at ng bansa mo?
O h’wag kang magalit sa akin. Totoo naman ah. Ano iyon? Hindi ka nagsisikap dahil kahit anong gawin mo ay hanggang d’yan ka na lang kasi hindi ka ipinanganak na mayaman? Na ang mga magulang mo kasi ay isang kahig isang tuka lamang. Tapos ano pa idudugtong mo? Na nasa guhit ng palad mo na maging mahirap. Na baka sirain lang ng bagyo o lindol ang ano mang bagay na ipupundar mo. Don’t give me that crap Juan! Ang sabihin mo hindi ka nagsisikap dahil tamad ka. JUAN TAMAD!
Tamad ka! Batugan! Iniaasa mo ang lahat sa iba. Aba’y hanggang ngayon eh nasa poder ka pa yata ng mga magulang mo. Baka ultimo pambili mo ng sigarilyo eh hinihingi mo pa sa nanay mo. Bakit ayaw mong maghanap ng trabaho.
Adik ka ba Juan… sa droga o ayuda?
Alipin ka ng katamaran mo Juan. Kaya h’wag mong sabihing malaya ka. At ‘di bale nga sana kung sarili mo lang pinuperwisyo mo. Kaso mo hindi eh. Pati ang bayan eh apektado. Ikaw ang sagabal kung bakit ang bansa mo’y gumagapang pa rin hanggang ngayon sa balag ng alanganin. Bakit? Oh come on Juan. Alam mo ang dahilan, h’wag ka nang magmaang-maangan pa. Batid mong isa kang modernong Hudas na nagkakanulo sa sarili mong bayan para sa halagang P500 o P1,000 (o magkaano man ang iyong tinanggap noong Mayo 12).Tuwang-tuwa ka sa ibinayad sa boto mo, pambili ng yosi at pangtoma. Pero ano ang kapalit? Hayun, maraming mga buwaya at linta ang nakaupo pa rin sa pamahalaan. Malabo pa sa burak ang asensong pinapangarap.
At pagkatapos ng eleksyon ano ang ginawa mo? Sa halip na kumilos ka para maabot mo ang iyong pangrap eh ano ang pinili mong pagkaabalahan? Ang pagkampi kay Marcos o kay Duterte? O baka sa ikatlong puwersang nanahimik pero nagsisimula na namang mag-ingay.
Anak ng tokwa, wala kang mapapala diyan. Bago ka kumabit kanino mang panig, unahin mo ang paghahanap ng pagkaing isasalpak mo diyan sa iyong bibig. Kaylangan ng katawan mo ng damit. Kaylangan mo ng bahay na masisilungan sa panahon ng tag-araw o tag-init. Mga iyan ang unahin mo. Tiyakin mo ring may pambili ka ng gamot kapag ikaw eh nagkasakit.
Sa halip na pagpapaunlad ng sarili mo at kabuhayan ang iyong atupagin eh pakikipagbangyan sa mga hindi mo kapanalig sa pulitika ang ginagawa mo. Makakadagdag ba iyan kahit singkong duling sa pitaka mong naghihingalo. Panay ang pagpopost mo ng mga opinyon laban sa kabila. Eh ano ba alam mo? Sigurado ka ba sa mga sinasabi mo? Nag-aral ka ba ng abugasya para magpahayag ka ng opinyon na may kaugnayan sa batas? Ano ba basehan mo sa iyong mga sinasabi? Mga sabi-sabi? Nag-research ka ba? At kung abugado ka man eh wala bang halong pulitika ang interpretasyon mo sa mga nangyayari? Hindi ba ikaw iyong tipo ng abugado na babaluktutin ang isyu pabor sa pinili mong panig… o sa panig na binayaran ka upang sayawin ang tugtog na gusto nila.
Hayaan nating Korte Suprema ang magpasya kung aling panig ang tama at legal ang ginagawa. Sila lang ang puwedeng gumawa niyan, hindi ang grupo mong kinabibilangan. Hayaan mong kasaysayan ang humusga sa mga politiko na sa tingin mo eh taliwas sa tamang katwiran ang mga desisyon. Hayaan mong ang mga abugado ng magkabilang panig ang magpingkian ng talino. Tumahimik ka dahil wala namang bilang ang opinyon mo.
Palayain mo ang iyong sarili sa walang kabuluhang pakikipagkagalit sa mga hindi mo kapanalig. Ako eh maka-Duterte, hindi ko itanago iyan mula noon. Oh kung ikaw eh galit sa mga Duterte eh dapat ba tayong mag-away. Hindi ba puwedeng irespeto mo ang paniniwala ko. Ano man ang dahilan ng panggagalaiti mo sa kanilang angkan eh igagalang ko yan. Bahala kang ma-stress sa galit mo sa kanila.
Ang problema kung makapanglait ka sa mga hindi mo kakampi eh akala mo perpekto kang tao. Kung makabatikos ka ng mga pulitikong kinasusuklaman mo parang wala kang bahid dungis. Kung makapangmenos ka ng mga taong hindi sumasangayon sa iyo eh akala mo ubong ka ng galing at talino. Brad, manalamin ka paminsan-minsan.
Palayain mo ang sarili mo sa pakikisawsaw sa away ng mga pulitiko? Inaalipin ka ng maling paniniwala na sa pagsali mo sa mga usaping ganyan eh makakatulong ka na magkaroon ng pagbabago sa atin lipunan. Diyos ko po! Gumising ka. Makakagulo ka lang. Hindi mo kayang baguhin ang mga politiko natin. Ang puwede mo lang gawin eh tiyakin na iyong mga karapat-dapat sa kanila ang iyong iboboto at… huwag kang magpapabayad. Iyong lang brad ang puwede mong gawin. Pero ginagawa mo ba? Hindi, di ba? Dahil nakakasilaw ang P500 o P1,000. Lalo na kung mahigit pa. Alipin ka ng kasakiman sa kaunting pera na iniaabot sa iyo tuwing eleksyon.
Sa halip na makisawsaw ka sa mga usaping pulitika eh unahin mo ang iyong kapakanan at ng iyong pamilya. Wala naman pakiaalam sa iyo ang mga pulitikong iyan. Ni hindi ka nga nila kilala. Asikasuhin mo na lang ang pagbabuti ng iyong kalusugan – katawan at isip. Iwanan mo ang politika, masyadong toxic iyan. Walang idudulot yan sa iyo kundi inis at away.
Pansinin mo Juan, kunwari lamang na umalis ang mga Kastila noon. Nandito pa rin sila’t alipin pa rin ang tingin sa iyo. Sila ang mga namimili ng boto mo upang paulit-ulit silang maupo sa pwesto at patuloy na salantain ang bayan mo.
Juan! Brad! H’wag kang magalit sa akin. Sinasabi ko ito dahil gusto kong magkasama tayong tahakin ang landas ng pagbabago. Ako man kasi’y kaylangan ding lumaya mula sa mga bagay na nakakasagabal sa pag-asenso ko. Ikaw, ako…TAYO, ang pag-asa ng bayan natin.
H’wag nating sayangin ang sakripisyong ginawa nina kuya Jose, Andres, Emilio, Marcelo, Gregorio at iba pang mga kuya natin. Hindi ko naman sinasabi na magpunta tayo sa Monumento at hiramin natin ang itak ni kuya Andres at pagtatagain ang mga natitirang Kastila na nagkukuwaring mga Pilipino. Ayaw kong maging mainitin ang ulo mo katulad ni Antonio, oo… iyong kapatid ni Juan, at pagbabarilin ang politikong sa tingin mo eh dapat nang sunugin sa dagat-dagatang apoy.
Juan, may isang linya sa isang kanta ni Michael Jackson na gusto kong ipaunawa sa iyo at gusto ko rin mas maunawaan pa… “If you want to make this world a better place, take a look at yourself and make a change.”
Kapag nagawa natin yan saka natin masasabi na malaya na tayo.
When Do We Wake Up?
(THIRD OF 4 PARTS)
SAME POLITICIANS… SAME RESULTS
We’re complaining about political dynasties, right? But haven’t we realized we are guilty of creating the political dynasties in the Philippines? Yes, we have to admit it. We allowed the same politicians and their family members to lord it over in the Philippine political landscape.
When a politician, let’s say a mayor, could no longer run for re-election due to term limits, what would the honorable gentleman do? Turn his back on politics? Of course not! Power is so addicting. So many of those who experienced being at the helm of either local or national politics (and enjoyed the benefits, including those “passed under the table”) would not just quit politics or pass the torch to another person.
So, what would happen?
His wife would run for the position he previously held. Then that politician would run for another post – as governor, perhaps. Most of the time, Filipino voters would allow them to win, and usually, they would be able to mesmerize (or buy) the voters to luckily get re-elected until they reach their term limits. Would it be the end? Would their thirst for power (and the so-called “benefits”) be finally satiated?
You know the answer… a resounding NO.
The couple would ask their son or daughter (a grandson, a granddaughter, or an in-law) to run for the positions they would vacate. The shocking thing (and you might not believe it) is that there are times when siblings, or even husbands and wives, do not give way to the other, and so members of the same family slug it out in the political arena.
Anyway, this is not about family members squabbling in the political arena but about the political dynasties their families created.
Let’s continue, then.
Let’s return to the mother who just reached her term limit as mayor. Would she go back to being a full-time mother and wife? You were born only yesterday if you don’t know the answer to that question. Yes – she would run for the post vacated by the husband-politician. The husband would then aim for a higher position – run as congressman or senator. If all family members win, then for years, the power will change hands within the same family. The son (or daughter) is a mayor, the mother a governor, and the father either a congressman or senator. When term limits are reached, they will just run for the position a family member would vacate. Some siblings, and even in-laws, in the family also occupy minor positions in their geographical units.
Did that family create their political dynasty? No! We did it. We Filipinos created the political dynasties in the Philippines.
Now, answer these questions – “How (did they perform) are they performing as leaders?” “What is the country’s current economic, social, and political condition?” “Is the Philippines marching towards progress with them holding the reins of government for God knows how long?”
Of course, you know the answers to the foregoing questions.
How many of the available positions in the Philippine government, local and national, are held by the same families who have been the gods and goddesses of Philippine politics since time immemorial? Most of them are offspring of the peninsular who survived “America’s power grab” at the turn of the 20th century. Eventually, they stayed in the country and reaped the dividends. And it’s not only the politics that they dominate. With the enormous fortune they inherited from their Spanish parents/grandparents, they also control the country’s economy. That’s why Filipinos sometimes jokingly ask – “Did the Spanish rule really end?”
Only a few pure-blooded Filipinos and foreign expatriates of Chinese origin who became wealthy when the Americans took their turn to colonize the Philippines had the financial resources to challenge the Spanish mestizos for political supremacy in the Philippines, especially after the Americans granted the Filipinos their independence after the World War II. Some of them succeeded, and when they experienced how intoxicating power is, they (and their offsprings) kept running, and we kept electing them as if nobody else were qualified.
It is no longer surprising that politicians holding national positions have one or two family members and in-laws holding seats in the local government.
Filipinos might ask, “When would the same people from the same families pass the reins of leadership to each other in national and local governments after elections end?”
That’s up to the Filipino voters.
So, we should not wonder why the World Bank still classifies the Philippines as a “developing country.”
According to Albert Einstein, “insanity” is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result.
Why do we expect a better-performing government when we keep electing the same politicians?
M.A.D. LIGAYA
M.A.D. L I G A Y A 