Who We Gonna Call?

The gavel-to-gavel coverage provided for the stymied multi-billion peso broadband deal gives us a peek as to how our honorable legislators conduct business. “In aid of legislation”, they preen around like sober jurists and hotdog their legal acumen every chance they get. So much time expended towards a conclusion I will fearlessly forecast: there is widespread corruption at hand in the hallowed halls of our leaders.

There, that didn’t take but a few seconds and no money whatsoever, and as if this realization would provoke cries of Eureka!

We don’t need the World Bank to point this out to us nor do we have to wait for the latest surveys. The corruption that pervades everywhere is sickening. It is crystal clear even to the most detached pedestrian.

We do not need any more of this subterfuge of aiding legislation or any legislation for that matter. It’s not as if we follow our own laws anyway. Did we just not spend a fortune convicting a plunderer and then conveniently allow him to walk away without restitution?

We, the Filipino people have become so accustomed to abuse we hardly feel it any more. This system has succeeded in converting most us into small, selfish units that will not act so long as our most basic needs are met. And basic here refers to a portion of a packet of instant noodles, a classroom that is better described as a holding pen, a little electricity that is overpriced, grossly clear water, plus a couple of tablets of aspirin.

We are afraid of our leaders, from the president to the local kagawad. We are timid and we cower behind our shameful indifference and we don’t want to assert our rights and fight against injustice lest it disrupt our cozy little relationships within this hopelessly entangled corrupt web. This fear of ours is what allows this screwed-up way of life to flourish.

There is an urgent need for a cast change. These guys won’t do it for us, the sooner we realize this, the better off we will all be. These guys won’t do it for us not because they don’t want to but because they are all so part of the trapo system, so well-invested, so comfortable. We need women and men who will not countenance compromising with evil and corruption and cowardice. Women and men who will understand that service requires sacrifice and that they do not have a monopoly on capacity and good intentions. Women and men who will serve for one term and give the many millions out there a chance to render service to their country.

We need to quit looking around. We will have to take our country back ourselves.