No, the lady I am referring to is not Vice President Sara Duterte. She is not nearly as distressed as this other lady, the motherland that our leaders have paid no mind at all. How else can Lady Filipinas be but in distress when her ruling dynasties have never bothered to solve the unrelenting poverty of roughly half her people? How, when as recent events have shown, all they do is maneuver for positions that give them sure and fast access to people's money.
The Failure to Implement Anti-Poverty Programs
For a long time now, the Philippines should have pursued a serious anti-poverty program. For lack of it, we have instead slid inexorably down to the bottom of the Asean development pile. The only thing our dense leaders can think of is ayuda. Why? Because ayuda is coursed through political lords who use it to make cash-starved voters vote for their political patrons, thus perpetuating the latter's self-serving rule.
Impeachment as a Political Maneuver
Yes, impeachment is in the Constitution. But it does not mean that every impeachment process is an exercise in accountability. Not in the Philippines anyway. If you think about it deeply enough, the latest impeachment process, including the Senate takeover, was a fight for ayuda. The protagonists, political dynasts all, just wanted to ensure a win in the coming elections. They want uncontested access to ayuda money that they could use to control the Comelec and buy votes. Once in power, they get to continue inserting unprogrammed funds into the budget.
Selective Accountability
The four major allegations against the Vice President are: use of confidential funds; unexplained wealth; bribery or corruption; and controversial statements. Who among those in favor or against the impeachment is not guilty of the above allegations? Selective accountability is not accountability. It is a pure and simple political maneuver for easy access to government funds.
Neglect of People's Struggles
All of the issues our politicians concern themselves with have to do only with their political and business careers. Nothing about the people's struggle with homelessness, hunger, disease, and ignorance. Otherwise, why does the country still lack a serious anti-poverty program? Why are people kept dependent on the generosity of politicians? This is not only irresponsible but also hypocritical. Irresponsible when they should be attending to the problems of the majority, which is poverty due to unemployment and under-employment. Hypocritical when they ooze with pity towards voters whom they keep enslaved to dole-outs of money they stole from the same people.
Beyond Criticism: The Need for Solutions
Some of us are naively wasting energy supporting either the Duterte or the Marcos dynasty. Others, possessed with the right social analysis, are wasting energy hurling angry denunciations of all political dynasties. If the motherland is to be relieved of distress, we need to go beyond criticism and anger. We need to talk about solutions. We need a creative non-violent program to shift from elitist to a truly representative democracy. And because we need political power to implement such a program, we ultimately need to organize or coalesce into a genuine people's opposition party.
