Let Them Sing!
The birds are chirping . . . the music is swelling . . . but most importantly, their asses are sweating!
Lately, the tide of battle has turned in favor of truth, justice, and the masses. From orchestrated protests to the connived backstabbing of supposed allies, the Philippine political landscape has turned dirty to an exceptional degree—a once in a blue moon sequence of events.
Within hours, Senate positions were reshuffled as if the board was being swept clean. Today's events might just lay the foundation for a greater unravelling of actual “nation building.” However, a dosage of pessimistic reality necessitates more grounded expectations of the nation's prospects.
“Something like this has happened before—think Pork Barrel, DepEd laptops, etc.," said Fiorlan Vinuya, a 19-year-old sociology student at the Ateneo de Manila University.
Nevertheless, some heavy players have now proved themselves able to strike swiftly and deadly. During a Senate blue ribbon committee hearing, Pasig mayor Vico Sotto gave as much confidential information and backhanded smite as his pettiness and spite towards the Discayas seemingly demanded. The young anti-corruption advocate delved into the Discaya’s Pasig-based construction firms, their dummies, and building code violations.
"I would like to be more direct. Kasinungalingan po talaga. Hindi naman po bago sila sa kanila ang pagsisinungaling. Na-obserbahan na po natin ito." (I would like to be more direct. These are lies. It's not new for them to lie. We have observed this already.)—said the Pasig mayor, as he disclosed the Discaya's dishonesty with public records.
"We are actively being robbed, and in doing so, people are getting killed by natural disasters, among other things," Fiorlan adds.
Everything is beginning to culminate in a dramatic climax for the ages. Years of constant sweeping under the rug cannot stop a former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) assistant engineer from procuring evidence of a supposed “delivery” of flood control project funds. Brice Hernandez has not only exposed the piles of cold-hard cash being transferred to private properties, but he also shared conversations between a DPWH district engineer and Senator Joel Villanueva, in which the senator shared remarks towards his distaste at the department’s alleged relationship with him.
“We are actively being robbed, and in doing so, people are getting killed by natural disasters, among other things. As this drags on, people are getting increasingly agitated as the list of revelations goes on, so it already seems like we are watching a drama.”
Today's spectacle is the nation's new addition to the grand domestic saga of poverty and corruption, thus enabled citizens to piece the puzzle together just a little bit more.
“The mere fact alone that so much was stolen, and [that] we lost so many lives as a result, so much [of our] livelihood, which could’ve been saved from the amount of devastation that they do today, is simply atrocious,” concluded Fiorlan.
At this point, all that is needed is a steady flow wherein each step forward brings the people one step closer to long-lasting change—without any extraneous variable pulling everyone two steps backward. Now that someone has shown that they can sing, they should empower others to let their voices out more. One day, the nation shall harmonize in unison. It is only a matter of when and how.
Nevertheless, as the titular character exclaimed in Jerrold Tarog’s Heneral Luna (2015) - "Mga ginoo, magandang balita. May nangyayari na!" (Gentlemen, good news! Something is happening!)
Source: ABS-CBN
Sean Cruz is an Economics undergraduate at the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, Manila. As a social scientist, he uses his knowledge of economics to address contemporary social issues and bring criticism to the immoral, unethical, and irrational.