The elephant in the room is President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. All the present trouble in the country can be solved if he sets aside the ambition of perpetuating power, be it by proxy or his own progeny, and instead focusing on improving the country. This whole thing all started with the People’s Initiative to change the Philippine Constitution. When that faced moral objections from various sectors, the same was put in the back burner. But we are in that phase of our political lives in which people are lured into “legalized” vote buying by means of ayuda (aid). This is nothing but a shameless display of the arrogance of those who have control over the country’s purse.
But the people no longer want another EDSA-type of revolt. Fatigue from all these people power revolutions seems apparent. Change is not apparent. The youth of today have a different concern. Many are leaving the country in search for a better life abroad. It’s not just brain drain. Some think that the good life does not exist in this country. It takes so much courage to still believe that there is hope. An honest man usually becomes the loser in the game called life when the rules are not fair. But the problem is clear.
Speaker Martin Romualdez, rumored to be the man expected to banner the administration post-Uniteam, lacks the charisma and savvy in terms of relating to the masses or the common tao. With the forthcoming 2025 midterm elections, the current political alignments are not just meant to strengthen the position of the ruling majority, the same also reflect the usual lack of loyalty in our brand of politics. In fact, all these investigations are meant to taint the image of former President Rodrigo Duterte. Nothing more, nothing less.
It appears that the National Budget too has been weaponized not only to defund the Office of the Vice President, but more so, to provide the administration with a continuing political war chest. Funding important infrastructure projects like the Mindanao Railway could have been easily sourced from the General Appropriations Act. Reports suggest that the ayuda distributed to the people has become a big source of corruption by unscrupulous officials. If a part of the 500 billion for ayuda is redirected to help improve education and public transport, that would mean realizing a key component in developing outlier regions. Giving to the poor does not necessarily help them. In fact, ayuda smells of political manipulation.
There are positive things, of course, say, the privatization of NAIA. It does not matter who started the effort. What is important is making the commitment to help improve airport services and putting an end to the bad reputation of the country’s main gateway. However, the country’s development policy has a problem of focus. Ayuda should not be confused with conditional cash transfers. The former is done through the arbitrary listing of favored individuals by village officials whereas the latter is based on some screening done by concerned government agencies, with expected follow-ups in terms of the health and education of members of millions of poor families. The problem with the ayuda is that it unarguably reflects the patronage mentality and elite-driven democracy in the Philippines.
In the past, scholars often talk about reforms but as expected, nothing happened. President Duterte started a radical approach to address our country’s woes with his enormous political will, but time was not on his side. For now, the only way to put the house in order is for the President to hold his horses and do what he is expected to do as the highest elected official in the country. The government must pay utmost attention and unfailing commitment to its purpose, which is the pursuit of equitable growth. If the same is not the primary intent or motive of the President, then the struggle continues. Our everyday life is nothing but a part of the contested nature of Philippine politics. In the battle among giants, the poor Filipino ends up becoming a hapless victim. The problem is obvious. The answer will depend on how we as a people want this country to move forward.
