Our political leaders have failed us

Another year passed and a new one is before us. There’s no better time to take stock of where we are as a nation than now. The urgency of the situation leaves no room for tact. So I will be direct.

Our political leaders and the system they created have failed us. We may not have noticed how much we have deteriorated in development indices since the erosion has come in small increments. But viewed from the lens of decades, you will see that the damage wrought by our politicians has been enormous.

At the heart of our problems is corruption and impudence by our political leaders themselves.

Every politician claims to love his country but when faced with a choice between self gain or national gain, the former always wins. This is why “SOPs” (a colloquial word for 20+ percent commission for the chief) has become a fact of Philippine life. The same with nepotism, kickbacks and outright theft. The Vice President’s Mary Grace Piattos scam eloquently exemplifies this. Our political leaders have become scandalously rich by corruption, while the rest of society is left with no social safety nets. The quality of social services and infrastructure is maintained at its barest minimum.

Institutions like the Commission on Audit hardly mitigate corruption. They only become relevant when used as a political weapon.

And then there is the consolidation of wealth and power by political dynasties. Incumbent politicians use their influence and government’s money to get family members elected, even if they edge out better talent. Inexperienced relatives always win. Studies show that political dynasties erode leadership quality and promote corruption. Political dynasties are the principal cause of our retarded development. They are to blame.

Many political leaders purposely keep their constituencies poor and ignorant. Poverty allows politicians to present themselves as saviors by dishing out ayuda. Also taking advantage of the masses’ ignorance are has-been entertainers. Their abysmal performance in elected positions speak for themselves.

Shamelessness has spread in Philippine life like a deadly virus. Slowly, acts of impudence have been normalized. Nowadays, multiple family members in the Senate has become acceptable. SOP is acceptable. Fat dynasties are acceptable. Convicted criminals running for office is acceptable. Profanity is acceptable. Going abroad to evade arrest is acceptable. Treasonous acts like supporting China is acceptable. Bullying the public on the roads with sirens is acceptable. The level of tolerance for impudence has been pushed little by little to a point of normalcy.

And when politicians are called out for their impudence, abuses or incompetence, they never take responsibility. Instead, they cry political persecution or declare the whistleblower persona non grata. They have a loser’s mentality.

There is a pact among the political elite to keep the status quo. Why change the system that serves them handsomely? If they really held the country’s interest primordial, they would have passed the anti-dynasty law a long time ago. Change will not come until the public demands it.

The results speak for themselves

The title of this piece can be substantiated it by the state of the nation.

Utter failure is exemplified by the fact that the country is not even able to feed or defend itself. We have a 70-year-old insurgency that persist even when communism is virtually dead.

We have the highest poverty rate and lowest per capita income among ASEAN 6. Foreign investors stay away, given the level of corruption and harassment they must endure amid a badly formulated bureaucracy. Our exports are the lowest among our peers and we only keep ourselves afloat by exporting our people. It’s pathetic how our politicians brag about OFW remittances as if it is an achievement.

Quality health care is a privilege only for the rich as PhilHealth benefits are nearly irrelevant. PhilHealth is used as government’s piggy bank while PhilHealth executives spend our money with impunity.

Our youth are the least intelligent in the world and our workforce is generally incapable of critical reasoning. Still, the DepEd remains infested with racketeers. Our leaders care little about education. To illustrate how unimportant education is to the legislature, DepEd’s budget was slashed by P12 billion despite the dire need of our young learners to catch up. The slash comes amid fat increases in congressional pork barrel. More on the budget and how Malacañang and Congress have conspired to dupe ordinary Filipinos next week.

Our housing system is a failure, with 6.5 million Filipinos still needing formal shelter. Our capital, Metro Manila, is overcome by squalor. It is downtrodden by grime and debilitating traffic. Outside enclaves run by the private sector, Metro Manila remains the ugly neighbor to Bangkok and Singapore. Metro Manila is a metaphor for the bad governance our political leaders have inflicted upon us.

Geopolitically, the Philippines has the least diplomatic influence and weakest passport among ASEAN 6. Our political leaders are so inward looking that we have hardly asserted ourselves in global affairs until China started attacking us.

Worse, our political leaders have stopped aspiring for excellence nor do they strive to attain pioneer status in any realm. For them, it is enough not to be dead last because to be last may trigger an investigation that will expose their incompetence and corruption.

Fates of nations depend on its leaders and ours have put us in a losing position relative to our peers. The country will continue to erode in all development indices as long as this political system remains in force. The leading candidates for the 2025 elections do not inspire optimism. Same old, just worse.

Concerned citizens are becoming more vocal about their discontent since corruption, impunity and inequality is getting worse. This is a good thing. We need a political reset and we need a champion to push it.

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Email: [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @aj_masigan