The existence of any entity in this world is inherently invested with a purpose or function—what we call its reason for being. It’s true to natural things as to human creations. That which ensues from the inventive genius or creative passion of humans belongs to that domain we call Art and properly falls under the concerns of the Humanities. But that is not the subject of this essay.
There is a special skill which a certain group of individuals in society has acquired and used in very adroit fashion for its own sake. We may call this group a special tribe, if only because its members have achieved varying degrees of finesse or excellence in the pursuance of their tasks. One would think they have a special mission to perform for the benefit of society or the nation-state. Their presence is felt in every sphere of our social life. And they are there in all levels of the political organs of the State. In fact, with our ‘hereditary’ recognition of their existence, they seem to factor indispensably in our life-world.
Yes, this special tribe, albeit a human creation as an association of humans, is vested with some kind of divine providence. By the social stature and privilege they have attained for themselves they must be favored by the gods. Truly they swagger around like demigods minus the noble mark of integrity on their foreheads. You know them by their glib tongues and the flamboyant manner with which they comport themselves with the people. Some of them, long before the selfie came to be in fashion, have by self-installation elevated their gigantic replicas in monuments. A few have had their names indelibly printed in the pages of the history books for being among the Puppet Presidents of our Republic.
But what really is this tribe’s reason for being?
It’s not difficult to discern. By their expertise in the performance of their official duties theirs have been a shining record of misgovernance and neglect of the primordial function of the State. But nothing stands out as an exemplary feat as the perdurability of graft and corruption they have instituted in the culture of the State such that it has permeated the collective consciousness of their constituency as a normal state of affairs.
In spite of the explosion that has rocked the seat of State power by the recent scandals, the mentality in the ranks of this special tribe has remained a mission to be pursued, namely to enrich oneself in office. Their oath of office ought to explicitly pronounce this primordial basis for their existence, not in such bombastic words and phrases that hide the mafia mystery of their mission.
At the bottom of this culture of corruption handed down from the American colonial system to the domestic ruling class that constitutes the special tribe of politicos is the infinite mission to maintain a system of oligarchy in Philippine society. It is a legacy of US Colonialism designed to turn out hordes ofneo-colonialists from the ranks of local Filipino politicians—pseudo-leaders who stand over and above the masses of the people by means of deceit and trickery and violence and bribery.
The special season whereby the cycle of replenishment and turn-over of neo-colonial rulers is heralded with pomp and fanfare is the Elections! Here the finesse and excellence of politicos in their acts of deception of the people is manifest. It comes as a fiesta-like ritual wherein a turn–over of the keys to corruption is done. A new round of corrupt practices by the newly-elected politicos inaugurate a new period or term of robbing the national treasury and perpetuating the impoverishment of the people.
It’s no wonder—sixty-eight years from the inauguration of the Philippine Republic—we have remained a backward and underdeveloped country. It is not the special tribe’s mission to emancipate the Filipino people from poverty or to extricate Philippine society from backwardness and underdevelopment. Their Vision, Mission Goal (VMG) is to perpetuate poverty to be able to continue fooling the citizenry and to amass wealth for themselves and their families.
