INFRASTRUCTURE AND DEMOCRACY go hand in hand, for they ought to be built atop a robust foundation, maintained in such a way that its age only lends to the diminution of its defects and meant for the enjoyment of all its inhabitants. Yet, when public works are met with inaction, and acts of democracy treated with disdain, only the people can build a home that can sustain the harshest of conditions.
Recently, the Philippines was ravaged by Typhoons Crising, Dante, and Emong, leaving 26 Filipinos dead. In response, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. revealed that the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), along with several contractors, are profiting off of projects meant for public welfare, sparking a wave of ongoing investigations on these aptly-called “ghost projects,” and a probe on the Php 100 billion allocation for the measly 15 top contractors.
These funds, emanating from the people and meant for them, had practically dissolved. With the Discayas flaunting their luxury automobiles, the children of the infamous contractors unashamedly displaying their extravagant apparel, and the supposed projects left in subpar or even absent condition, it becomes evident where these funds had actually been appropriated.
Yet, the supposed subtlety of legislators’ dealings, paired with the performative outrage of congressmen and senators who are themselves equally complicit, meets its equalizer in the ever-growing masses of people on the streets, speaking out to hold these brazen officials accountable .
Last September 4, people gathered at one of the Discaya-owned properties to express their dissent, with the rallyists staging a performance depicting the Discaya spouses and Wawao Builders as ghosts in reference to their unfulfilled responsibilities.
Since then, mass mobilizations have been taking place on a day-to-day basis, and movements are being planned ahead of the 53rd anniversary of Martial Law such as the ‘Trillion Peso March’ set at the Rizal Park in the morning and at the People Power Monument in the afternoon this September 21.
The chanting call for democracy yet to be distilled is an opportunity to dispel the Duterte-old notion that rallies are anti-state activities, a critical moment in our history when the Philippines can genuinely return to its liberal democratic roots.
However, cries for accountability are not without their setbacks. While Metro Manila Mayors Vico Sotto and Isko Moreno appealed to the protesters not to resort to violence, reducing the growing outrage as symptoms of “mob rule,” the people have already fallen at the leniency of the government.
In such a case where inefficient and impotent bureaucracy is the enduring status quo, it is the duty of the people to reclaim the sovereignty rightfully theirs, to channel their rightful frustrations to the streets and free themselves from the comfort of privilege and laxity.
In response to the escalating social movements, the Philippine National Police (PNP) have begun implementing heightened security measures around protest hotspots. In tandem, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has also been placed on red alert status amid the ongoing mobilizations, with spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla stressing the AFP’s “unwavering loyalty” to the Filipino people and to the Constitution.
However, if the executive’s loyalty to the people were indeed genuine, deeply rooted corruption should not have reached such a magnitude and scale, with the DPWH as one of its departments; and while direct assaults on the freedom of expression are yet to occur, the reality of protesters being deterred at the mere thought of martial intervention remains an unshakeable prospect.
Nonetheless, the excessive use of force by state forces is deeply troubling, given that efforts to suppress the masses’ genuine frustrations through mobilization threaten to erode the very foundations of democracy, often leading to devastating loss of life. But as Nepal and Indonesia would prove, the sovereignty of the people can overpower military prowess, and it did.
As Nepal had its Prime Minister ousted and its President practically asking the protestors for a peaceful resolution in the wake of its movements, and Indonesia conceding its inequitable grants to public officials, so too can the Philippines wrest accountability from the clutches of corruption.
Nevertheless, change may only take place upon one condition: genuine unity. For what greater force is there than the people, those who have collectively decided that enough is enough, who have long been denied equitable opportunities, and whose rights have been eroded in service of a crook’s self-interest? In such a scenario, there shall be no banners of yellow and pink, nor red and green, but that of blue and red, the Filipino people. Only then can the road to change be built.