Members of Congress have been attacked left and right in both social and traditional media on the issue of corruption. The accusations have been stinging, as if they would make a dent. But it has been “wa epek” (no dent at all).

Take the case of the PhilHealth funds that were blatantly stolen amid angry protests. “Wa epek pa rin.” Pakapalan na lang ng mukha (They just put on a thick face). I wonder why the culprits have never been identified in the media. As far as I know, fellow members of Congress know who they are, but their names have never come out in the open.

Corrupt members of Congress will never expose other corrupt members of Congress. It is an unwritten protocol of corrupt congressmen not to expose each other’s crimes because doing so will only trigger wars, mud-slinging conflicts, and eye-for-an-eye conflicts. It will trigger wars that will go nowhere.

In other words, we have reached a point where we are all helpless to contain their corruption, even amid stinging media exposure and rebukes left and right.

One “final solution” is perhaps having a “benevolent dictator,” someone strong against the slings and arrows of the powerful but corrupt Congress. We can have a benevolent dictator in several ways: 1) through a coup d’etat, a highly unlikely option at this time; or 2) someone whom we vote into power as president.

But there is no “presidentiable” from the two “lesser evils” fighting each other, namely, the Marcos and Duterte factions. There is no existing “third force” to challenge the two lesser evils — Marcos and Duterte.

In truth, we have a leadership crisis (something I have repeatedly said in this column), which a dictator can perhaps solve. We badly need a leader who is not for himself but for the Filipino nation and for the Filipino, maka-Diyos (moral), maka-tao (loyal to the people), not maka-sarili (vested interest) at magnanakaw (a thief).

Do we currently have someone with these qualifications who can run for president? Perhaps we do, but the question is — are they presidential enough? Some of the people surfacing on social media are running for senator. In mentioning these few names to friends and colleagues, the quick off-the-shoulder reply is always — baka hindi pa sila hinog. (They may not yet be ripe for the presidency.)

A benevolent dictator can start by taking emergency powers without causing a furor, in other words, with the people’s approval. The rationale for emergency powers is our leadership crisis and helplessness to contain corruption in the highest echelons of government.

Once the dictator has emergency powers, he can start kicking the asses of members Congress and senators in the most creative ways he can devise. He must be strong and wise because the powers-that-be in Congress will surely get back at him. He must also be wise enough to act on the “edge” of the legal process, or what is otherwise known as “quasi-legal.”

There are many long shots and hurdles in our quest to solve our leadership crisis. So perhaps we should pray harder — the last and best option. We can ask the Queen of Peace to solve our leadership crisis, to find that potential leader to rescue us from our misery. Our ways may not be as good as the ways of the Queen of Peace.