It’s still accountability, stupid

It’s still accountability, stupid | Daily Tribune

As I write this, 550,000 members of the Iglesia ni Cristo are gathered at Rizal Park, Manila, calling for “Transparency and Accountability,” while a dozen kilometers away, about 4,000 Duterte loyalists are gathered at the People Power Monument in Quezon City, demanding President Bongbong Marcos’ resignation.

On paper, it looks like the perfect storm for a Sara Duterte succession. In reality, though, the “Sara for BBM” push still hasn’t found real traction.

If this were truly an unstoppable movement, you’d feel it in the air — the sense of inevitability, of momentum building. Instead, what we’ve seen so far is more sputter than surge. Take last Friday’s so-called “exposé” by former Congressman Zaldy Co, the poster boy for flood control corruption.

His big reveal landed not with a bang but a thud. Outside the predictable online cheerleading from pro-Duterte accounts, most people were unconvinced. Many questioned his credibility, pointed out inconsistencies, or said the obvious: if you have evidence, come home and testify under oath.

The irony, of course, is that the same Duterte camp now treating Co as a truth-teller was mocking him as “corruption incarnate” just weeks ago, with VP Sara herself even linking him to the DepEd laptop scandal. Apparently, rehabilitation is instant when it’s politically convenient.

But the real problem with the “Sara for BBM” push is simpler: she’s hardly a convincing alternative. For a public sick to death of corruption, replacing one embattled politician with another whose own record is riddled with allegations feels less like change and more like déjà vu.

Let’s not forget, it was only months ago that Sara Duterte narrowly escaped an impeachment trial for the misuse of confidential funds and other corruption issues. The case only vanished because then Senate President Chiz Escudero — now himself facing possible criminal charges — slow-walked the proceedings long enough for the Supreme Court to intervene and dismiss the impeachment on a technicality in a much criticized decision.

That kind of escape artistry doesn’t exactly scream reform. And when some of her loudest supporters are politicians under investigation themselves, the pitch that a Sara presidency would somehow “clean house” starts sounding like the set-up to a bad joke.

So far, the country’s reaction has been tepid at best. Filipinos aren’t blind. They see through the recycled outrage, the selective memory, the carefully choreographed rallies dressed up as spontaneous movements. They know that swapping Marcos for Duterte isn’t a solution; it’s just trading one dynasty’s scandals for another’s.

The truth is, a lot of people don’t want another personality at the top. They want accountability. They want names, cases, convictions. They want to see someone actually held responsible for the billions stolen and the lives damaged.

So no, the way forward isn’t “Sara for BBM.” It’s still very much “ikulong ang mga kurakot.”

That’s the call echoing in the streets, the churches and online. And unless this government — and every would-be successor — finally delivers on that demand, all these grand rallies and exposés will remain what they are: just more noise in a country that has had it with the cacophony of lies and empty theatrics.