Thanksgiving in the Time of Turkeys and Thieves

Thanksgiving in the Time of Turkeys and Thieves | Daily Tribune

Filipinos love holidays, an inheritance from 333 years under Spain, which gifted us the “siesta and fiesta” rhythm of life, and 48 under America, which taught us the joys of long weekends. We embrace celebrations from everywhere — Christmas, Valentine’s, Mother’s and Father’s Day, Chinese New Year, Mooncake Festival, Earth Day, April Fools’ Day, and now, in the middle of floodwaters and scandal, the most ironic of all, Thanksgiving.

Usually, we welcome holidays, local or imported, because they bring people together. But this year, Thanksgiving arrives in the country like a slap. While some homes in gated villages prepare stuffed turkey, the rest of the country wades through floodwater because of stolen public works funds. Billions meant for flood control were siphoned off into the pockets of agencies, contractors, and shadowy operators. We are drowning not just in rainwater but in moral rot.

While the nation lights candles, the thieves burn documents.

The implicated deny wrongdoing with the same enthusiasm as when they signed padded and “guni-guni” contracts.

Thanksgiving cannot be reduced to a cheerful denial by the scoundrels while the public is being robbed in broad daylight.

Tama na. Sobra na.

No more polite silence. No more accepting theft as the normal “kalakaran” or SOP in public works.

But there is a reason for our gratitude — the rising anger of the public, proof that conscience is still alive, still sharp, and unwilling to let thieves in barong walk away with their Rimowa suitcases filled with crisp P1,000 bills.

Today, we celebrate Thanksgiving with turkey, lechon and a national scandal in the background.

While Americans stuff their turkeys, we stuff our feeds with dinner photos while the flood control fiasco turns sidewalks into swimming pools. But humor, patience, and resilience must not distract us from the truth that scandals persist because the corrupt rely on our short memory. Turkey today, outrage tomorrow, amnesia the day after.

Somewhere, an official is explaining how a P500-million project produced three bags of gravel and a ribbon cutting ceremony. It is a cruel comedy and we can only laugh at this shameless charade because if we don’t, we will cry.

This year’s Thanksgiving leaves a bitter aftertaste. The flood control scandal is not merely about the theft of money, it is the theft of safety, dignity, and trust. People drown in water that should have been diverted. Homes, businesses, and dreams are lost because public funds were treated as political spoils.

To celebrate Thanksgiving without a moral reckoning is to participate in a culture of forgetting, a timely reminder on this year’s Thanksgiving. Today let us have Thanksgiving as an act of vigilance with anger sharpened into resolve and resolve sharpened into action. Gratitude without accountability is not gratitude, it’s an open invitation to steal again and give corruption a standing ovation.

Under ordinary circumstances, Thanksgiving is harmless and family-centered. But this year, it unfolds under the long, dark shadow of systemic corruption by the entire government, if many reports are outrageously true. Thanksgiving is not an escape but a reminder and an unwavering call that justice can no longer wait.

Let us then celebrate, but never grow complacent. Citizens, civil society, and oversight institutions must persist in demanding transparency, restitution and reform.

We will continue to celebrate Thanksgiving not as a copycat of America but to honor the ordinary Filipinos who hold this nation together in this time of turkeys and thieves. Thanksgiving gives us the courage, strength, and hope that we can withstand the storm and find our way back to decency.