Top to bottom

Top to bottom | Daily Tribune

Headlines lately have screamed about calls for impeachment against the top two officials of the land. This is no joking matter, even as the most disgruntled and frustrated among us make snide remarks typical of Filipino humor.

The allegations are quite serious, betrayal of public trust chief among them, because it zeroes in on the core of public outrage. Elected officials were voted into their positions with the majority’s high expectations of credible leadership.

Many cases were raised against the President and Vice President, who, during the election season, were spouting “unity” and change. That alliance proved shallow, as a couple of years into their landslide victory at the polls, the relationship unraveled. And it all seemingly boiled down to enormous sums of money.

The rift became public fodder after Sara Duterte seemed to explode in ire at being questioned about the Office of the Vice President’s confidential funds and the budget of the Department of Education, which she headed until all hell broke loose.

By loose, we also mean tongues rolling with defamatory, even threatening words, plenty of miffed expressions and overt snubbing — behavior that unbelievably made the news in our country. We can just imagine how such uncivility is replicated in organizations and offices throughout the land, definitely not the “New Philippines” Bongbong Marcos envisioned, one can bet.

Why is this point relevant? Because today, if you did not know it, Filipinos are trapped at a crucial point.

On one hand, the calls for accountability for widespread corruption are necessary. Who should answer for the obvious breakdown of morals in our society, where lawmakers are linked to lawbreaking, and law enforcers are caught committing the very crimes they are supposed to protect the people from?

Lately, for instance, a police officer and her child became victims of murder, with suspects also believed to be cops. In Makati, six Manila policemen were apprehended for robbing citizens of their cash and cellphones. And we hear crime rates have gone down under the Marcos administration?

One wonders why, at one end of the spectrum, the filthy rich are siphoning off more riches from the nation’s coffers, and on the other, desperate, misguided people are robbing those struggling every day to make ends meet.

There is something to be said about the breakdown of our society here. We hear of “nepo babies” or frown at Heart Evangelista making waves at Paris Fashion Week, not because we hate her, but because the visual spectacle is like rubbing salt on national wounds.

So we return to the recent calls for impeachment and wonder if this is the best course of action at this point to regain any sense of national pride. Because we all know it is not just Alex Eala or Carlos Yulo, beauty queens, or Lea Salonga and Rachelle Ann Go who will chip away at the negative international reputation or diffuse the escalating disgruntlement among our own people.

Where do we begin — from the top or at the very bottom?