Power trippers

Money, in our capitalist era, is the easiest and direct instrument for dominating people. Anyone who wants power over another simply shows money and magically gets his wishes done by one with no money. Money is the loudest talker in the room, as the common saying goes.

But money’s power is the next most useless thing, the other being out of power, for government officials in our cacique democracy, even if they often enough squabble over public money with disastrous consequences for us taxpayers.

Politicians, of course, will tell you privately money is crucial in their despicable profession. Yet they can’t boast about money publicly as doing so leads nowhere but jail. Jail time is the one circumstance all politicians try to avoid at all costs.

So, since money’s power is practically useless for showing off political power, a government functionary’s necessary problem is then how to display power by other means than money.

And this leads us to the meaning of the perks and pelf that come with government offices.

It should be obvious by now that taxpayer money is there for the taking, running into trillions of pesos, in our political system, but perks and pelf are as crucial as money in any government man’s unending quest for domination.

There are many perks available for government functionaries to induce perceptions of power, but the obvious ones they use, as they go up the power ladder, are familiar to us: the bodyguards, the helicopters, motorcycle cops as escorts and the casual disregard for traffic and traffic rules. The wangwang culture in short.

Now, this commonplace wangwang culture can be said about last week’s controversy involving government official who badly needed a bathroom break while on board a helicopter. The controversial helicopter landing caper at the ULTRA track oval in Pasig was, as a disgusted prominent lawyer said, a “wangwang in the sky!”

A presumably embarrassed public official is preferring a stony silence over a public declaration on the incident. But the staff of the public official floated excuses, saying the official landed at the ULTRA to fetch some friends and that there is no way of knowing the chopper would land on a sports field full of children. Concerned ULTRA officials said the helicopter had no business landing there and had not asked for their permission.

Running breathlessly to the official’s side is another public figure in an unbelievable defense, said the helicopter pilot should be the one blamed! The peculiar tack, however, failed to conclusively restore the official’s stock in the eyes of some powerful people in Malacañang.

The immediate object lesson here, therefore, at least for Duterte officials, is for them not to be caught red-handed doing embarrassing things in these times of the ubiquitous cell phone video that is quickly uploaded to social media.

But when one thinks further, the stunt of displaying naked power isn’t at all different from some other Duterte officials using wangwang and motorcycle escorts to dodge choking traffic in Metro Manila.

It is alarming that the unnerving wangwang culture is back again in our streets. The last time government functionaries were addicted to wangwang was during the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo era. Many of us still remember, for nine whole years, cringing at how often our ears were unceremoniously and disrespectfully assaulted by those siren addicts. It was also an addiction taken up by scores of power trippers who weren’t, by any description, in the police or ambulance service.

Mr. Noynoy Aquino, in spite of his many faults, immediately wiped out that addiction and gave us six years of blissful peace in our streets. But now that Ms. Arroyo seems to have snaked back into power, isn’t it too coincidental that wangwang is back with a vengeance?

As for Mr. Duterte, he too wanted to do away with the wangwang culture. At the start of his term, he ordered his people to do away with flashy cars and, in so many words, told everyone he hated the flaunting of power.

But, with wangwang again assaulting our ears and nerves, it is as if Mr. Duterte’s people are not following the boss’ orders. It is also as if his people, provincials most of their lives, were seduced by wangwang that they now, ironically, have no qualms about having the same bad habits of the elite political class they publicly detest.

It can also be said perhaps they are taking full advantage of power perks because they know deep down their pitiful selves their power is temporary. But in the meantime, they do give us the impression they want us lesser mortals to be envious of their improved station in society.

They are terribly mistaken as many of us has had enough of wangwang. Sitting idly by, feeling helpless against this scourge is simply not acceptable. Oftentimes, I’ve seen traffic cops and enforcers as helpless as we are even if they too just want order in our streets. We should all be howling in protest over wangwang.

Sure, we can take all the cell phone videos of these abuses, hoping to shame the perpetrators on social media. But I also think we can do the next best thing: allow these characters some traffic space and just as these characters and their escorts pass by the sides of our vehicles, stick out our middle finger. I often do that, it’s my freedom of expression by the way, and no one, so far, has stopped me.