United colors of politics

I did not grow up surrounded by indulgence. In my late teens and early adulthood, one of the few things I considered a prized possession was a pair of Benetton jeans.

Perhaps that is why the brand stayed with me. Years later, I remember something else almost as clearly: United Colors of Benetton.

Different colors. Different people. One frame. Today, I think about those colors differently.

We Filipinos have become fond of colors ourselves. White. Yellow. Blue. Red. Political identification has sometimes hardened into identity, until we seem divided into quarters, each fighting as though its quarter were the whole.

Yet these are also the colors of our flag.

No one has a monopoly on ideas, good intentions, or virtue. The reverse must also be true.

Corruption is corruption, regardless of who commits it and regardless of the color he chooses to wear.

If it is wrong when the other side does it, it must be wrong when someone from our own quarter does the same.

It may take time to ferret out the truth behind allegations. Evidence, investigation, and due process must take their course. We can wait for the truth. But we cannot wait to keep fixing what is plainly broken.

Anything that can strengthen the fight against corruption deserves serious consideration, whatever quarter it comes from.

One such contribution is the CADENA Act. Senate Bill No. 1506 would require fuller disclosure of government transactions through a digital budget portal, making appropriations, disbursements, procurement, and expenditures more accessible and traceable to the public.

On 15 December 2025, the Senate approved it on third reading by 17 votes to none, with no abstentions. Different senators. Different persuasions. One reform carried forward.

The effort has moved beyond Congress. The CADENA Movement and QADENA Foundation recently signed an agreement for a nationwide public education and advocacy campaign on transparency and accountability.

Useful, yes. But advocacy can only carry legislation so far.

CADENA is not the be-all and end-all. No digital platform can replace honest public servants, vigilant auditors, investigators, prosecutors, and citizens willing to ask uncomfortable questions.

But neither should we discard a useful thread simply because it cannot sew the whole cloth.

The House is not without options. Several measures before its Committee on Information and Communications Technology pursue similar goals through digital budget portals, blockchain-based systems, and other disclosure mechanisms.

The House need not simply adopt what the Senate passed.

Choose what works. Combine the strongest provisions. Change or reshape them if doing so makes them better. Build something the chamber itself can stand behind.

They have, admittedly, had other constitutionally mandated matters demanding their attention. Yet the less dramatic work of legislation must somehow continue.

If safeguards are lacking, strengthen them. If among these proposals lies a workable contribution to the battle against corruption, why should it remain sitting in committee?

This is where our colors should matter less.

I have mine. I do not pretend otherwise. But when it comes to common dilemmas, my color is woven into the colors of the flag.

A good “ambag” (contribution) does not become less valuable because somebody from another political camp thought of it first.

Carry it. Debate it. Improve it. Strengthen it.

Juan and Maria stand to benefit from cleaner government. So do Amboy and Inday. So do Adnan and Sittie.

The taxes they pay do not arrive at the Treasury wearing party colors. Neither should accountability.

We may keep our convictions, persuasions, and colors. Democracy does not require us to become colorless.

But no quarter, by itself, makes a flag.

If CADENA, or something stronger fashioned by both chambers, proves worthy of carrying, let us not worry too much about whose color gets to claim it.

If we must give it colors, let them be white, yellow, blue, and red. Then stitch them together.

Because a quarter only becomes part of the flag when we are willing to carry the whole.