On the 23rd of July, President Rodrigo Duterte addressed the nation on issues of corruption, foreign policy, OFWs, and the drug war, among others, in his third State of the Nation Address (SONA). Unusually starting over an hour late, the address underwent one change within the Batasang Pambansa that caught everyone off guard: In a coup, then House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez was ousted, and former president and Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo took her oath as the new Speaker.
A telecommunications block in the area as per security protocol from the National Telecommunications Commission barred phone signals. Since livestream audio was muted during the proceedings, there was no audio recording of the coup unfolding. Still, those watching were able to witness the commotion on the floor as the ensuing leadership row yielded the votes of 184 House members in favor of Arroyo. Absent throughout the ordeal was the House mace, rendering the appointment unofficial and void. But what was done, was done: An ousting right before the chief executive’s address to the nation.
On the heels of this display came the same address where the President asserted that “Time and again, I have stressed that corruption must stop.” In a succeeding segment, the President infamously remarked, “Your concern is human rights, mine is human lives,” in response to the critics of his ongoing war on drugs. All this came days after Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque announced the President’s intent to stick with his campaign slogan as the premise for his SONA that “change is coming.”
Change is here. Arroyo’s sudden appointment might have come as a surprise, but what is no longer a surprise today is that the House Speaker and third in line for the presidency is someone who has been charged with plunder. Coming before her in the presidential line of succession is Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, accused of being a plagiarist and misogynist in the past.
This is not the change we want, and this is not the change we deserve.
These circumstances surrounding Duterte’s SONA are one of many glaring indications of what we’ve come to know as the new normal. Arroyo’s new post is just the most recent example. Let us not forget Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada’s intent to seek reelection in 2019 after also being charged with plunder after his presidential administration, the threat of a Marcos returning to power, extra-judicial killings, and the ensuing culture of impunity—all things we have regrettably gotten used to. Make no mistake: These are not right, and we cannot grow accustomed to this new normal.
The events that transpired before the SONA was a small-scaled illustration of what is currently the state of the nation. What more of an example do we need for us to be surprised?
This is not the future we want.
In August, we commemorated the first anniversaries of the killings of Kian delos Santos and Carl Arnaiz, who were murdered at the ages of 17 and 19 for alleged drug-related reasons, and whose cases many forget still lay unresolved in legal processes.
The homicide cases linked to the Duterte administration’s war on drugs, amount to over 4,500, according to reports from the Philippine National Police. Meanwhile, the Human Rights Watch reports thousands more from “unidentified gunmen” amounting to over a total of 12,000.
Even with the youth’s battlecry of “#NeverForget” pertaining to the atrocities of Martial Law under late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr., it seems like we’re on the way to forgetting on many other fronts. Now that the initial shock has worn off, recalling the controversial cases of Kian and Carl last year, it’s easy to forget that these things continue to happen today. This illusion of normalcy is precisely what lulls us into letting these things pass us by as they develop around us.
With our continuing lack of national memory, we tend to overlook the events of the past, choosing to only see what is happening in front of them. Today, the crux of the matter is that when these things no longer serve as eye-openers and wake-up calls is when something is truly wrong.
What are we to do as Filipinos and as Ateneans? It’s a point that has been broached over and over again: The state of the nation necessitates nothing less than our continued resistance to the habits that we, as a nation, have grown accustomed to.
Our Jesuit education teaches us that after experience comes analysis, reflection, and action. Therefore, we are not detached from the sociopolitical sphere, and we ought to respond to the call of times. We can study, join youth-oriented mass organizations, and demand our leaders to perform not just the bare minimum of what is expected from them. We can begin at the level of our own personal advocacies in realizing where the nation needs us. Although we may have grown to unintentionally overlook the critiques of the administration, it is still just as important today to show Duterte, his macho posse, and his die-hard supporters, that we will not forget.
The continued sidestepping of the Constitution, corrupt officials’ paths back into power, the haunting memories of Martial Law, and the numbers associated with drug war deaths should not just remain as mere figures. These are futures lost; reminders that until someone or something is held accountable, we will never cease counting.
