As a senior citizen dribbling down the last years of my life, my fondest hope is to pass from this valley of tears to the next where “there are no slaves, tyrants or hangmen, where faith does not kill and where God alone does reign.” (Dr. Jose Rizal’s, “Last Farewell”)
It would indeed be quite a radical change from a country
ruled by a tyrant,
where politicians are
corrupt,
where the media
have turned their back on their
activist role,
where the Supreme Court brazenly defies the
letters and the spirit of the Constitution,
where extrajudicial killings of suspected users
of illegal drugs are routinely done by policemen and
vigilantes,
where the brains of young people are addled by low quality education and noontime shows,
where the Church fails to denounce abuses of power by elected officials,
where those at the
“laylayan ng lipunan” are victims of government promises and band-aid development programs,
where a former dictator is accorded a place in the Libingan ng mga Bayani,
where the President of the country speaks with a forked tongue thus, confusing the people as to his real intentions,
where women are fair targets of misogynistic and sexist comments and innuendos,
where the leader of the nation routinely hurls insults and dirty words against heads of state and international
organizations,
where the President claims that God talks to him, which is a sign of schizophrenia,
where the President believes that drug addicts are less human therefore they do not deserve to live,
where the Cabinet secretaries are nothing but lap-
dogs and apologists of the President,
where people lie supinely on their backs doing nothing to halt the gradual death of democracy in the country, and finally,
where evil will continue to prosper if we, Filipinos, do nothing.
CARLOS D. ISLES, carlosisles@gmail.com