LONG BEFORE the emergence of a toxic social media world, we have long been living alongside critics, bashers, and people who always have something to say about our lives. Some people, after having to deal with all these kibitzers gawking on their every move, deal with them directly and give them a dose of their own medicine. Others opt to take a different route by giving their detractors a deafening silence, as if telling them that they do not exist and therefore do not matter at all in their lives.
Over the past weeks, we saw how two different individuals responded similarly to a wave of criticisms and a barrage of questions thrown their way. Both opted to flash the art of deadma card, but with contrasting results.
Even before the country hosted this year’s FIBA World Cup, there were already thunderous calls among Pinoy basketball fans to replace Chot Reyes as the chief tactician of Gilas Pilipinas. Despite steering the team to respectable wins in other international tournaments, Reyes will go down in Philippine sports history as the most chastised, heavily criticized, and regularly bashed coach of the men’s basketball team.
Some groups even went out of their way to write a letter addressed to Philippine sports officials and Chot’s family to convince him to give up the coaching position and give it to Tab Baldwin, another award-winning coach whom the fans felt and believed was the most qualified to lead the team. When Gilas lost three successive games, everyone was ready to crucify Reyes as if a victory in the FIBA elimination round would fuel an overnight growth in our per capita income and bolster a stronger peso against the US dollar.
Throughout all this, Reyes gave his critics the coldest shoulder treatment and stuck to his game plan. Eventually Reyes silenced the all-knowing Pinoy basketball fans during a game that mattered the most. The country was in jubilation after Gilas stunned China, 96-75. Never mind if three honorable and duplicitous senators suddenly turned the basketball win into a victory by the country in the West Philippine Sea even if they themselves were conspicuously silent during the many instances when they should have called out China’s aggression.
Compare this to the budget hearing on the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education when VP Sarah Duterte and her team opted to walk out and not respond to the succeeding questions from the committee members during the bicameral deliberations, especially those being raised by the members of the Makabayan Block, her staunchest critics.
This could have been her shining moment to assure the Filipino taxpayers that her two offices value accountability and transparency. She could have shown and assured us that every single centavo contained in her two offices’ annual budget was well-accounted for and would benefit the Filipino people especially the learners. There were many pressing questions that needed to be addressed immediately. Her answers could have erased even the littlest doubt on the way the OVP and DepEd budget would be spent for next year. She could have shed light on the questionable intelligence funds. Maybe this was not the art of deadma working in this situation; but more of the principle of “less talk, less mistake; no talk, no mistake.”
While it is true that remaining unmindful to detractors and bashers is a gracious act that speaks volumes about a person’s ability to remain calm and composed in the face of unsolicited criticisms, addressing them is also an option worth taking the risk every now and then. Why? Because we need to put these types of people in their right places and remind them that they should attend to more important things, foremost of which is to better their own lives. Sometimes, it is also the only way to prove ourselves right. In the case of Chot Reyes, he vindicated himself by remaining focused on his goal, unmindful of the toxic Pinoy basketball fans. As for VP Sarah, her silence amplified the voices of many who continue to demand transparency and accountability – two principles that form the bedrock of good governance.
