I WAS in an educators’ regional forum about two weeks ago when the discussion pivoted to one of the many challenges faced by every school – how to make every learner a critical thinker, someone who is capable of and willing to make important decisions that will not only affect his or her life but will ultimately impact a larger community or even the whole nation.
One participant felt that schools must have been failing in addressing this challenge over the past few years because of the kind of leaders and lawmakers that the Filipino voters have been electing into power. Without mincing any word, she went on to express her utmost frustration how we have been electing one clown of a lawmaker after another. She ended her remarks by sharing that to this date, she still couldn’t believe why and how a has-been action movie star known for his “bad boy” image and the ultimate Pinoy macho persona made it as number one senator with 26.6M votes during the 2022 senatorial race.
All it takes is just one look at the controversial stand of Sen. Robin Padilla on national issues to realize that indeed, something doesn’t seem right how and why the Filipino voters chose Philippine cinema’s “Bad Boy” over more qualified and competent candidates like a human rights lawyer, an educator, an environmentalist, a physician, an indigenous group representative, a labor leader and many others.
During a Senate joint inquiry in September last year, Padilla claimed that there was no “escalation” in the West Philippine Sea in the last six years or during the Duterte administration. Despite many documented and validated Chinese aggression on Filipino fishermen and Philippine Navy patrol ships, he continued to parrot these claims along with his fear-mongering tactic that asserting the country’s territorial rights would lead to a war that the country stands to lose given our inferior military manpower and equipment.
In November that same year, Padilla, who was obviously in a grand display of his loyalty and debt of gratitude to former President Duterte, called for an end to any talks of the Philippine government cooperating with the International Criminal Court regarding its investigation on Duterte’s deadly “drug war.”
And in March this year, at the height of the Senate investigation into the alleged criminal activities of Pastor Quiboloy, Padilla argued that holding Quiboloy in contempt was an encroachment on religion and a violation on the separation of Church and State. Truth be told, this was about the criminal acts allegedly committed by the preacher, and was not about religion at all.
Just a few days ago, Padilla took the limelight again earning backlash from women’s rights advocates regarding his controversial remarks on marital rape, which included a question he raised to Atty. Lorna Kapunan on what a husband could do to force his wife to have sex with him when she is not in the mood, but he is and to use his words, “he feels the urge.” For a newbie senator who could not even fully comprehend that “no” means “no” in explaining marital rape, this says a lot about his preparedness for the job entrusted to him by the Filipino voters.
So why did he become number one? Whether it was because of the Smartmatic magic or the Filipinos’ penchant to go for popularity over competence, the fact remains that smart shaming has done our country a lot of harm.
“Tama na sa matalino, yung pang-masa naman!”
“Ika na kasi ing byasa, ika nang mag-presidente!”
As long as we cannot go beyond this level of discussion, as long as we allow ourselves to be swayed by the narratives of historical revisionists, apologists and enablers, incompetence will remain the norm in the once august halls of Congress.
The next time you ask why Alice Guo was able to flee to Malaysia right under our noses and why the illegal POGOS continue to make our country their milking cow, do not look any farther for answers because the power to change things is in the hands of every critical Filipino voter.
