Panem et Circenses

This is my reaction paper which I wrote for my History class. Anyway, I might have some incoherency or grammatical errors so yeah, I’m working on it. :)

‘Why?’  It’s a question I have always liked to ask. In today’s struggle against graft and corruption, I can only think of countless questions about modern day world events and politics. But the most staggering question that puzzles me until today is, ‘Why is this happening?’. I always think that it’s both the people and the government’s fault. I mean, it’s clearly obvious that both parties have their own flaw.

In an attempt to answer my question, I trace the facts back to the Spanish colonization. In my third and fourth year in high school, we read José Rizal’s Noli Mi Tangere and El Filibusterismo respectively. The politicians before or so to say, the ‘friars’ were automatically the heads of state. There was no democracy back then. People didn’t get to choose their leader. Corruption was clearly evident—eventually. In the book, the friars were described as selfish, corrupt, and indulgent creatures. They require the people to donate to the church; or to put it literally, use it for themselves. They have sex with women and sometimes even children. Most people didn’t realize this until Dr. Rizal published his aforementioned books.

During the first few years of the administration of former President Marcos, his intentions were good. He developed the country by constructing roads, building world class facilities, disciplining society. No doubt we were what Singapore is today. We were the leading nation in the southeast. But until his downfall, people treated him like he was one of the friars; corrupt and indulgent. Unlike many others, I see President Marcos as a strong and disciplined man. I may have not witnessed first-hand what people call his ‘dictatorial’ leadership; I still think it was for the best.

His good friend, first Singapore Prime Minister and now Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew has grown Singapore from a tiny poor backwards country to a vicious, rich, first world country. Taking into account that he did it with little to no resources, what more could have the Philippines done if our government and the people weren’t selfish and rather barbaric? Discipline was also his strategy.

Now if society were more refined, I bet I wouldn’t be having this argument in the first place. It’s not too late to make this country a better place. Albeit, it’s hard; still, it’s never late to change—but how? How then? How do we change the people? How do we change them if they are impoverished, financially insufficient, procrastinated by gossips and politics at media, and hungry because of unemployment? If they don’t have jobs, they don’t have money. No jobs, no food. And if they don’t eat, what can we expect from hungry people? Change? They’re far more likely to cheat their way to survival; by means of anything their hands can lay on to. So what about the government? They’re the evolved state of society. Most have cheated their way to the top. How can we change this?

Change the system. Install a foreign government. Implement transparency. Anything! This God-forsaken country barely needs it! Candidates for the presidential seat always say what has always been said before; change the country for the better and make the corrupt pay for their crimes. But no, all these years they’ve been busy chasing their predecessors and their “minons”.  They’ve only managed to catch the bad people instead of improving the country. To put into question, do capturing corrupt politicians actually help the country? The answer: a big no. Sadly, the loop does not end.

I say discipline. It could be a small step but it could be very helpful one day. If people do not cheat at a young age, they will not have cheated at all when they grow up. Other people may different approaches, but why say no to that? Like I said, this country will need to try anything to improve. So I’m going to ask again, why is this happening and how do we change it? What do you think?