IT REALLY is a power position when one becomes a senator of this republic. Just look at the drama unfolding in the senate since Monday. Pretty soon, it will be adapted into a movie, and Filipinos who are indignant at the utter wastage of government resources now will still be watching the movie for its entertainment value and have a good laugh soon!
But seriously, who are we kidding?
Loyalty is one thing; subsidized complicity is another. If you choose to “kiss ass” and subsequently find yourself drowning in the consequences of your devotion to a patron, should the public be the one to throw the life raft? Using the resources of the government to cover one’s own tracks is the height of hypocrisy. It is zero delicadeza when measured against the grueling reality of the Filipino worker. The gall to demand “rights” while ignoring the responsibilities of the office is staggering.
Consider the middle-class workers. On the 15th and 30th of every month, millions of professionals — the BPO night-shifters, the overworked teachers, the weary nurses — log into their banking apps with a mix of hope and dread. Hope for the reward of their hard labor; dread because they see, in cold, hard numbers, the chunk of their lives withheld as taxes. For the middle class, this isn’t “living” – it is a game of survival against skyrocketing costs and a system that takes its cut before they even touch their pay.
And then, the news breaks.
What we see is a stinging slap on the face, a whack on the head: The machinery of the state — sustained by those very taxes — being weaponized to build a fortress around Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa. This is the blockbuster showing right now, and the ticket price is being deducted from your paycheck.
There is a sickening pretentiousness in this “tough-guy” hubris. It is the hollow bravado of a man who claims to be a servant of the people while invoking parliamentary immunity. Each time he performs for the camera or blusters about his “rights” to evade the International Criminal Court, he is doing it on our dime. The opportunity cost is the real tragedy. Every hour the Senate spends protecting its own is an hour stolen from addressing why the “middle-class dream” has become a hallucination for the average parent working his ass off, even skipping a meal, to pay for tuition.
The message is loud and clear: Your survival is secondary to their partisan solidarity.
We are living in a taxpayer’s prison. Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority confirms the weight of this burden. The middle class is the most compliant sector of society — the good guys, the responsible citizens — because they have no choice; they are the engine that keeps the country going, yet they are forced to watch the “Bato Shield” – a masterclass in state-funded evasion. We hold up our end of the social contract, expecting a fair system, only to realize we are trapped in a parallel universe where the law serves the elite more and the middle class less.
Retired Judge Marivic A. Trabajo-Daray, dean of the Holy Name University College of Law in Tagbilaran City, puts it quite succinctly, “It is tragic when elected leaders use the institutions of democracy not to strengthen justice, but to shield themselves from it. A Senate that protects fugitives from accountability betrays the very people it swore to serve.”
True sovereignty is not found in the cowardly act of avoiding international scrutiny. It is found in a domestic justice system strong enough to hold everyone — regardless of rank, “tough guy” persona, or political bloodline — to the same standard.
It is time to shift the lens. The focus should be directed to the Filipino middle-class workers who actually carry this nation. To the senators of this scandal-plagued republic: Stop wasting the hard-earned blood and sweat of Filipino taxpayers by protecting the likes of dela Rosa and his ilk. The movie is over; the audience is repulsed.
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The author owns and manages Belinda Communications Consulting. You can reach us via email at belindabelsales@gmail.com. Engage with us on X @ShilohRuthie./PN
