[BLIND LOYALTY]

By Raoul Suarez

“Don’t call out the local government because there are bigger issues plaguing the whole nation.”

Wait. What?

That line has been thrown around so often it’s practically a lullaby for the lazy and the loyal. It sounds like wisdom at first, but it’s really a smokescreen. A way to silence dissent. A way to protect incompetence. A way to excuse the inexcusable.

It’s the favorite weapon of political appointees who live to please. The ones who call themselves public servants but act more like hatchet men and lapdogs. They cut down critics with the precision of loyal soldiers, then turn around and wag their tails at whoever holds power.

When questions arise, they step forward with that same hollow assurance. They thrive on false choices. They want you to believe that you can either care about national issues or local ones and never both.

Corruption is not compartmentalized.

The rot in the barangay hall feeds the rot in the halls of Congress. The decay in the city offices echoes upward. You don’t fix a country by ignoring where it starts breaking down. It starts from the little things until it blows up into mythic proportions.

When cornered, they distract. They point to another crisis, another scandal, anything that pulls attention away from the real issue. That is not leadership. That is misdirection. That is the political version of a party magician’s sleight of hand. And when that flawed logic fails, they resort to whataboutism.

“What about the other towns? What about the previous administration?”

As if corruption cancels itself out when others are guilty too. It is an old trick, and it works only because some people grow tired of arguing.

Then comes their favorite excuse:

“We are plagued with problems that are far worse than this.”

They sigh as if they carry the nation’s burdens. They lament as if they care. It is how mediocrity becomes normal. It is how decay becomes tradition. While they polish their excuses, the real communities suffer. Streets flood because budgets vanish. Clinics run out of supplies because someone’s cousin got the contract. Jobs go to the connected and not the qualified. The lapdogs sit in their air-conditioned offices, beaming with pride to have protected their masters, blind to the people outside still waiting for water, medicine, or justice.

The tragedy is that many mistake this kind of loyalty for strength. Loyalty without integrity is just obedience. Obedience without conscience is servitude. Blind faith does not welcome logic and reason.

Local governance matters because it is where ordinary life happens.

When the mayors fail, when the barangay captains cheat, or when the city councilors look away, the people feel it immediately. Reform does not start in the palace. It starts in the plaza, the school, the small office where someone finally says, “Enough is enough.”

You cannot preach about saving the ocean if you will not clean your own river. You cannot fix a nation if you refuse to hold your leaders accountable where you live.

This is what the hatchet men and the lapdogs hate the most. They hate citizens who ask questions. They hate people who care enough to pay attention because awareness makes their job harder. They cannot easily twist the story when people already see through the performance. They cannot hide behind slogans when the truth stands bare.

They say criticism is unpatriotic. They say it divides people. They are wrong.

Asking questions is not disloyalty. It is participation. It means you are awake. It means you are not blind to the pretenses. It means you still believe things can get better. A government that fears criticism is not strong. It is scared. It fears the truth because the truth dismantles its illusions. The loyal and faithful servants, who defend power at all costs, are not protectors of peace. They are cultivators of the rot and decay that plagues our society.

 

“Don’t call out the local government because there are bigger issues plaguing the whole nation.”

Silence is exactly what corruption needs to survive. That is what it needs to thrive. Every time you keep quiet, another pocket is filled. Another project is delayed. Another promise fades into dust. That is how they win; not through strength, but through your silence. This country does not need more obedient servants but brave citizens who refuse to be quiet.

Support what is right.

Oppose what is wrong.

Even when the hatchet men bark.