In shambles and disarray

By Alex P. Vidal

“A man can fail many times, but he isn’t a failure until he begins to blame somebody else.”—John Burroughs

THE Marcos Jr. administration is in total disarray.

Many of its officials have been tempted and tainted by graft and corruption, including former House speaker and Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, the first cousin of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

The law enforcement has become a sitcom in the Sesame Street. If they can’t hunt down a coward and overweight ex-cop in the homeland, they can never net the fugitives cloaking in Paris and Vienna.

Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio has been impeached twice by the House of Representatives, and her trial is now scheduled in the Senate.

The Senate is in shambles. Both members in the majority and minority blocs behave like gangsters and characters in a mafia film. Many senators are facing arrest and jail terms for plunder and malversation of public funds.

Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano, who talks and acts like host of a late-night gossip talk show, is a sitting duck. No one respects him in the media.

If you are part of the Marcos Jr. administration and you are not embarrassed, your face must be made of adobe.

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We first heard the words “tyranny of the majority” when we covered the Iloilo capitol beat in 1989.

That was the time when some members of the provincial board “made life difficult” for then Governor Simplicio “Sim” Griño by flexing their muscles, so to speak, to derail some of the programs of the executive branch.

We also witnessed how dreaded was the “tyranny of the majority” in the city government when some members of the city council choked the administrations of then Mayor Rodolfo “Roding” Ganzon and Mayor Mansueto “Mansing” Malabor.

Tyranny of the majority surfaced once again when members of the Philippine senate minority bloc walked out from the regular session May 26 to protest a contentious proposal by Senator Rodante Marcoleta to amend chamber rules, allowing senators to attend sessions and cast votes remotely.

The minority accused the majority of “railroading” the institutional shift without proper debate, a tactic they claimed was designed specifically to accommodate absent or detained allies.

 

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This time, the target of the tyranny of the majority was its own members, not the executive branch like in the cases we enumerated in the Iloilo capitol and city hall episodes.

Tyranny is an overbearing use of power as it affects other people. Those under tyranny are not in control of their immediate future and lack protections to ensure their safety. Tyranny may be exerted physically, psychologically, or both.

Tyranny of the majority occurs when the majority attempts to use their numbers to exclude the rights of the minority and suppress dissenters. The minority has little or no recourse.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor-in-chief of two leading daily newspapers in Iloilo, Philippines.—Ed)