Brothers and sisters, when Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa was asked about his position on the issue of the ABS-CBN franchise renewal, this is what he said: “Ako ay totoong tao, sabi ko may bias ako towards my President. [I am a real person, I said I have a bias towards my President].” While the senator claims he has his own decision when it comes to this issue, he confessed of his bias for the President, despite the seeming attack against press freedom and threat to the jobs of thousands of employees of the network if its franchise will not be renewed. It can be remembered when President Duterte was angry with the management of the network because they didn’t air his campaign ads in 2016. The President has many times threatened the network won’t be able to renew its franchise.
Bato has garnered much criticism, but it’s no surprise that he claims his loyalty is to the President. In truth, this kind of character of our public officials has been a disease in our government for a long time—our leaders are loyal to the people above them with power, not to the people that they should serve.
Last week, we celebrated the 34th anniversary of the Edsa People Power Revolution. This peaceful revolution ended the tyranny of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos. His regime is now described as one of the darkest chapters in our history. From 1975 to 1985, over 3,000 were reportedly slain, an estimate of 35,000 people were allegedly tortured, and 70,000 were illegally arrested. Aside from this mass violation against human rights, 6 out of 10 Filipino families suffered during the last years of the Marcos regime. The livelihoods of farmers and laborers also plummeted, along with the prices of goods rising up to almost three times as before. Added to this is the inflation of foreign debt. After over three decades, why does the suffering and abuse of human rights in the country still continue? We moved forward without learning from history.
This is not only because of the Marcos family or even President Duterte; this is because of the public officials who chose to give their loyalty to whoever is at the seat of power, instead of doing their sworn duties to the public. It is the public servant’s responsibility to uplift the people.
According to the social teachings of the Church, “The subject of political authority is the people considered in its entirety as those who have sovereignty.” The power accompanying the title or position held by public officials came from the people. The people bestow this upon them when they were elected. Therefore, the true sovereign of our public officials is not the president, but the people. As the focus of leadership, the interest of the people must be the most important agenda of public officials, not the whims of one person.
One big act of treason to the people is a public official becoming an instrument of vengeance and self-interests. We saw this during the Marcos regime, which People Power sought to end. We may have succeeded then in dethroning the dictator, but as long as there are public servants who are not loyal to the people, the suffering of the people, and abuse of power in the country will not cease.
Brothers and sisters, let us remind our public officials about the lessons from the book of Psalm 78:72, “And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them.” Where is the loyalty of our shepherds? Have they been leading greatly? We the people give power to our public servants. Let us hold them accountable for their duties to serve us.
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