Only a united, sustained push from citizens, civil society, and business can force Congress to act on reforms that threaten entrenched political power.
Only a united, sustained push from citizens, civil society, and business can force Congress to act on reforms that threaten entrenched political power.
Once a moral safeguard, the SALN has become a ritual of illusion, proof that in Philippine politics, transparency without consequence is not accountability but performance.
Barzaga’s defiance reminds us that reform in the Philippines doesn’t die from corruption but from exhaustion, waiting for citizens who can turn disgust into direction.
In a Congress long dulled by obedience, the rise of “Congressmeow” Kiko Barzaga reveals both the fragility and faint hope of Philippine politics, showing that even within a broken machine, dissent can still make it purr with possibility.
The ICC’s rejection of Rodrigo Duterte’s release revealed not only his personal reckoning, it also exposed the enduring cycle of power, privilege, and impunity that continues to dominate Philippine governance.
The ICC’s rejection of Duterte’s plea was a moral awakening, reminding the nation that justice is earned through accountability, not emotion or influence.
A nation with a full government but no governing, the Philippines now drifts in the emptiness between power and accountability, its institutions intact in form yet hollow in function as corruption thrives and conscience resigns.
The appointment of Justice Secretary Boying Remulla as Ombudsman signals not reform but retreat, turning what should be the nation’s final guardian of accountability into a protective wall for those in power and reducing the fight against corruption to mere political theater.