Breaking the Chains: People Power Against Corruption, Poverty, and
Ecological Collapse
As usual, our country is once again preparing for that “big circus” called the Philippine
elections. This spectacle sees politicians opening the floodgates of their vast financial reservoirs to fund campaign gimmicks, shows with movie stars, propaganda blitzes, and of course, widespread vote-buying. The money flows freely during the campaign season, but no problem these expenditures are easily recovered once they return to power. That is why we must now discard all illusions that the mere exercise of suffrage, under present conditions, will bring about the genuine social transformation our nation so desperately needs.
Despite fourteen years of Martial Law and two people-powered uprisings, the same
oppressive structures that breed poverty, corruption, and powerlessness remain intact. Those elected into office are often financed by vested interest groups, cartels, monopolies, and conglomerates, and therefore are bound to protect the status quo. Transactions, not
transformation, define governance. Monopoly is not confined to the economy alone; it
pervades politics through political dynasties. In our country, economic power begets political power, and political power, in turn, protects economic privilege.
So much money, time, and energy are wasted every election season, yet poverty
continues to tighten its grip on our people. The Philippines now suffers the most widespread incidence of poverty in East Asia. After every election, there may be a “changing of the guards,” but never a change of systems. Out of despair, millions of Filipinos flee abroad to seek greener pastures, with some 3,000 leaving every single day like passengers abandoning a sinking-ship.
The culture of corruption remains the greatest source of our people’s misery. Politicians
who cannot moderate their greed pose as public servants of integrity, but behind the mask they are vultures sucking our nation dry. Consider the scandal of flood control projects, billions of pesos allocated supposedly to protect communities from calamities and to build vital infrastructure. Yet, what has happened? Many of these funds have been plundered or funneled into ghost projects. Entire communities remain submerged during typhoons because the promised drainage systems, dikes, and river rehabilitations exist only on paper.
Money that should have secured lives and livelihoods against floods instead secured the
mansions and bank accounts of corrupt legislators and their cohorts. This is not merely
negligence; it is betrayal. Because of such corruption, countless lives have been lost in floods and typhoons, farms have been destroyed, and poverty has deepened. This single issue of flood control symbolizes the larger tragedy: gargantuan allocations that could have empowered the poor and uplifted rural communities are shamelessly stolen, worsening the cycle of deprivation and despair.
Three out of four Filipinos in the countryside remain mired in poverty, malnutrition is
rampant, schools are dilapidated, and health centers lack basic medicines. Farmers, without capital and without farm-to-market roads, remain chained to middlemen who exploit them. Meanwhile, the climate crisis hanging like a Sword of Damocles over our nation exposes our ecological insecurity. Typhoons are growing stronger, seas are rising, and disasters multiply, yet almost all candidates remain silent on environmental issues. Why? Because the super-rich backers funding them profit precisely from extractive industries logging, mining, coal, reclamation that worsen ecological collapse.
Outrageous! Like vultures feasting on the flesh of the poor, these politicians have made
our people prisoners of hunger and despair. Even elections themselves are marred by violence, with killings and crimes tied to political rivalry. The sacred right of suffrage, meant to restore dignity and give voice to the powerless, has instead been trampled and prostituted by greed.
The oppressive structures that perpetuate corruption and exploitation must be
countered by the collective power of the people. It is only through a counter-culture of
solidarity and awakening that we can break the monopolies and cartels dominating our
economy and politics. Consider again the flood control issue: if properly managed, such projects could have protected millions, boosted agriculture
If the sacred act of suffrage meant to restore our dignity as a people has been trampled
upon and replaced by diabolic greed, then such betrayal must not only be condemned through our freedom of speech, but exposed as an outrage worthy of disgust. Many would even say such acts deserve to be spat upon, for they ooze with nausea and contempt.
The oppressive structures that perpetuate corruption, violence, and ecological
destruction must now be countered by the collective power of the people. This is what I call a countervailing culture, a collective response to break the monopolies and cartels that control both our economy and our politics. In a country where 300 families dominate wealth and utilities, the people’s movement is the only force capable of rectifying the social wrongs and legal flaws that have betrayed the promise of democracy.
Take the flood control issue as a painful example. Billions of pesos have been allocated
for flood mitigation dikes, drainage systems, river dredging, and watershed rehabilitation. Yet time and again, we see communities submerged in waist-deep waters, homes washed away, and lives destroyed whenever a typhoon arrives. Why? Because much of these funds are lost to corruption. Projects exist only on paper. Substandard works collapse at the first sign of heavy rain.
Watersheds remain denuded because illegal logging and mining continue unchecked. The
law is weaponized not to protect the people, but to protect those who profit from their
suffering. This reality mirrors our politics: elections are centered not on programs, issues, or long- term solutions, but on personalities. Social injustices persist because the system itself is designed to sustain inequities. Will the next election produce that long-sought
“transformational” leader? I fear not because no single individual, no so-called Messiah, can
dismantle deeply rooted oppressive systems. History is clear: structural wrongs are only
corrected when the people themselves rise, guided by leaders of integrity whose dedication
cannot be bought.
The lesson is clear: power must return to the people. The 1987 Constitution affirms this
sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority emanates from them. But
sovereignty is meaningless unless the people are socially and ecologically awakened. How can true awakening happen when, for decades, the masses have been buried under falsehoods, fed illusions by profit-driven mainstream media, taught to worship materialism and consumerism, and made to believe that personal wealth and instant gratification are the highest good?
The truth is urgent: the awakening must begin now. The Philippines was once an Eden,
abundant in forests, rivers, and fertile lands. Today, because of greed, ignorance, and lack of respect for life, paradise has become disaster-prone hell. Modern-day imperialism has reduced our nation into either a market, a dumping ground of consumer goods and a source of cheap raw materials or a target a military pawn, host to nuclear arsenals, and frontline when conflict erupts. Floods that drown our people are not simply natural disasters; they are symptoms of systemic corruption, ecological collapse, and a global order that sacrifices the poor to serve the profit of the few.
In the United States and elsewhere, citizens are mobilizing against modern imperialism,
echoing what Filipinos once shouted in the streets during the First Quarter Storm: “Ibagsak ang imperyalismo, pyudalismo, at burukrata kapitalismo!” Activists now call for regenerative development, not extractivism; for an egalitarian world, not one built on domination; for protection of Mother Earth (Gaia), not her destruction.
Let us, therefore, refuse the false promises of elections corrupted by dynasties and
oligarchs. Let us build a countervailing culture that resists greed, confronts ecological apathy, and restores reverence for life and nature. We must not maximize profit or consumer goods but maximize values, solidarity, justice, compassion, and sustainability. Only then can we liberate ourselves from the “satanic ego” that chases wealth, fame, and power, and instead leap into a higher consciousness where universal intelligence governs the true reason for our existence on Earth, all for God’s greater glory.
