SOCIAL media posts tease us: Is the Philippines next? Sounding more like a prodding than a warning in the messages.
Regional protests in recent weeks have shaken Indonesia, turning violent when a delivery driver was killed amid a police crackdown, resulting in the death of at least 10 people.
In Nepal, at least 51 people were killed and dozens injured in Gen Z protests that led to clashes between protesters and security forces. Horrifying images from Nepal are of youths burning down governmentbuildings and houses of public officials.
CAUSE OF PROTESTS. The common element in the Indonesia and Nepal protests is anger over the government’s inability to deliver basic services and bridge the gap between the rich and the poor. This rage is intensified by the corruption of public officials and their flaunting of wealth.
In the Philippine, the initial small protests precede the Trillion-Peso March scheduled for Sept. 21, promoted as a massive response of Filipinos to the gargantuan looting of public funds through ghost and substandard flood control projects: a grand and super conspiracy among contractors, congressmen and senators and DPWH.
RAISE FURY’S LEVEL? Would the Philippines follow their example? After Edsa 1 and Edsa 2, time to escalate people’s fury to the current regional level -- and in proportion to the amount of cash stolen? Despite the Philippines’ past record on non-violence, the threat of an Indonesia-like or Nepal-caliber “revolution” cannot be ruled out.
The Discayas, especially Sarah Discaya, who’s being aped by a lookalike entertainer; Tito Sotto and Rodante Marcoleta, Senate chiefs one after the other; Congressman Francisco Barzaga, 27, the David in the House who’s been publicly shooting pellets of criticism at giant Speaker Martin Romualdez, never mind the political element, about Kiko being a Duterte fan.
“King and queen kawatan”
“Bobo”
“Bayot, stealer of boyfriend”
“Kongtractor”
“Kawatan...” and, previously,
“he who cannot be named” --
until he was named at the congressional
hearing and on the streets