THERE'S a certain smugness in the air when comrades of the Cabinet members who are known to be President Rodrigo Duterte's peace offering to the communist groups are in the same gathering as these Cabinet members. It's the same feeling you get while looking at the urban poor group as they took over the government housing project intended for soldiers and then demanded that these same houses should have the basic utilities since the President has allowed them to stay on, anyway.
But when they gather to rally and demand immediate solutions to long-standing problems, there is not a trace of acknowledgement for what their comrades are losing sleep and personal time trying to achieve.
It all boils down to dogma.
Dogma is defined as: "the expression of an opinion or belief as if it were a fact, and positiveness in assertion of opinion especially when unwarranted or arrogant."
Criticism is good, yes. As it ensures that government will not abuse its powers. But to criticize with no intent to ever consider small inroads, then that becomes counter-productive.
The Philippines is our only country. It is our duty to help in nation-building to ensure that future generations will have the opportunities they deserve and the benefits of what this present generation has achieved. The Reds in the Cabinets are actually showing the way: that a lot of changes can be made within for as long as you lay down your megaphones, look at the real problems, and provide real solutions.
There are officials with them who share the same calling, to serve the people, they who have also shared the streets and raised their own streamers and megaphones. They're not cowed, they are just working furiously on the changes they can do, because like those who work with them and share their commitment, they see a window, nay, a door where real public service is delivered in circumstances never before experienced.
Many of those serving government now, whom you may never see in government had it been under other administration, are saying, there is this very short window of opportunity that we can make a difference.
Thus, there they are, uprooting themselves from the comfortable (albeit not near the drug-powered opulent) lives they have built for themselves and serving the people as called upon to do so.
The President has raised the appeal for help a long time ago. He has consistently pointed to Davao City as his Exhibit A of the good it will bring to the greater majority when the people cooperate and participate with government.
There is a chilling truth to the President's rant against the communists and their allies in his State of the Nation Address.
It was when Duterte said, "Kayong mga naiwan diyan sa kalsada, mabuti pa umuwi kayo. Wala kayong makuha diyan sa komunista."
The warning is real, the threat is there: "Do you think that if the Isis prevails in this country that you will have a place in their society? You must be awfully stupid, as stupid. Wala kayong makuha. Lahat tayo damay."
True. We are all in this together. This applies even to narco-politics. If we allow both to get a firm foothold into the rest of the country, then "lahat tayo damay."