Gone to the dogs!

The other day, while waiting for a case to be heard in one of my few appearances, I had a chance encounter with the former IBP Cebu City Chapter Pres. Democrito Barcenas. While only an unintended meeting, it was a meaningful one. In previous occasions, Mocring would have always looked at profound events with a sense of wit and humor. He would hide his emotion with a smile and if only to show discomfort, utter a discernible sarcasm. The brief interaction we had took a distinct course characteristic of Mocring. To respond to my initial statement that things have gone terribly wrong with the way our political leaders were (should be are) handling our situation, he nodded in affirmation. And more.

To refer to my observation that graft and corruption in government have gone to most unthinkable form, I told him that we have gone to the dogs! The state of our depravity has become irreversibly wrong. Ordinary thinking mortals would probably have allowed the declaration to pass unnoticed. They would not take the issue to heart. Neither would they react to it with any degree of emotion. But, not Mocring. His retort astounded me. He did not have to need an extended period of time to gather his thoughts on the subject. He was almost spontaneous. “No. In deference to the dogs, they are better than us” or words to that effect. He said that with a tinge of bitterness and he expressed his sentiment with a welter of resolve. There was, however, no visible trace of despair in him.

Frankly, I did not comprehend what Mocring meant. The repartee of the former vice governor seemed to postulated more philosophy that what I could understand. There was an unexposed principle behind his statement one, which, my thought process could not simply unravel.

Then, to satisfy my curious mind, he began to explain. A teacher to a student situation evolved. Or perhaps, the Socratic process was recreated in that scene of ours. The words of Mocring were not enigmatic. On the contrary they were simple but full of wisdom. And this much I could retain from his quick dissertation. The idiom “gone to the dogs”, he predicated, would normally apply to things that have gone from bad to worse. A deterioration of sort. Applying it to my earlier statement on our political situation, we would appear to have sank to an irretrievable abyss.

As if he was taking things literally, Atty. Barcenas could only say that the state of our nation could not be compared to that of the dogs. Yes, there are politicians who like packs of hungry dogs, tear apart our democratic system with their own sense of political warlordism. True, there are many of them who, like hungry canines, prey upon our undocumented money distributed by power brokers without any iota of shame.

But, to him though, the dogs are in a better situation. Indeed, they have no mind more intelligent that ours but their social behavior demonstrates a far more acceptable level of decency. There is a limit to their greed. If morality were equivalent to a cap of any form of greed, then, dogs have attained that morality far better than many of our politicians. How come? Observing the canine to be appeased with a reward of a bone for every achievement, they are not that greedy. Their sense of decency is superior to many of our leaders in that the latter, in many occasions lately shown, have demonstrated to be insatiable in their greed.

It will certainly take time for the former IBP president to clarify the issues than a casual meeting but with so many lies being peddled to us by our leaders, lies that are not difficult to discern, I would have preferred to have gone to the dogs and be more at ease.

*  *  *

Email: [email protected]