When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers, so goes an old African proverb. This means that the weak get hurt when the powerful fight.
I am reminded of this now with what seems to be a simmering feud between Vice President Sara Duterte and the camp of House Speaker Martin Romualdez.
In this land of politicos and politics, this shouldn’t come as a surprise but it’s not the presidential election season yet. There’s a lot of work to do and it would be good if our public officials focus on public service instead of political bickering.
House drama
I believe this brewing conflict started or must have been ignited by the recent drama at the House of Representatives when former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, a known ally of VP Sara and Senator Imee Marcos, was “demoted” as senior deputy speaker.
Immediately after, VP Sara quit the ruling party and began spewing cryptic messages – first, a reference to a long-forgotten Visayan mythical male creature, then a refusal to mention President Marcos Jr.’s middle name.
It doesn’t take a genius to see that these were obvious attempts to spite Speaker Romualdez, who perhaps she now considers a political rival.
At the height of these political acrobatics, I saw Speaker Romualdez when he graced the inauguration of the new Philippine Stock Exchange Events Hall late last month.
He gave the keynote speech at the event and was ambushed by the media after and yet the Speaker just kept quiet about the issues against him.
This prompted some of his allies to come to his defense instead.
Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga, for one, said he is saddened by the feud and even cited Romualdez’s contributions to VP Sara’s successful vice presidential bid. The Vice President, however, quickly retorted that it was Senator Imee Marcos, not Speaker Romualdez, who convinced her to seek the vice presidency.
But as social media reminded her and the public, almost exactly a year ago, she was even very thankful to Romualdez for helping her in her VP bid.
Romualdez has been quiet and is instead busy with the work of the House in passing legislation that would support President Marcos’ eight-point socio-economic agenda.
Public service
For sure, much remains to be done and political bickering will not get us anywhere.
Who will benefit from this looming conflict? Certainly not the 18 million Filipinos who live below the poverty line.
And in case our politicians have forgotten, this nation of 114 million has yet to fully recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Unemployment eased in April to pre-pandemic levels but underemployment jumped to nearly 13 percent. Inflation remains elevated and the same with interest rates, posing hurdles to economic growth.
Political bickering, especially among administration allies, could stall legislation and distract the government from pressing problems, including the alarming crisis in education.
President Marcos ran on a campaign promise of unity.
He once said that the only way we will succeed as a nation is to lift each other up by being instruments of peace and solidarity.
“Huwag naman natin ikulong ang ating mga sarili sa hidwaan at paghihilahan ng pababa. Sa halip, maging instrumento tayo ng pagkakaisa at kapayapaan,” he said in a speech in August last year, during the commemoration of National Heroes Day.
I hope his allies remember this.
UP Diliman transitions to new chancellorship
Speaking of leadership, the University of the Philippines Diliman has officially transitioned to a new chancellorship with a turnover ceremony held last June 5.
Although it has been two months since Edgardo Carlo Vistan II formally assumed the position of UP Diliman Chancellor, the turnover was held just recently perhaps because of the issues surrounding the leadership change, although I could be wrong.
But as UP president Angelo Jimenez reminded the UP academic community during the turnover ceremony, educators have a commitment to public service.
“That we are measured by our struggling, teeming masses out there based on the changes that we have effected on their lives. Citations are good. Academic achievements are good. Our titles are good. We need it, but at the end of the day, the people are expecting results. And we cannot afford to be inward looking, self-absorbed. We have to move forward and embrace this challenge,” he said in his speech as published in an article posted on the official UP Diliman website.
Honor and excellence
For his part, Chancellor Vistan spoke about his plan to “build a system and culture centered on the core values of honor and excellence,” which he acknowledges is “simple to say but difficult to consistently reflect throughout UPD’s history.”
“The mark I hope to leave as chancellor is the development of a system, a culture that will allow us to achieve all these in a sustainable manner. I believe that our mission now should be to position and capacitate ourselves to accomplish these again in the next 75 years and beyond by focusing and making systematic reforms in how we do our work,” he said.
While there were issues surrounding Chancellor Vistan’s selection, I believe his credentials speak for themselves.
The last time I saw him was around the campus and perhaps in some events with common friends decades ago during our college days.
But I felt a sense of pride when I learned that the new chancellor was from our batch, Class ’98 of UP Diliman (although different courses).
Congratulations and more power to you, Chancellor Carlo. May you and your team indeed uphold the UP tradition of honor and excellence.
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Email: eyesgonzales@gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter @eyesgonzales. Column archives at EyesWideOpen on FB.