Defining moments and a lesson from 2024

Today is the last day of the year 2024, and before it ends, I’d like to greet our dear The FREEMAN readers a Happy and Blessed New Year 2025! In today’s column, I’d like to reflect on the year that was --on the significant events that come to my mind and the one lesson that lingers.

The year 2024 was defined by the ‘Quadcomm’ hearings on the drug war during the Duterte administration and its links to illegal activities at Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) hubs. The House of Representatives committees on dangerous drugs, public order and safety, human rights, and public accounts, collectively known as Quadcomm, surprised political observers with the exceptional quality and rigor of its investigation. Few expected such diligence and thoroughness to emerge from the House of Representatives.

On the other hand, the Senate, often referred to as the 'upper chamber' (now undeservingly), fell short. This comes as no surprise, given that it is now dominated by celebrities and rent-seeking, transactional politicians, many of whom belong to dynasties. It was carried only by a single woman legislator, Senator Risa Hontiveros and, to a certain extent, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian. Both senators, through the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality chaired by Hontiveros, effectively investigated the operations of POGOs and their associated offenses, including human trafficking, alleged espionage, and fake citizenship.

Names like Alice Guo and Apollo Quiboloy also gained notorious prominence in 2024. Guo, the dismissed mayor of Bamban, Tarlac, is now in detention awaiting trial for alleged qualified human trafficking. Quiboloy, the leader of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, was the subject of a high-stakes manhunt led by the tenacious Police Brigadier General Nicolas Torre III, culminating in Quiboloy’s arrest in Davao City.

In the world, the election of US President-elect Donald Trump was, for me, the defining global moment of 2024. Not that I welcome Trump’s return to mainstream political discourse. If this is the same President Trump of 2017–2020, then it would indeed be ear-tiring and toxic to constructive dialogue. However, what makes Trump’s comeback defining, for me, are the lessons it offers amid the perceived decline of the liberal order and democratic ideals.

Trump’s victory offers a moment to reflect, not just on the politics of our time but also on the hypocrisy of left liberals, who often fail to reconcile their ideals with the realities on the ground. Elections, after all, are not theoretical or illusory exercises; they are grounded in material conditions. It is these conditions --economic disparities, social grievances, and cultural dynamics-- that shape the outcome of any democratic process.

What we should learn from the victories of politicians like Trump, and even our own national politicians, is the need to reflect on our own political idealism. We must dig deeper, strive to understand more, and move away from the self-centeredness that often accompanies idealistic judgment or the tendencies of “cancel culture.”

It is not easy to deal with differences or to work with people from various walks of life, each carrying their own motivations and struggles. This kind of engagement requires not only maximum patience but also a certain skill that politicians long in the game have learned to acquire. It’s a delicate balancing act, one that reveals the human complexity behind the political arena.

This does not mean abandoning your own ideals, even if they differ from those of others. The future, and the new that replaces the old, are always driven by hope and ideals. But idealism must be tempered with greater depth, humility, and a willingness to engage constructively.