Fractured

It feels like 2016 all over again – so much hatred spreading around, antagonistic netizens lashing out at each other and all that gutter-level language filling our timelines.

How easy it is again to dish out sexist remarks and criticize the lawyers, the EJK victims and the female journalists covering former president Rodrigo Duterte’s detention and looming trial at The Hague.

But I’m not just referring to some of Duterte’s supporters. People from all sides of the political spectrum – Pinks, Yellows and Reds – are also responding with as much vitriol and toxicity.

What a deeply fractured and divided nation we are.

This was exactly how 2016 felt. When Duterte became president, it was as if troll farms upon troll farms were activated to fill social media with profanity and hatred.

This surely is not the kind of society we want to bequeath to our children and our children’s children. Or is it?

When President Marcos became president, he promised two big things – unity and rice at P20 per kilo.

I thought then that at least, there would be a semblance of stability in the country as both political clans would finally work together to move the country forward.

But alas, how wrong I was!

UniTeam, as we now know, was the biggest joke in recent history and we ordinary Filipinos are suffering from their big, bad and ugly breakup. The second remains a promise unfulfilled until now.

Now, we’re the wild, wild west all over again and it’s scary to think things could even turn from bad to worse as both camps busy themselves with their gladiator fights.

One way to make sense of things is for the Marcos administration to genuinely seek accountability instead of settling political scores – impossible as that may seem.

Fake news

For instance, in fighting fake news, local authorities must be proactive in dealing with these peddlers of lies – whoever they may be. The government must educate citizens on fake news and also partner with social media platforms to highlight the danger of allowing fake information to be posted and spread online.

The spread of fake news is dangerous not just for our country but anywhere in the world. It has serious repercussions that can spell the difference between life and death.

But the Marcos administration must make sure it does not weaponize existing laws to go after its critics.

It was unsettling to watch the recent hearing on fake news, as my former boss and friend Caloy Conde, now senior researcher at the Asia division of Human Rights Watch, put it.

He said: “Before anything else, let me be very clear: fake news harms our already very fragmented society. It perpetuates abuses and inequity. It is the responsibility, therefore, of our society led by our government to make sure that the harm fake news does is minimized if not eliminated.

“Having said that, tackling the problem of fake news and disinformation needs to be done in a way that’s very clear in its intentions and methods. Legislators who are grappling with this and who are now thinking of crafting laws against fake news need to tread very carefully as they try to balance the need to confront fake news with the need to keep free expression free.”

He also said that while he understood the frustration of the legislators, they have to resist using the hearings to settle scores with bloggers and alleged peddlers of disinformation.

“For us to craft a fair and just law on fake news, the legislators offended by disinformation need to rise above their pain. The danger is that the public will see conduct like this as simply retribution,” Caloy said.

Accountability

And while we’re at it, the citizens must understand that there is a need to hold Duterte accountable for his bloody drug war – first as mayor and then as president. But let this not just be about him. The Marcos administration must also bring to justice the others who were involved.

More importantly, it must fix the flawed system that allowed such injustice to prevail. No less than Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla admitted during a Senate inquiry that victims of the drug war failed to get justice for their loved ones in the local courts.

Otherwise, we will continue to see a deeply divided nation, saddled by the harsh consequences of this big fight between the Marcoses and the Dutertes.

Combo on the Run

On Sunday night, I managed to catch the limited run of “Combo on the Run,” the documentary about the iconic Eraserheads.

At some point in the film, I was reminded of how we got here – another Marcos presidency, 50 years after martial law and 36 years after a people’s uprising booted the Marcoses out of power.

It was paradoxical and painful once again to look back on that day in May 2022.

How, indeed, did we get here? Perhaps, it’s because we keep forgetting the lessons of the past. Both the Dutertes and the Marcoses have once upon a time turned a blind eye to each other’s follies.

We must learn from our mistakes, just as the Eheads did – though that’s another poignant yet beautiful story I’ll save for another day.

It’s time we choose leaders who care about accountability instead of political survival and about the country instead of themselves. Let’s remember this when we vote in May and in 2028.

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Email: [email protected]. Follow her on X @eyesgonzales. Column archives at EyesWideOpen on FB.