Republic of vice

It’s hard to understand what has become of our country today. Crime and corruption – so blatantly intertwined – are eating us alive.

A majestic lake has become a graveyard. Men who once put their fate on warring roosters ended up as the missing sabungeros. Charred bones of somebody’s loved ones were cramped in sacks and dumped beneath the waters. A henchman points to his gangster ex-boss as the mastermind.

E-sabong, illegal POGOs, dirty money, drugs and now online gaming – some of these were vestiges of the Duterte-era – all tell of a country now steeped in vice and lawlessness which, ironically, have become possible with the help of lawmakers and law enforcers.

It took the Department of Justice some time to finally dig into the issue for reasons known only to those who walk the halls of power.

Such crimes are beyond comprehension. One can only hope something concrete comes out of the investigation, playing out so well in public, and that it’s not just some “wag-the-dog” distraction from our increasingly challenging everyday life.

Lady Justice, we hope, will wield her power.

But the reforms in our society must not stop with the case of the missing sabungeros.

We need to reexamine our policies that make vices thrive – from drugs to gambling.

Let’s start with drugs, for example. We all know that illegal drugs – from shabu to cocaine to party pills – continue to be a menace in our society. Duterte’s bloody drug war, despite his cult’s high praises for it, has not really killed the source. Sure, it has scared off small-time users but it also left a trail of dead people, young ones included, as well as orphans and widows.

Cutting the head of the snake

But that was only a palliative, and a bloody one, in fact. As I write this, illegal drugs continue to make their way into the country.

In high society, drugs are a part of life, at least for some of the country’s rich and famous. The well-heeled crowd knows this. The death of a recent billionaire heir has already put a spotlight on the effects of cocaine.

But as in any criminal activity, the snake’s head must be cut off.

Authorities must dismantle the drug cartels by going after the kingpins and their protectors in high places including Congress, the military and the police force.

As for gambling and gaming, President Marcos has banned the POGOs but are they really gone? Or did they just go underground?

Are the illegal POGOs behind the tech and finance scams proliferating in our country today? Are they the ones hatching scams and stealing our identities in BPO-like offices or glass towers, using the digital infrastructure of their once legal or illegal POGOs? Are transnational syndicates behind this?

Authorities must look into this growing problem.

As for online gambling, I’ve said it before, I don’t think a ban is possible, given the strong lobbying from gaming firms which, in the past two years, have been sitting on heaps of cash. That, plus the government’s continuing need for revenues, because a huge part of taxpayers’ money is lost to corruption.

But it all depends on what Marcos wants. If he indeed believes that online gambling is destroying families, then he must have the political will to ban it altogether and make sure that proponents will not just go underground.

Modern-day slavery

The Church has issued its warning, with the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) insisting that addiction in all its forms is “slavery in disguise.”

“How many families have been destroyed by gambling debts?” said Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David, president of the CBCP.

Against this backdrop and given the warnings, President Marcos – with his term ending in three years – must decide on the kind of legacy he wants to leave behind.

As it is now, the crimes we are seeing are jaw-dropping. The fate of the missing sabungeros was an offshoot of the Duterte-era e-sabong.

It was an industry that raked in billions for its proponents and the government, and it created a whole ecosystem that provided jobs for tens of thousands of Filipinos and suppliers, which served as a lifeline during the pandemic.

But it also left a trail of crimes with some 34, or perhaps 100 men missing and believed to be dead. Who knows what other criminal activities, including money laundering, there are.

It’s no secret that crimes are synonymous with money laundering and corruption. Padrinos or coddlers in high places are what make crimes possible. It is a partnership as old as time.

Before the e-sabong craze, sabungeros flocked to the cockpits or joined tupadas. Before online gaming, gamblers made their bets in brick-and-mortar casinos which could ban addicted patrons if their families requested it.

But now, with everything online, gambling in the Philippines has become a Wild, Wild West of sorts – anyone can join and anything can happen.

The result is an underworld that no longer hides. It walks among us in daylight, sitting beside those who hold gavels and wear decorated uniforms. It pulls the strings of lawmakers – drafting legislation with one hand, counting kickbacks with the other. And in doing so, it is destroying our once-esteemed institutions.

This is really about the quiet decay of conscience in our country today.

Someday soon, we may wake up to the fact that the underworld isn’t under anything anymore. It’s the world we live in.

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