GenZ expectations

And it’s open season against contractors and their influencer children.

In only a couple of weeks or so, we’ve seen tremendous backlash against contractors who gobbled up the croc’s share of the government budget on infrastructure. So tremendous, it’s not only hogged the headlines and swamped social media discourse, but resulted in the public excoriation of splashy kids with massive socmed presence.

One by one, the kids (mostly female) have been identified and vilified and, one by one, those kids have been shutting down their YouTube and Instagram accounts. The amount of vitriol has been astounding, certainly overwhelming, and only time will tell if we will ever see these flaunters flaunt their bad taste again.

In all probability, they have been advised to keep their heads down low. Not when the government is circling and sniffing around. The tax authorities are wondering if they have declared the relevant income, the customs authorities are wondering whether they ever paid import duties and, of course, the prosecutors want to check if public funds meant for public betterment instead financed their frivolous lifestyles.

This cancel the gals movement is the modern equivalent of those witches burned at the stake. No need for due process - if they look like they’re enjoying the products of corruption, then off with their heads! Let every inch of their photographs be examined, let every article of clothing be identified, and let the retail prices of those fabulous watches and Hermes bags be revealed for the jeering and sneering mob.

Yet - is this all that the Filipino youth can do?

Over in Jakarta, lawmakers were exposed for enjoying a monthly housing allowance of $5,000. At a time when daily wages are barely a couple of bucks, the news was received very badly. The result: indignation rallies. The youth poured out into the streets. To scream and to hurl invectives. To plead, and to vent. It has been five days, and there has been no let up.

The Indonesian powers that be obviously do not know how to handle the agitated masses. The protesters don’t seem to be going away. Perhaps, the authorities thought the kids would get tired and go back to their phones and tablets. But the throngs haven’t dissipated, and despite heavy military presence, with matching tanks and batons, the protesters persist. To be fair to the government, there hasn’t been a declaration of martial law yet despite this unusual unrest.

Pivot back to Manila. Where are all the youth activists? We don’t see them rallying at the presidential palace or at Congress against the stolen trillions. They’re not massing in front of the corrupt contractor’s offices and heckling the owners. They aren’t picketing at their local billionaire headquarters against the pillaging of the natural resources they own.

Is this all we get? Trolling on Twitter, after trawling through YouTube and Instagram? Indignant Facebook posts and anonymous comments on sites? Perhaps, sleuthing on the internet, eagerly exposing and shaming their boastful contemporaries, is all they’re ever going to do.

Should we expect more? It would be nice to see more substantive calls for action against the corruption that has strangled this country. I remember the civil disobedience campaign during the original Marcos era, when good citizens decided to stop paying their taxes. Other student activists poured into crony department stores and tried politely asking shoppers to shop elsewhere. And of course, there were rallies here and there.

What will the contemporary disgruntled and disaffected resort to? How will they let their sentiments be heard? How will they make this government deploy the structural changes necessary to make sure this ship doesn’t sink? Or will it just be reliance on the same group of men and women who have already let them down?

Will it just be the uncomprehending GenZ stare, then? A look that has eyes wide open, that seems to involve brain cells processing, but no response forthcoming? A gaze that deceptively teases meaningful engagement, but leads to disappointment?

Meanwhile, in Jakarta…