Spectacle

I've been struggling to finish one major task for the past three nights, distracted by the turn of events at the Senate. It seems impossible to think clearly when I am well aware that we are in limbo. At one point, the House decided to impeach the vice president. The Senate quickly changed its leadership in what seemed like a complete attendance. The long-lost former PNP chief-turned-senator finally showed up, causing havoc due to his standing warrant from the International Criminal Court. Gunshots followed the next day and, soon after, he was gone.

It seemed like he slipped through while everyone was busy trying hard to figure out who fired the shots. More than 30 bullets were fired all over the place. The image will remain vivid in history: members of the media scrambling, crying, running, yet all trying to report to their respective networks what was going on. It was both breaking and developing at the same time, at the cost of their own mental stamina, causing anxiety, exhaustion, and trauma. What a spectacle.

The Senate denied having any hand in the incident and so did the National Bureau of Investigation, whose members were seen a day prior along with a former senator who was holding the arrest warrant for the former PNP chief. The next narratives we are hearing are about a "volunteer" driver tagged as the suspect, the Senate being "under attack", and Senator Dela Rosa thinking it is safer to be outside than inside. With all these events happening within a week, many forgot that the Philippines did an almost stellar job hosting the 48th ASEAN Summit. It worked hard to bring the image of the country to the global arena, to attract more visitors and investors. I guess there are really some things that you can't hide in this country.

We are going viral and making headlines for all the wrong reasons. From an international perspective, we are being ridiculed for the way our supposed leaders are acting. The sanctity of the Senate of the Philippines as an institution is now smeared simply because one person refused to face the truth. While the exploration of legal remedies is indeed his right, there is a more diplomatic way to face a warrant. It gets even crazier as the other camp banks on twisted information and claims of fabricated facts. The truth itself is being placed at risk.

Like many shining stars, the spectacle will also fade at some point and may eventually be replaced by another. Whether or not that next spectacle will be a negative one, only the heavens know. What concerns me most right now is how we look to other countries. I don't want to open messages from my friends overseas asking me what is going on in our country. I really don't know. I'd like to say that we may have made poor choices, but perhaps we always have, as far back as time can tell. Is there anything new to share? I'd like to know.