"What's happening to our country, general?"

There were generals and other uniformed and armed men in the Senate last May 13, 2026, both on the side of the new conquering Senate majority and those who hated their guts from the side of the NBI and the PNP. And so, we ask: What's happening to our country, general? Bato de la Rosa was PNP chief and four-star general.

It can be recalled that on the late night of July 21, 1982, former vice president and foreign affairs secretary Emmanuel Pelaez was aboard his car going to his Quezon City home from a dinner hosted by Foreign Secretary Carlos P. Romulo. He had no security backup because he was already out of government service. All of a sudden, two carloads of armed men blocked his car and fired at him and his driver, Arsenio Rogero, who died on the spot.

Pelaez was seriously wounded and bleeding profusely and his ambushers thought he was dead. After a while, when the criminals had already left the crime scene, he crawled out of his car and asked for help. Good citizens in the vicinity rushed him to the St. Luke Hospital. Interviewed by the media inside his hospital room, he addressed the Quezon Police Chief General Tomas Karingal: “What's happening to our country, general?”

This is the same question that we need to ask PNP Chief Jose Melecio Nartatez. The mayhem in the Philippine Senate is a big slap to the faces of the many uniformed men as well as on the new Senate president. In the first 24 hours of the new SP stewardship of the Senate, this so-called new leader couldn’t even secure the august chamber. He’s only good at making self-serving spins on events and in making himself appear nice and sound good.

There’s trouble in politics, there’s fragmentation among the people. The president is being constantly attacked by the vice president who’s facing another impeachment again. The House is controlled by the coalition loyal to the president. The Senate leadership was just snatched by the forces loyal to the vice president. The sister of the president keeps on attacking her own brother's administration. This sister hasn’t shown any monumental achievement in all the posts she has occupied.

And the president is always silent in the midst of a crisis. There’s no strong leadership and every faction is positioning for 2028. He needs to put pressure on non-performing Cabinet members. He should fire those who are deadweight and more especially the incompetent and the corrupt. He should be more visible especially in critical moments like what happened on May 13. He should be on top of all situations and exercise command responsibility.

The vice president should stop politicking and do something to earn her salaries and perks. She should stop going abroad and spend dollars while the whole nation is suffering in worsening poverty. She should face her accusers and respect the legal processes. She should have the sense of fairness by stopping her constant attacks while she does nothing to help the people.

The DILG secretary is all talk and no action. He couldn’t arrest Atong Ang. He couldn’t arrest many other fugitives. He gives so many press releases and fails to deliver. He caused the ouster of General Nicolas Torre who was one of the PNP's best and finest generals. Another Cabinet member who earlier impressed us with his well-published crusade to clean up the DPWH. Until now, no congressman or contractor from Cebu has been charged. He disappeared from the limelight after realizing that he couldn’t deliver.

Our country is facing a grave economic crisis. The national debt as of the end of March was already a whopping and unprecedented amount of ?18.39 trillion. The domestic debt has already reached ?12.53 trillion and our external debt to ?5.95 trillion as of the end of the first quarter of 2026, our debt-to-GDP ratio has reached an alarming 65.24% and our total debt servicing was the highest in history, ?737.4 billion for the first quarter of this year alone.

The value of the Philippine peso is going down and down. It’s almost ?62 to a dollar. Hundreds of thousands of our OFWs are being displaced. The people are losing hope and losing faith in the government. Our leaders are bickering and nobody is showing leadership. What's happening to our country, general? Tell us the real score or tell those spins to the marines.