Laid to rest

I endured the four-hour special coverage of the British Broadcasting Corp. on the royal funeral of Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh. My current obsession with the story of the crown led me to watch the solemn ceremony. It was captivating, to be honest. All the members of the different military units who were part of the prince's life were there to give their last respects. When all four children of the prince and the queen were seen walking to St. George Chapel, I felt goosebumps. They were the family in power.

But their power is apolitical while their influence is not. The British monarchy only serves to be the head of state, a symbol of their stability. They are to make sure that the nation doesn’t end up in pieces even if there are other parts of it far from the capital. Their international relations span up over 50 countries, giving them an advantage in the world arena. Dubbed as the commonwealth, they get to enhance their trade and other foreign policies with them.

Now that the prince has been laid to rest, the members of the royal family will have to fill his big shoes. He has touched so many lives with his decades of service as the royal consort and the long-time best friend to the queen. I sometimes envy how a great partner can be so influential to a person on top of the state. Here in the Philippines, we really don't get to know the partners of our president with scrutiny. We only see them in videos being part of a group but not as a partner to a leader.

However, I also like to think we failed to choose a leader with a good support system. By the time I understood what a government was, the then president was being accused of plunder. I heard his wife was also a budding politician but never seen in the limelight for her love of country. The president that followed after had a husband who was smart, but too smart enough to watch his woman fall into the trap of being in power. The next president was a bachelor which was an advantage because he didn't have any family of his own to think about, but maybe he was a little too preoccupied to find a wife.

Today, the leader is a man separated from his wife. He is known to be with different women at one time, but has a steady common-law partner. He thinks that groping girls’ private parts is normal or a joke, at the very least. There is no clear stability of a family and his children reflect his ambitions. I think we are in it for a long haul. My thoughts of these would never be laid to rest because we keep becoming victims of this type of influence. I'd say, good luck.