Public Hearings

 Readying the popcorn, potato chips, or nilagang mani, if you wish for the healthier option, many may vary on the preference of their snack, but one thing glues everyone nowadays, the public hearings. 

Being an X-er, I remember looking for people to talk to when hearings on the NBN-ZTE would come out on TV.  Those who watched it would patiently wait for the column of Jarius Bondoc to come out, so that we could give each other updates. I recall looking for people to discuss this issue, but it was not easy. I came from an era where current news was given via newspaper. 

But not today...

Today, the Philippines has definitely changed into big supporters of the Internet and social media, which has its upside and down. We know the downside of this: fake news, digital addiction, the one-upmanship game to name a few. Now the upside--Filipinos have never been this vigilant to politics, and it's been a while since my generation was the new one. After us came the old millenials, young, millenials, and finally Gen Z. 

Gen Z, the generation that did not really see much of games done outdoors. Their youth was filled with the rising of bloggers, vloggers called influencers ,and things of this sort. Now, as the Gen Z emerged, so did the strong liking and draw of Filipinos to the Internet. Nobody needs to buy  newspaper to get the latest in the news nowadays. All you need is your mobile phone. Turn it on, and wait for the hearings to begin . 

 Currently, it seems like many Filipinos have temporarily replaced all Netflix, HBO, Disney+, and the like for some bigger drama. These are the public hearings.  Though the Senate has lost its rating to the lower house, it is still a show people watch from time to time. However, I have to say, the Quad Comm of the lower house has been able to bring out quite a number of explosives left and right: an expose' of an undersecretary of the Vice President on bribe money, a revelation of a former warden on  higher positions being in authority over killings of three Chinese men in a prison cell, a blow-by-blow disclosure of a son of a mayor on a coercion of a PNP Chief for him to commit perjury, and finally, a Colonel's confession on the reward system of a former president. 

It did not matter that hearings of the Quad Comm would last 10 to 11 hours, or even more. People wanted to know, because Filipinos always knew, that the killing of many of  our countrymen were unjustly activities, but everyone kept mum. Many chose to say nothing. Fear enveloped the air and stifled voices, since quite a number, not only several, were silenced permanently during the previous administration. 

People find things strange today. There is quite a different scent of fairness happening. We do know that the current administration is no saint, but just like forces coming together to fight an even greater evil, the real opposition and the administration found a common enemy. The country, for its survival, is fighting a common enemy. The enemy that  violated the rights of many. The enemy that stole the voice of many. The enemy that chose not the country, The Philippines, for it to protect. The enemy that tried, or maybe somehow triumphed, selling the country to its enemy.