Some Quotable Quotes Spice Up the Powers-that-be!

Some quotable one-liners spice up specific eras in our nation’s history. For the most part, however, the more easily remembered one-liners are hardly complimentary. In fact, these often evoke memories of wrongdoings.

The classic “What are we in power for?” exudes all the arrogance of those who let the heady elixir of authority trump the responsibility of public service for which they were empowered. The origin of this is hazy but it was last used as a quote by a secretary of the Garcia administration. The quote came from a senator during the Quirino presidency. As this quote shows, false leadership was already in the Philippines in the 1950s and got worse with each succeeding government.

More recently, Joseph Estrada’s “weather-weather” (the Anglicized version of the vernacular “kanya-kanyang panahon lang iyan”) refers to the “franchise” of those in power to steal from the country’s coffers. The tragedy is that most, if not all, politicians think in these terms today. From a minority view in the 1950s, the truism that politics is the only Philippine business to be in has spread like an epidemic, becoming the standard since the 1990s until the present.

As such, it’s no surprise that the present administration has come to be known as the “pera-pera” era, to be remembered for the alleged bags of cash distributed as a matter of course in Malacañang to voracious supplicants as well as wavering loyalists. After all, the “it’s a numbers game” is the principle that guides this administration's efforts to gain and retain power. With this rule, bribing and being bribed have become so ordinary. In fact, it did not even spare a priest-on-leave or a ranking cardinal as bribery targets.

And what happens when crimes, including graft, kidnapping and even treason, are discovered? “I am sorry” is uttered with the sincerity of an iceberg, upon advice of bishops who are waiting for donations to the poor as the restitution for violations of the Seventh Commandment. Now, "I am sorry" for a wrong done, when discovered is not a monopoly of this administration. It was also used by Pres. Clinton when the media exposed his flirtations with a White House intern.

Can our "very free press" stand on guard for some emerging quotable quotes? Maybe they should. This is also part of the freedom of speech in this country.

(Reprinted with modifications from Inq.net)