"The Hydra We Keep Feeding"

"The Hydra We Keep Feeding"

by:

Virgilio F De leon Jr.

I have often said that corruption is everywhere.

It may never be completely eradicated. Perhaps the best metaphor for it is the Hydra: cut off one head, and two more grow in its place.

Every political system contains the temptation to abuse power. People can enter politics with idealistic intentions, believing they can make a difference, only to become corrupted by the power they acquire—the power to bend rules, escape consequences, and, in the worst cases, take public money from the very people they were elected to serve.

Perhaps the difference is that in some countries, corruption still operates within certain limits. The people in power may take their share, but they leave enough behind for governments to continue functioning, for public services to operate, and for infrastructure to actually be built.

Here in the Philippines, however, it often feels as though even those restraints have begun to disappear.

Look at the social media posts of the past few weeks: houses carried away by floods, vehicles of all sizes stranded in rising water, families watching years of hard work disappear in a matter of hours. Ordinary Filipinos suffer because the greed within our government—regardless of political party—has reached a point where corruption seems to exist at every level of the chain.

It is no longer about taking a small piece.

Everyone wants the biggest piece they can get before what remains trickles down to the next person.

And so the common Filipino suffers.

People who are already struggling to improve their lives find themselves pushed backward again. And even those who have managed to build something through years of hard work can see it swept away in a matter of hours.

Then comes the inevitable question:

Will anything actually be done?

The eyes are elsewhere.

The ears are listening to other things.

The mouth is talking about other topics.

Meanwhile, the suffering continues unabated.

And perhaps, someday, something else will rise from these waters.

Something other than Pinoy humor.

Something other than another celebration of Filipino resilience.

Perhaps it will be an urge to do something different.

To choose differently.

But then comes another question:

Who are the alternatives?

Will they simply be another version of the same animal? Another group waiting for its turn at the trough? Or will they merely be the lesser of two evils?

Because lesser does not mean good.

Evil is still evil, no matter how much smaller the portion may be.

No one seriously talks about revolution, of course. Not openly, anyway. In an age when people can communicate more freely and instantly than at any other point in history, it is strange how rarely the word itself enters the conversation.

Perhaps it is because many people have come to believe that revolution would accomplish nothing.

Perhaps they have seen too many revolutions replace one group of powerful people with another.

Perhaps they are simply tired.

And maybe that is the greatest danger of all.

Not that the Hydra has too many heads.

But that we have become so accustomed to feeding it that we no longer believe there is any point in fighting it.

For as long as that remains true, the Hydra does not even need to defend itself.

We will keep feeding it ourselves.