FOR months, Filipinos have been treated to what may be the most expensive reality show ever funded by taxpayers: the political circus starring the Senate, House of Representatives and the highest offices of government.

The year opened with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s now-famous “Mahiya naman kayo” speech, which pulled back the curtain on a spectacle so outrageous that even Hollywood might have rejected it for lacking credibility.

Suddenly, the public was introduced to flood control corruption on an industrial scale, contractors flaunting luxury vehicles — Rolls Royce acquired because of a customized umbrella compartment. Ludicrous! And bureaucrats posing beside mountains of cash spread across billiard tables like proud collectors displaying rare artwork.

One could be forgiven for assuming that such revelations might lead to arrests, prosecutions, or at least a few uncomfortable prison cells.

Instead, the nation witnessed something even more appalling.

Absolutely nothing! Not one big fish. Not even the fingerlings.

Then came the impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte. What followed was a shameless masterclass in political choreography: shifting alliances, procedural acrobatics, strategic outrage — senators “crying-crying,” televised indignation, and enough grandstanding to qualify as a national performing arts festival.

The Senate debated. The House maneuvered. Political camps mobilized. Television networks found endless material. Social media exploded. Analysts analyzed the analysts.

And yet one could not escape the uncomfortable feeling that while the country’s political class was consumed with fighting itself, the rest of the world was moving forward.

Artificial intelligence is transforming economies. Nations are competing for technology, talent, and investment. The 21st century increasingly rewards competence, discipline and performance.

The Philippines, by contrast, appears determined to prove that none of these are prerequisites for political success.

Which brings us to Alex Eala.

A different kind of Filipino story

In a nation exhausted by political theater, one young Filipino woman has quietly reminded us what merit actually looks like. For while politics often rewards connections, tennis rewards competence. Public office can be inherited; championships cannot. Political success may depend on alliances. Victory on the court depends on preparation, discipline, sacrifice and performance.

Perhaps that is why Alex Eala resonates so deeply with Filipinos today. Every victory is celebrated not merely as a sporting achievement but as a national one. In a country weighed down by corruption, political dynasties and endless institutional dysfunction, she reminds us that Filipinos can still compete — and win — against the best in the world.

But Eala’s story is about more than tennis. It is a glimpse of the Philippines we could have become if excellence, merit and performance — not politics, pedigree and connections — had become our national standard.

Talent was never the problem

For decades, Filipinos have proven their worth on the global stage. Our nurses staff hospitals across America, Europe and the Middle East. Our seafarers keep global commerce moving. Filipino engineers, teachers, architects, entrepreneurs and professionals have succeeded in almost every corner of the world.

The world has never doubted Filipino talent. The question has always been why the Philippines itself struggles to convert that talent into national success. Why do Filipinos flourish abroad while the country underperforms at home?

Alex Eala provides part of the answer.

Her success was not built on political connections, family dynasties, or celebrity status. It came from years of disciplined training, world-class coaching, international competition and a system that rewarded performance rather than pedigree.

In tennis, the scoreboard does not care who your parents are. The ball is either in or out. You either win or you go home.

Merit is the ultimate judge. Performance speaks for itself. That simple principle stands in sharp contrast to much of Philippine public life, where pedigree too often outranks competence and connections frequently matter more than results.

When pedigree replaces merit

Too often in our politics, family names matter more than competence.

Loyalty outweighs performance. Connections supersede qualifications.

Elections increasingly resemble contests between dynasties rather than competitions between ideas.

Public office is frequently treated as an inheritance rather than a responsibility. The result is predictable. A country rich in human potential but perpetually underperforming. The tragedy is not that the Philippines lacks talent. The tragedy is that our institutions too often fail to recognize, develop and reward it.

Imagine for a moment if the same standards applied on a tennis court were applied in government. Imagine a civil service where promotions were based on competence rather than patronage. Imagine political parties recruiting leaders because of ability rather than bloodlines.

Imagine regulatory agencies staffed by professionals selected for expertise rather than political convenience. Imagine public institutions rewarded for results rather than loyalty. Imagine a political culture where excellence mattered more than surname recognition. The Philippines would look very different.

Countries we once compared ourselves to

There was a time when the Philippines stood ahead of many of its Asian neighbors. Countries such as South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore did not become successful because their people were inherently more talented than Filipinos.

What they gradually built were institutions capable of identifying, training, promoting and rewarding competence. They created systems that elevated performers. They made excellence a national objective rather than an occasional accident. Their systems were far from perfect.

But they worked. Ours often do not.

That is why Eala’s rise resonates so deeply. We are not simply watching a young athlete win tennis matches. We are watching proof of what Filipinos can accomplish when talent is matched with opportunity, discipline and institutional support. She reminds us that mediocrity is not our destiny.

Beyond tennis

That lesson extends beyond sports. The geopolitical environment facing the Philippines is becoming increasingly complex. The world is entering a period of greater competition, uncertainty and strategic rivalry. Maritime disputes, energy security, technological disruption, economic realignment and shifting alliances will shape the coming decades.

Navigating that future will require competence. Not slogans. Not political theater. Not endless partisan warfare. Competence. The same quality that allows an athlete to compete successfully on the world stage is the same quality that allows nations to prosper.

The most important lesson

Alex Eala’s victories therefore carry a message far greater than tennis.

They remind us that the Filipino has never been the problem. Not the farmer. Not the teacher. Not the nurse. Not the engineer. Not the seafarer. Not the entrepreneur. Not the scientist. Not the soldier. Not the overseas worker.

The challenge has always been whether our institutions can become worthy of the people they are supposed to serve. Imagine what this country could become if the system finally started working for its citizens instead of forcing citizens to work around the system.

That may be the most important lesson Alex Eala has given us.

Not that a Filipino woman can compete with the world’s best. We have always known that. Filipinos have been proving that for generations. The lesson is that when merit is allowed to flourish, Filipinos do not merely participate. They excel.

The question is whether we are prepared to build a country that does the same.

The Senate President crowed yesterday that the party he nominally coheads, PDP-Laban, has a “pleasant problem” — too many potential senatorial candidates. Koko Pimentel’s estimate is they have up to 20 possible choices for the 12-person slate for the 2019 senatorial race. But his list includes the five administration-affiliated senatorial incumbents up for reelection next year. This is a group that has made noises that, much as it prefers to remain in the administration camp, it is unhappy with the way PDP-Laban has been designating its local leaders and candidates, and therefore prefers to strike out on its own, perhaps in alliance with the other administration (regional) party, Hugpong ng Pagbabago, headed by the President’s daughter and current Davao City mayor, Sara Duterte.

Setting aside, then, the five-person “Force,” the administration-oriented but not PDP-friendly reelectionists (Nancy Binay, Sonny Angara, Cynthia Villar, Grace Poe, and JV Ejercito), what Koko’s crowing over is a mixed bag. Some of them have been floated by Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez (with whom Mayor Duterte clashed in recent months): six representatives (Gloria Macapagal Arroyo who is in her last term in the House of Representatives; Albee Benitez, Karlo Nograles, Rey Umali, Geraldine Roman, and Zajid Mangudadatu), three Cabinet members (Bong Go, Harry Roque, and Francis Tolentino), and two other officials (Mocha Uson and Ronald dela Rosa), which still only adds up to 11 possible candidates (who are the missing three?).

Of all of these, the “Force” reelectionists are only fair-weather allies of the present dispensation; their setting themselves apart is about much more than the mess PDP-Laban made in, say, San Juan where support for the Zamoras makes it extremely unattractive for JV Ejercito to consider being in the same slate. Their cohesion is about thinking ahead: Creating the nucleus for the main coalition to beat in the 2022 presidential election. The contingent of congressmen and congresswomen who could become candidates for the Senate, however, seems more a means to kick the Speaker’s rivals upstairs (at least in the case of Benitez and Arroyo) and pad the candidates’ list with token but sacrificial candidates, a similar situation to the executive officials being mentioned as possible candidates (of the executive officials, only Go seems viable, but making him run would deprive the President of the man who actually runs the executive department, and would be a clear signal that the administration is shifting to a post-term protection attitude instead of the more ambitious system-change mode it’s been on, so far).

Vice President Leni Robredo has been more circumspect, saying she’s not sure the Liberal Party can even muster a full slate. The party chair, Kiko Pangilinan, denied that a list circulating online (incumbent Bam Aquino, former senators Mar Roxas, Jun Magsaysay, TG Guingona, current and former representatives Jose Christopher Belmonte, Kaka Bag-ao, Edcel Lagman, Raul Daza, Gary Alejano and Erin Tañada, former governor Eddie Panlilio and Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña) had any basis in fact.

What both lists have in common is they could be surveys-on-the-cheap, trial balloons to get the public pulse. Until the 17th Congress reconvenes briefly from May 14 to June 1 for the tail end of its second regular session (only to adjourn sine die until the third regular session begins on July 23), it has nothing much to do. Except, that is, for the barangay elections in May, after a last-ditch effort by the House to postpone them yet again to October failed.

Names can be floated but the real signal will come in July, when the President mounts the rostrum and calls for the big push for a new constitution—or not. Connected to this would be whether the Supreme Court disposes of its own chief, which would spare the Senate—and thus, free up the legislative calendar—to consider Charter change instead of an impeachment trial. In the meantime, what congressmen do seem abuzz over is an unrefusable invitation to the Palace tomorrow — to mark Arroyo’s birthday. An event possibly pregnant with meaning.

Here’s a striking statement about love shared with me by an English college mentor. “Love knows no grammar. How it works can’t be measured by any parts or figures of speech. It goes beyond the literate and illiterate. The sad reality is that, even a fool who has got no philosophy is not spared of its harsh reality.” After almost three decades, I reminded him through a private message of his words. Here’s what he said. “Thank you, Jord. This statement about love is searing to the heart. And, yes, fools do fall for it too. But I thought that we as well speak of the beauty that it gives and not so much focus on the harsh realities. After all, our country has had enough of the negativities.” Thank you, dearest Sir Eugene.

In these decisive times when our nation trembles under the weight of corruption, inequality, and disillusionment, it is you―the youth, burning with idealism, courage, and an unyielding sense of right―who must stand at the forefront of CHANGE. The future of the Philippines hangs in the balance, calling not for silence or apathy, but for unity, conviction, and action. Let your dreams be the spark that ignites renewal; let your voices thunder against injustice; let your hands build the nation our forebears envisioned but never fulfilled. Now is the hour to awaken, to rise, and to lead the march toward a just and transformed Philippines.

Remember, the pages of our history resound with the triumphs of youth who dared to dream and act. From the Propagandists who wielded the pen against tyranny to the Katipuneros who took up arms for freedom, it was always the young who ignited revolutions and rebuilt nations. As Dr. Jose Rizal declared, “The youth is the hope of our motherland,” but that hope is not a gift to be passively claimed; it is a duty to be earned through courage and purpose.

Today’s generation must transform awareness into action―to confront corruption with integrity, to challenge inequality with empathy, and to counter apathy with participation. The time for mere commentary has passed. What the nation demands now is commitment, creativity, and collective resolve. When the youth stand united in conscience and conviction, no obstacle is insurmountable, no reform impossible. The power to redeem the nation’s promise lies not in the hands of the few, but in the awakened spirit of the many. Rise, therefore, as one generation with one objective―to forge a Philippines worthy of its people’s deepest hopes. And to those who were once the torchbearers of youth but have since laid down their fire―hear this call.

The nation does not forget its veterans of hope, those who once believed that change was possible but have since grown weary in the long twilight of disappointment. Thus far history grants no sanctuary to resignation. It demands of every generation the same unrelenting duty―to defend what is right, to confront what is wrong, and to labor still for what remains unfinished.

Now is the moment to rise again. Let not caution disguise itself as wisdom, nor comfort as peace. The courage that once stirred your youth still flickers within; rekindle it, and let it burn anew for the sake of those who follow. Your experience, tempered by time, must now join hands with the fervor of the young - to guide, to mentor, to strengthen.

Together, let the wisdom of the seasoned and the passion of the rising coalesce into a single, indomitable force for renewal. For the task of nation-building is not bound by age, but by conviction. The call of the motherland resounds to all who still believe that the story of the Filipino is not yet complete―and that redemption, though delayed, is still within our grasp if only we choose to act once more. And to those whose hands have long gripped the levers of power―hardened by privilege, dulled by entitlement―hear this with clarity: the era of self-preservation must yield to the dawn of selfless service.

The nation can no longer afford leaders who mistake possession for stewardship, nor governance for dominion. The time has come to relinquish the throne of complacency and make way for the custodians of vision, courage, and renewal.

To step aside is not to surrender, but to honor the sacred rhythm of nationhood―to allow new voices, new hearts, and new minds to breathe life into institutions that have grown stale from neglect. True leadership is an act of stewardship, and stewardship demands humility―to know when to lead, and when to pass the torch. Those who have ruled long enough must now become mentors, not masters; guides, not gatekeepers.

To the youth who will inherit this burden and blessing alike, the call is equally profound. Lead not with arrogance, but with awareness; not with impulse, but with integrity. Let optimism be your discipline―a conscious act of faith in the nation’s capacity to rise again. Lead with inclusivity that unites rather than divides, with courage that reforms rather than destroys, and with resilience that endures when hope seems frail.

For the measure of a new generation’s greatness lies not in its defiance alone, but in its wisdom to build where others have failed. Let your leadership become the living testament that the Philippines, once disillusioned, has learned at last to believe again―through you.

Now, the Filipino youth stand at a defining crossroad of history. The echoes of the past and the murmurs of the future converge upon this moment, and in your hands rests the fragile, however formidable promise of a nation reborn. You are the inheritors of unfinished dreams and the architects of what is yet to be. United in thought and deed, strengthened by the wisdom of history and the fire of conviction, you possess the power to shape a Philippines anchored in justice, animated by democracy, and sustained by the collective flourishing of its people.

The mantle of responsibility has passed to you. Do not falter beneath its weight; bear it with courage, for it is through your resolve that the nation will rise from the ruins of complacency. Let your unity transcend boundaries of region, class, and creed. Let your integrity redefine leadership, and your compassion restore faith in the Filipino spirit.

This is your hour. Let this narrative be not merely a call to awaken, but a solemn commitment―to the country that nurtures you, to the people who believe in you, and to the generations who will follow your example. Stand firm, for you are the heartbeat of a nation yearning to live with dignity once more. Speak right and shine!

Rise, Filipino youth, and let history remember that when your time came ―you stood unwavering, and the nation moved forward.