First of four parts

AS the world enters its most dangerous geopolitical transition since the end of the Cold War, much of the Philippine political class behaves as though history can wait.

Our political elite remains consumed by internecine feuds. Alliances shift with dizzying speed against the backdrop of the Marcos-Duterte rivalry. One side deploys every constitutional and procedural device to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte; the other paralyzes the streets through the formidable mobilization of a religious bloc. Around them swirl nonstop grandstanding, television panels, social media gladiators, and an army of commentators ensuring that no performance goes without applause.

Meanwhile, outside our political bubble, the world refuses to pause. The intensifying rivalry between America and China, the Israeli-driven US war against Iran, disruptions in global trade, supply chain realignments, technological competition, and the race for dominance in AI, semiconductors, rare earths and advanced manufacturing are reshaping the international order in real time.

These are hardly distant academic debates. The Strait of Hormuz influences what Filipinos pay at the gasoline pump. The Taiwan Strait affects trade, investment and our own security. The countries making strategic decisions today will shape the global economy for decades.

History is accelerating. Philippine politics, by comparison, appears permanently trapped in dress rehearsals for the next election.

Perhaps that is because we continue searching for better politicians — charismatic presidents, instead of building better institutions.

When politics becomes performance

The recent months have only reinforced that impression. The flood control scandal revealed corruption on a scale so extravagant that even fiction writers might have toned it down for credibility — luxury cars, unexplained fortunes, cash displayed like museum exhibits, and enough excess to make satire unnecessary. Yet, accountability remains the rarest commodity in government.

The result is depressingly familiar. Everyone is campaigning. Almost no one is governing. A nation confronting mounting geopolitical risks cannot afford to behave as though the greatest threat to national security is losing the next news cycle. Energy security, food security, education, infrastructure, AI, cybersecurity, maritime defense, and economic competitiveness deserve far more attention than the endless choreography of political survival.

Politics has become consumed by tactics while history rewards those who think strategically. That, more than any foreign adversary, may be our greatest vulnerability.

Strong society, weak state

Which brings us to a larger and more uncomfortable question: Why do Filipinos excel almost everywhere except in governing the Philippines? Why do our people repeatedly succeed inside well-run institutions abroad, yet struggle to build equally effective institutions at home?

That paradox — not corruption alone, nor poverty alone, nor even politics alone — may be the central challenge of the Philippine Republic.

Around the world, Filipinos are respected for their competence, resilience, adaptability and work ethic. Our nurses sustain healthcare systems across North America, Europe and the Middle East. Filipino seafarers help move global commerce. Our engineers, accountants, architects, teachers, healthcare professionals, entrepreneurs and technicians compete successfully in some of the world’s most demanding environments.

Where institutions function, Filipinos excel. They meet standards, solve problems and rise on merit. Yet many return home to find competence treated as an inconvenience rather than an expectation. The problem is not the Filipino. It is the State that has consistently failed the Filipino.

That distinction matters. We have spent decades diagnosing the wrong patient. We keep trying to change leaders when what requires reconstruction are the institutions within which leaders must govern.

Our people, our families and our communities are strong. Our faith remains strong. Our capacity to endure adversity is legendary. Indeed, we have become so good at surviving dysfunction that we sometimes mistake survival for governance.

The state, however, too often struggles to perform its most basic responsibilities efficiently, consistently and fairly.

The resilience trap

We see it in infrastructure projects that take years to complete, bureaucracies that reward process over results, and public services that too often depend upon personal connections rather than institutional effectiveness.

While Filipinos help build world-class institutions abroad, they return home to watch political dynasties, bureaucratic inertia, oligarchic privilege and recurring corruption replay the same familiar script. National progress is postponed — once again — to the next administration.

For generations, Filipinos have compensated for institutional weakness through sacrifice, ingenuity and resilience. When jobs are unavailable, they leave. When services fail, families step in. When opportunities disappear, individuals create their own.

Every year, overseas Filipinos send billions of dollars in remittances that cushion the consequences of policy failures. Families become the nation’s social safety net where government programs fall short.

In effect, ordinary Filipinos continually rescue the Republic from the consequences of poor governance. The danger is that resilience becomes a substitute for reform. Because Filipinos somehow endure, leaders feel less pressure to change. The country survives. The system remains. Yet survival is not success.

While Asia moves ahead

Meanwhile, the rest of Asia continues moving forward. China expands strategically. India rises economically. Vietnam attracts manufacturing. Indonesia modernizes. Singapore governs efficiently. South Korea innovates. Our Asian neighbors continue advancing into increasingly sophisticated industries.

None of these countries is free from political conflict. And for some, democracy is not the language of their governments. The difference is that politics does not completely stop governance. Elections are contested. Leaders change. Rivalries continue. But the work of government goes on.

Corruption is not unique to the Philippines. What distinguishes nations is whether their institutions contain it or allow it to become systemic. Strong states build institutions that outlive individual leaders; weak states depend on personalities. Strong states reward competence; weak states prize loyalty. Strong states uphold the rule of law impartially; weak states apply it selectively, depending on who wields power.

The real test

The world is entering an era of relentless competition where nations will be judged less by the size of their populations than by the quality of their institutions. Investors seek regulatory stability. Manufacturers require reliable infrastructure. Technology firms need world-class talent and predictable rules. Allies value dependable partners.

Institutional weakness has never been more costly. The uncomfortable truth is that national strength begins at home. A nation consumed by political feuds cannot think strategically. A government trapped in factional warfare cannot govern effectively. Institutions that command little public trust cannot rally the country when genuine crises demand unity.

The Filipino people have already demonstrated their strength across generations and across continents. They have proven that they can compete with the world’s best whenever they are placed inside systems that reward merit and competence.

The real question is whether we can build such institutions here. For decades, we have pinned our hopes on the next election, the next administration, the next charismatic president.

History suggests we have been asking the wrong question. The future of the Philippines depends less on finding the right leader than on building institutions that no longer need one.

Until then, every election will merely change the actors while the script remains the same. Nations are not transformed by discovering better heroes. They are transformed by building institutions that no longer require them. That is the conversation the Philippines has postponed for far too long — and the one we can no longer afford to avoid.

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.