by Raffy Gutierrez
When mayors, congressmen, and respected journalists themselves are already saying “Corruption today is rampant,” it is no longer gossip—it is the harsh reality facing our nation. The more alarming part is that many Filipinos seem to have grown numb, treating it as if it were just normal.
On social media, anger explodes daily. Hashtags trend, posts go viral, people pour out their frustrations. Yet after a few hours, the outrage fades into jokes, memes, and distractions. The anger is real, but it is often short-lived. Ask people in the streets, and they will tell you the same thing: corruption has reached its peak. But if this is the peak, if this is truly the breaking point, why does nothing change?
The common response is, “Corruption has always been there.” True. But today it has become brazen—shameless and without fear. Wealth and assets are flaunted openly, as if stolen resources were trophies to be celebrated. The tragedy is that while ordinary families struggle to buy rice, the money that should have been theirs is being wasted on excess. Every peso taken from public funds is food stolen from a child’s table.
But here lies the deeper wound: not just the greed of those in power, but the disunity of the Filipino people. We are divided by red, yellow, green, pink—political colors that separate us. While we fight each other, the real enemies of progress quietly grow stronger, feeding on our division. Corruption does not care about political colors. What matters to the corrupt is how much more they can take. And the more we quarrel among ourselves, the more freely they plunder.
When we fight, who truly loses? Not them. It is us—our families, our children’s future, our nation. If we simply accept things as they are, then we cannot complain when our lives become harder. To surrender to the system is to accept that our dignity, and that of our families, can be trampled without consequence.
But that is not who we are. Filipinos are known for resilience, compassion, and faith. We are not born to enslave or be enslaved by our fellow countrymen. This is the call: put aside colors, stop the petty divisions. The real battle is not red versus yellow, pink versus green—it is the people versus a system that has long been failing us.
History shows that when Filipinos unite, miracles happen. 1896 and 1986. Two of the most crucial moments in history when no leader could suppress the will of a united people. If it was possible then, it is possible now. We only need to decide—decide not to be used, not to be divided, not to remain silent.
It is not too late. The nation is still ours. The flag is still our symbol of dignity. The future can still be saved. But unity must be our choice—because in unity, no thief of the nation can remain untouchable.
The time for silence has passed. We cannot remain spectators while corruption drowns our people and mocks our nation. If the powerful have turned the country into their playground, then it is our duty as citizens to turn unity into our strongest weapon. History reminds us that when Filipinos stand as one, no tyrant, no thief, no abuser of power can withstand the tidal wave of a people’s collective will. Let us not wait for another generation to suffer—let this be the moment when Filipinos rise, not with weapons, but with unbreakable solidarity, ready to reclaim the dignity that has been stolen from us.
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Rafael “Raffy” Gutierrez is a Technology Trainer with over 25 years of experience in networking, systems design, and diverse computer technologies. He is also a popular social media blogger well-known for his real-talk, no-holds-barred outlook on religion, politics, philosophy.
