EMPOWERMENT AND HYPOCRISY: THE OTHER SIDE OF THE NATIONAL WOMEN'S MONTH

Seventy meters from where two female city councilors of Victorias City in Negros Occidental, were making speeches about women empowerment, this cold, dusty pavement in the northern part of the public plaza provided a homeless woman some comfort as she sat under the shade of a building set up by the local government that was supposed to look after everyone's welfare, voter or not.

She sat motionless as if lost in her own world oblivious to the noise and movements around her, which might have served her well because, in those moments, the other women from 26 barangays, as captive audience of those councilors, had no choice but to listen to their speeches at the center of the public plaza and be bombarded with big words like 'empowerment' and 'empowered women'.

Yes, give a politician a microphone and all you would hear are just like that: big words.

Those words reverberated around the Victorias public plaza carried by sound waves blasting from the giant loudspeakers that were rented, not just to spread music, but throw at the different directions the noise of politicians prattling. And as taxpayers' money is being used to pay for those loudspeakers, our money is being used for their own political propaganda.

I was just walking through the plaza on my way to the public market when I saw her on the path where I passed.

This was ironic, I told myself.

The people who were being talked about in the speeches are the same people ignored. But this is reality: those 'big words' should have been followed by 'big actions', but that would be a stretch because, in our city, what we always hear from the officials are promises which immediately evaporate into thin air along with the saliva they spray.

I corrected myself. This wasn't irony; this was hypocrisy.

It is when the people who are in position and have the power to lift everyone up seemed to conveniently include only those they can politically exploit. This homeless woman, I doubt, is one of those they can manipulate for a vote.

So, on this celebration of National Women's Month, who are the ones chosen to be empowered and the ones chosen to be left behind? 😭

#nationalwomensmonth #womensmonth #CSWD #DSWD #sangguniangpanglungsod #victoriascity #negrosoccidental #philippines #homeless

KAMING MGA MATATAPANG ANG APOG: AN ESSAY ON DILG's MEMORANDUM CIRCULAR NO. 2026-06

 It's about time!

When DILG issued its Memorandum Circular No. 2026-06 on January 29, 2026, the movie title, "Kaming Mga Matatapang ang Apog," came to mind. I thought that movie title was brutally frank, yet funny! It starred the Superstar Nora Aunor and the King of Comedy, Dolphy. In English, it means "We are Shameless!"

Yes, 'shameless', the word that describes some local public servants (I said 'some'😁), should have been part of the memorandum's addressee line for specificity purposes. Since it's targeting the shameless, why not spell it out?

Now that the DILG has the balls to order its public officials to be 'mahiya naman kayo', as the memorandum circular prohibits the display of the name, image, and likeness of public officials on government projects, we expect to see less of the local politicians' images which are usually edited as most of them are, well, unphotogenic (I didn't say unattractive, ha?😂).

I remember seeing a local female councilor n person and was disappointed to see how different she looked from her photographs online. I had to ask my mother, "Ambi ko si _____ damo kuwarta. Nga-a wala niya 'na guin-paretoke iya ilong?" (I thought _____ has money. How come she didn't have her nose fixed?")

Maybe that was the memorandum's unwritten objective: to spare us from disappointment when we see how these local politicians' images online and on tarpaulins are so unlike in person as if they all mutated after elections.

About two years ago, when I went up to the second floor of our City Hall, I was welcomed by a platoon of smiling standees (life-sized cut-outs of a person) of the city mayor and the vice mayor. Both politicians were together in one standee which made them look weird. Why? Because, in the standee, they were of the same height when, in reality, one had an above-average height while the other one was deprived of it. Improper proportioned or not, they looked like they were enjoying their conjointment.

Upon seeing their cut-outs, I wondered why this duo spent taxpayers' money just to reproduce their images. I asked a City Hall employee why and he told me the reason: so that the people would know who they are. I didn't bother wasting my time to argue with him; the employee-slash-foot-soldier was probably a 'job order' whose loyalty was to his cardboard idols.

This is the intention of the memorandum: to prevent politicians from exploiting, abusing or misappropriating taxpayers' money for their own political propaganda.

That day, at the City Hall, while I faced the platoon of inanimate faces, I felt like it was a scene from the TV drama, Game of Thrones, where rows of The Unsullied, those castrated slaves of Daenerys Targaryen, stood motionless in front of their master. Like slave-soldiers awaiting orders as to where they would be deployed, these cut-outs awaited orders as to where they would be displayed.

But I wonder if this memorandum would really be obeyed because, aside from Republic Act No. 6713 that directs public officials to be ethical, as early as 2013, there has been a COA Circular No. 2013-004 in place that discourages the display of pictures and images of public officials. And yet, our local officials seemed to have difficulty complying.

Going back to Nora and Dolphy, even though both are gone, they are still dearly remembered. Why? Because of how they made people fee. Through their stories and movies, the two superstars made people laugh, cry, and inspired people in between laughter and tears.

The local politicians, on the hand, also make us laugh and cry, but for the wrong reasons. We cry because it is our money they spend like it was their own, and we laugh because the joke is on us.😭

So, sa inyong lungso, bayan o barangay, sinong opisyal ang mga matatapang ang apog?

#essay #DILG #DIGLmemo #writer #governance #government #publicservants #publicservice #NoraAunor #Dolphy #ethics #GOT #gameofthrones