Struggling to fight negativity

The last few months have been rough. On radio and social media, we Filipinos have been inundated (and entertained) by legislative hearings that exposed the dastardly deeds of politicians and supposed spiritual leaders.

- ANDREW J. MASIGAN

Leading the pack is suspected Chinese spy and POGO operator, Guo Hua Ping (aka Alice Guo) and inculpated collaborator, Mayor Dong Calugay. Then there are the two accused scammers cum sex offenders who reportedly preyed on the ignorance of their flock - Apollo Quiboloy and Jey Rence Qilario.

Bad as it was, they were just the sideshow to our regular programming of corruption scandals. From the Pharmally scam of the Duterte government to the abuses in confidential funds of VP Sara Duterte to the alleged drug smuggling of Paolo Duterte and Mans Carpio.

And then there were the hearings on the drug war before the quad comm where the former president displayed his violent streak anew. It reminded us of a dark era in our history when our peace-loving country became a global pariah all because of the bloodlust of one man. There seems to be no end to the damage wrought by the Duterte dynasty.

A few public servants give us reason to be optimistic; Senator Sherwin Gatchalian is one of them. But the incident involving his Cadillac Escalade gave me the idea that even the "good senators" are just as entitled as the worst of them. Although Gatchalian's office denies his involvement, there is no denying the video that showed a Cadillac with a plate number associated to Gatchalian using the EDSA busway. The driver tried to run over the law enforcer and the passenger even gave the poor cop the middle finger. Talk about the height of disrespect for our civil servants. This is exactly the entitlement we resent among politicians. We should call them out whenever they get exposed from behind their heavily tinted windows.