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Revolting and disappointing.

These are fitting descriptions of the circus that suffices for a hearing in the House of Representatives. The Duterte administration’s push to deny ABS-CBN a franchise renewal has turned the deliberative body into a clown convention. Instead of lawmakers, we see instead a troupe of performers eager to please their master. This desire has led them to employ grandstanding and delaying tactics — thereby making fools of themselves on live television.

Leading the pack of jesters is none other than Congressman Rodante Marcoleta. From making former ABS-CBN Chairman Eugenio Lopez III recite the Panatang Makabayan to conducting unbearable lengthy interpellations, he seems to have pulled every trick out of his hat to impede the progress of the hearings. Marcoleta’s questions are often shallow and hypocritical. It is quite ironic that he serves as the representative of a party-list named Social Amelioration & Genuine Intervention on Poverty (SAGIP) while playing a significant role in endangering press freedom.

Unfortunately for the Filipino people, Marcoleta is not alone in making the ABS-CBN franchise renewal hearings a chore to watch. In concert with President Duterte and his allies, vocal members of the House Committee on Legislative Franchises have flooded discourse on the matter with irrelevant and misleading arguments. Marcoleta has even openly sparred with journalist Mike Navallo for exposing his track record that contradicts his present stances.

No matter how factual and eloquent the answers from ABS-CBN’s representatives have been, they merely fall on deaf ears. What only matters for Marcoleta and his comrades is to keep up the spectacle brought about by President Duterte’s “hurt feelings.” True to their nature, the buffoons have transformed the ABS-CBN franchise saga into a bewildering comedy. 

However, the events slowly unfolding outside the Batasang Pambansa are not even laughing matters.

Days after Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque congratulated the Philippines in its fight against COVID-19, the number of infections in the country has risen to more than 46,000. This figure proves to be more alarming since the Philippines’ testing capacity for the virus remains meager, and the presence of thousands of backlog. 

The country has also seen record daily spikes in COVID-19 cases in the past few weeks as it eases restrictions. While other nations have seen conditions improve, the Philippines seems to have managed to create a new wave of COVID-19 infections without flattening the first one.

The Duterte administration’s failure amidst the COVID-19 pandemic has led to repercussions that the Filipino people will have to suffer from for a long time. Rappler’s extensive reporting on the pandemic’s impact has shown a contracting national economy and a ballooning national debt.

As a result, many small and medium enterprises have closed down, and the poor are bearing the brunt of COVID-19’s economic impact. With no chances for employment, many families have had to rely on the government’s inefficient and corruption-laden social amelioration program.

However, the Duterte administration’s response to its plethora of problems has prioritized exploiting the pandemic to tighten its grip on power more than advancing solutions. For instance, the Duterte administration quickly weaponized the public transport ban into a traditional jeepney phaseout. To scare off critics, President Duterte immediately signed the Anti-Terrorism bill into law despite massive opposition on the same day that COVID-19 cases in the Philippines breached 40,000.

If only Congressman Marcoleta and his colleagues would channel their energies into addressing pressing issues, the Philippines may not be in a situation so dire. Perhaps, Filipinos can sleep at night knowing that their elected officials are working hard for their well-being. Instead, they chose to hitch their toy wagons to the President’s quickly fading star in their quest for power. Believing that fulfilling President Duterte’s every whim is the key to political success, they opted to turn their backs on those they took an oath to serve.

Flattening the curve of COVID-19 infections calls for mass testing, not red-tagging. Using coercive force and political persecution will do nothing to prevent a virus from spreading and help Filipinos deal with the pandemic’s impact, but sound policies and coordinated effort will. Still, the Duterte administration refuses to wake from its stupor. In a frantic search for a scapegoat, it decided to zero in on ABS-CBN and the passage of the Anti-Terrorism law to divert attention from its failures.

It is crucial to point out that the Duterte administration’s use of the state apparatus to terrorize its citizens does not begin with the Anti-Terrorism law. The measure’s passage merely legalizes the war against freedom of speech and other civil liberties that the Philippine government has long waged against its people. Every Filipino has much reason to fear and condemn the possible rejection of ABS-CBN’s franchise renewal and failure of petitions seeking to junk the Anti-Terrorism law before the Supreme Court.

ABS-CBN’s fight for survival presents a formidable challenge to all of us. In a time wherein the state itself is the one destroying the people’s freedom, we are only as strong as we are united and weak as we are divided. Resisting the state requires organizing for action that will bring along as many people as possible. Filipino resilience truly manifests when the people are driven by a cause for the common good, not when self-serving politicians are making excuses for their performance.

Unfortunately, Filipinos must protect themselves both from COVID-19 and their government during such a difficult time. People are suffering, and renewing the franchise of the country’s largest media network should be the least of our worries. But the opportunistic clowns in Congress have ensured that any hope for sanity has gone down the drain. For now, the circus’ spectacles and charades have remained in full swing.

But we need not put on a red nose and join the mayhem.

This article was originally published last July 6, 2020.