When sermons thunder over millions but fall mute over trillions, the contest is no longer about morality. It’s about protecting the king.
Politics in the Philippines has long been likened to a chess match. There are kings who must be shielded at all costs, pawns that can be sacrificed without hesitation, and bishops who move diagonally often in selective, if not suspicious, directions. And as with any game, the spectacle lies not in the rules but in how artfully they are bent, twisted, or ignored.
THE HOLY OUTRAGE OVER ₱125 MILLION
Not too long ago, some sectors in the Catholic community were among the loudest in demanding that Vice President Sara Duterte be held accountable for the ₱125 million confidential intelligence fund. A grave sin, indeed. After all, ₱125 million is such a shocking sum, enough to build, say, a few crooked meters of substandard flood control.
The outrage was swift. Pulpits thundered, statements were issued, and moral authority was brandished with vigor. For a moment, it seemed as though the guardians of public virtue had rediscovered their prophetic voice.
SUPREME COURT’S DECISION
Enter the Supreme Court, the unpredictable arbiter. It did not rule on the merits but instead pointed to the one-year ban on impeachment complaints. Case shelved, at least for now.
The ruling inflamed debate even further, as the political class wielded the technicality both as shield and as sword. Once again, governance looked less like justice and more like performance art.
THE TRILLION-PESO SILENCE
And then… silence. The same robed moral guardians who once roared like lions over ₱125 million suddenly turned into contemplative monks when confronted with something far greater: the trillion-peso scandal of ghost and defective flood control projects.
A trillion pesos! That’s a thousand billions, money that could have built classrooms, hospitals, and infrastructure that actually works. Yet in the strange moral economy of selective outrage, a trillion is apparently not worth even a single whispered prayer.
SELECTIVE OUTRAGE AS A SACRED STRATEGY
Selective outrage? Surely not. Perhaps ₱125 million was simply the perfect size for righteous thunder — small enough to attack without consequence, large enough to sound credible. A trillion, on the other hand, is too massive, too sacred, too divine to touch.
Why rattle the palace when it’s easier to sacrifice a pawn and pretend the board is fair? Why confront the looters at the top when silence secures one’s place at the king’s table?
THE BISHOPS’ ROLE IN THE GAME
So let us celebrate the courage of our bishops: bold when the target is weak, reverently mute when the looters sit close to the throne. Their moves are calculated: advance when safe, retreat when dangerous, and shut their eyes so tightly that even a trillion-peso elephant kneeling beside the altar goes unseen.
To the faithful, this strategy must feel like betrayal. The same pulpits that once declared corruption a mortal sin now appear to calibrate outrage by political convenience. The prophetic voice has been reduced to a murmur, deployed only when it can be done without risk.
THE SACRIFICE OF SENATOR MARCOLETA
And just as in any serious chess match, sometimes a piece must be sacrificed to protect the throne. The removal of erstwhile Senate President Escudero paved the way for the downfall of Blue Ribbon Committee Chairman Dante Marcoleta, a knight too independent, too unyielding, too dangerous to the “boys’ club.”
Marcoleta, the highest elected official from the Iglesia ni Cristo, had been doing his job too well, exposing rot where others preferred silence. That alone made him expendable. His ouster was not an accident but a calculated move: the deliberate sacrifice of a minor piece to shield the king.
But in the process, the palace and its allies committed an affront not just to one senator, but to the INC itself. By discarding their most visible representative in high office, the message was unmistakable: political expediency outweighs loyalty, and even a bloc as disciplined and influential as the INC can be treated as irrelevant when power demands it.
THE KING IS SAFE
And that, in the end, is the only move that matters. The pawns may fall, the rooks may be discarded, and even a bishop or two may lose relevance. But the king? The king must always remain safe.
This is not a chessboard of justice but of survival. And as long as silence shields the powerful and sacrifices are made to appease the palace, checkmate never comes.
LONG LIVE THE KING!
#WeTakeAStand #OpinYon #OpinYonNews