I watched the 2025 State of the Nation Address (SONA) unfold on television, not merely as a citizen, but as a witness to a paradox. What I saw was not simply a political gathering, but a quiet unraveling of our collective conscience.
Within the grand hall, applause echoed amongst the revered and the reviled, as if virtue and vice had become interchangeable masks in the theater of power.
The speech resonated with promises and pride, but beneath the surface lay a troubling silence: the scarcity of accountability, the normalization of impunity.
This article is not a critique of policy. It's here to call out the hypocrisy and the dangerous ease with which we've learned to cheer for the very things that should make us weep.
Mahiya Naman Kayo
President Bongbong Marcos (BBM) in his 2025 SONA delivered at long last what should have been a moment of moral reckoning:
"Huwag na po tayong magkunwari. Alam naman ng buong madla na nagkaka-racket sa mga proyekto." [applause and cheers]
"Mahiya naman kayo sa mga kabahayan nating naanod o nalubog sa mga baha!""Mahiya naman kayo lalo sa mga anak natin na magmamana sa mga utang na ginawa ninyo, na binulsa nyo lang ang pera." [applause and cheers]
And then – BBM! BBM! BBM! BBM! BBM! BBM!
Not silence. Not awkward shifting in seats. Not the kind of contemplative stillness that guilt sometimes demands. No, it was applause. Loud, confident, and perfectly executed. The very people being called out clapped as if they were congratulating themselves for being publicly shamed with flair.
2023: Build Better More, Clap Louder Still
Flashback to the 2023 SONA, when BBM proudly declared:
“And thus, with this in my heart, I know that the state of the nation is sound, and is improving.”
BBM’s choice of the word “sound” seemed to scoff at this CNN headline then: PH ranks 116th [out of 180 countries] in global corruption index.
In that two-year-old SONA, BBM said:
“One of the keys to continuing economic growth is infrastructure development. Our 8.3-trillion peso Build Better More Program is currently in progress and being vigorously implemented.” [applause and cheers]
It was a moment of triumph – until you placed it side by side with words of Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong, whose exposé peeled back the curtain on the infrastructure circus:
“The way they disposed of it is institutional. Some congressmen have several projects and roads but the bidding was rigged. You can check the profile of some legislators and LGU executives – many of them are contractors and suppliers. They get a percentage and they also get the projects as contractors.”
In short: the applause was for a program where half the budget might be lost to corruption, and the other half to mediocrity. If applause were a currency, it was being spent lavishly on illusion.
The Applause Paradox: When Shame Gets a Big Hand
So, what does it mean when applause follows a public shaming?
It means we’ve entered the realm of performative morality, where clapping is no longer a gesture of agreement but a reflex of self-preservation. In Philippine political arena, applause is the new camouflage. It’s how you blend in when the spotlight turns accusatory. It’s how you say, “I’m not guilty,” without saying anything at all.
It’s the laugh track in a tragic sitcom - the canned cheer in a terrible talent show.
Silence: The Truth We’re Afraid to Hear
Imagine if, instead of applause, the hall had fallen silent. Imagine the weight of those words – “Mahiya naman kayo” – landing without the cushion of clapping hands. Silence would have been uncomfortable. Telling. Honest.
But silence is dangerous in political theater. It suggests critical thinking. It implies guilt. And so, applause becomes the safer choice. The louder the claps, the deeper the cover-up.
A Nation at the Bottom, Applauding from the Top
The Philippines ranks among the worst in ASEAN for corruption and poverty. One in every four Filipinos lives below the poverty line. And yet, inside the halls of power, applause flows freely – like champagne at a party thrown by pickpockets.
This is not just a political problem. It’s a cultural one. A moral one. A spiritual one. We have learned to clap for shame, to cheer for contradiction, to celebrate the very things that betray us.
So, the next time applause erupts in a congressional hall, ask yourself: Is it the sound of conviction – or the sound of complicity?
Because in a nation where applause follows accusations, where shame is met with ovation, and where silence is the only honest reaction left, we must begin to listen not to the noise, but to its absence.
Mythos from Maestros
Consider Gustav Mahler and Felix Mendelssohn, two composers who requested that their symphonies be played without breaks between movements. Why? Because applause, however, well-meaning, disrupted the emotional arc. It severed the soul’s journey mid-thought. It turned reflection into interruption.
Mahler feared that clapping would fracture the fragile tension he so carefully built. Mendelssohn wanted the listener to remain immersed, uninterrupted, in the unfolding truth of the music. They understood that some moments are too sacred for applause. That silence, sustained, is sometimes the only way to honor what’s been revealed.
Time to Listen and Reflect
In the theater of our politics, we’ve forgotten the quiet wisdom that once guided conscience. We no longer clap to honor truth – we clap to outrun it. Applause has become our shield, our smokescreen, our way of severing the moral arc before it reaches the heart. Each ovation interrupts the soul’s journey, replacing reflection with reflex, and conviction with choreography.
So, maybe, in a time when noise is mistaken for virtue, the most courageous act left is not to clap.
Not out of indifference, but out of awakening. Not in protest, but in presence. Not because we have nothing to say, but because we are finally ready to listen.
“The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear.” – Rumi
In that silence, truth is no longer drowned – it is heard. And, perhaps, that is where healing begins.
Content & editing put together in collaboration with Bing Microsoft AI-powered Co-pilot & Grammarly
Head photo courtesy of ChatGPT Image Creator, design by Canva
Still photos courtesy of YouTube, Baguio Herald Express Homepage, Getty Images, Pinterest, The Star Graphics, Transparency International, Shutter stock
No comments:
Post a Comment