The calendar has turned.
2026 arrives not with a clean slate, but with echoes—of promises whispered, prayers half-finished, and sentences left hanging from the year that just slipped away.
A new year is always like a pebble dropped into the river of time. It doesn’t stop the current, but it sends ripples—reminding us that life moves forward, even as it carries the weight of what came before.
In our homes and chapels, candlelight flickers—symbols of hope, mercy, and renewal. But beyond that warm glow lies another stage entirely: the theater of democracy. And there, the shadows grow long, and the files grow heavy.
It is in this mood—half reflection, half satire—that we begin the year with a tale. Actually, two tales. One from a cliff in Benguet. The other from a mountain of redactions in Washington. Separate continents, same script. Together, they form the strange duet of our times.
Two Files, One Familiar Unease
What do a cliff in Benguet and a million redacted pages in Washington have in common?
More than we’d like to admit.
In the waning days of 2025, two democracies—one strung across a Pacific archipelago, the other sprawling over a continent—found themselves clutching files like talismans of truth.
The Cabral Files in the Philippines born from a tragic fall into the Bued River. The Epstein Files in the United States resurrected by bureaucratic delay and oceans of black ink.
Different stories, different accents—but the same uneasy feeling. Truth promised. Clarity delayed. Trust strained.
We often say, “When America sneezes, the Philippines catches cold.” But this time, it felt different. Perhaps, the Philippines sneezed first—and America found itself coughing.
Scandal, it seems, no longer travels one way. It ricochets. It mirrors. It duets.
A Warning That Aged Too Well
This reversal brings back the unsettling words of 2021 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa.
It wasn’t prophecy for effect. It was grounded in testimony—from Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christopher Wylie, who revealed how the Philippines had been treated like a petri dish for digital manipulation.
Questionable rule of law.
High social media usage.
Politicians willing to play dirty.
The perfect laboratory.
What worked in Manila’s fevered democracy could, eventually, be replicated in Washington’s.
But that’s a rabbit hole for another day.
The Cliff Notes of Cabral — Pebbles in the River
The death of former DPWH Undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral was officially ruled an accident. But the cliff where she fell quickly became something else—a metaphor for Philippine democracy itself: steep, slippery, and always one misstep away from disaster.
Her files—budget allocations, flood control projects, names whispered but not named—were like pebbles tossed into the river. Each one sent ripples through dynastic waters.
The files became a political karaoke machine.
Duterte allies crooned, “Who’s afraid of little old me?”
Marcos defenders belted, “It’s a sin to tell a lie.”
The microphone was already hot. The chorus of suspicion drowned out grief. The river kept flowing, but the noise echoed louder than its current.
The Redacted Republic — Candlelight in the Darkness
Across the ocean, the Epstein Files promised closure—but delivered cliffhangers.
A million documents "discovered" on Christmas eve—bureaucratic Santa Claus at work—turned transparency into theater. Pages blacked out became the new national art form. Citizens were told to trust, even as they squinted in the dark.
From the Republican side came the familiar refrain. The files were cast not as evidence, but as weapons—proof not of guilt, but of persecution.
From the Democratic side came the counter-cry. The redactions were not about privacy. They were about protection—of elites, of power, of institutions bent to political will.
Republicans cried which hunt.
Democrats cried cover-up.
The public? The public cried exhaustion.
Democracy, once again, felt like a Netflix series—always renewed, never resolved.
Satirical Parallels
The similarities are hard to ignore:
Files as Fever. Both nations clutch documents like sacred relics—either gospel or heresy, depending on who’s reading.
Cliff vs. Curtain. A literal plunge in Benguet. A bureaucratic plunge into redactions in Washington. Different mechanics, same darkness.
Dynasties vs. Parties. Duterte vs. Marcos. Republicans vs. Democrats. New names, old script
Ripples Across Oceans. A pebble dropped in Benguet reaches Washington. A candle lit in Washington flickers in Manila.
The bromance of democracies has evolved into a shared contagion of scandal.
Candlelight and Ripples
As 2026 dawns, we are left with two democracies holding two files—each promising revelation, each delivering polarization.
The Cabral Files drown in river rumor.
The Epstein Files suffocates under redaction.
Both remind us that in the theater of democracy, truth is often the understudy—waiting patiently backstage while dynasties and parties hog the spotlight.
Perhaps satire is our candlelight: small, flickering, but just bright enough to expose the absurdity.
Perhaps satire is also our pebble: ordinary, unremarkable, yet capable of sending ripples across oceans.
When one sneezes, the other coughs.
And the world laughs—not because it is funny, but because laughter is sometimes the only light left.
Benediction of Hope
May the pebble of scandal keep rippling.
May the candlelight of compassion keep flickering.
May our cliff-bound and curtain-drawn democracies stumble forward—tripping over their own files—until truth finally takes the stage it was promised.
And beyond the noise, may the dawn of this New Year remind us that every ripple can also carry renewal, that every flicker of light can grow into a flame.
May nations weary of cliffhangers and curtains rediscover their shared humanity.
May faith steady what politics keep shaking.
For in God—who holds the future in His hands—even fractured democracies can begin again.
And even the faintest candle can light a path toward peace.
Happy New Year to Everyone!
Content & editing put together in collaboration with Bing Microsoft AI-powered Co-pilot and ChatGPT
Head image by ChatGPT; art design by Canva
Still photos by CNN, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Getty Images, Daily Tribune, Fancy Quotes, & Cyberlink
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