Messy governance

Manila in these strange times is like a box of chocolates. You never what you’re going to get. Or hear.

And true enough, we’re even more surprised than we already are because there seems to be a lot of flip flopping policies and messy governance these days.

While the opening ceremonies of the Southeast Asian Games on Saturday made us truly proud to be Filipino, we all know what happened days before.

And we should not forget about that just because we were wowed and entertained by the spectacle they gave us during the opening ceremonies at the Philippine Arena.

We should not forget that before the klieg lights were on and before the entertainers gave us a visually stunning performance, there were serious problems encountered along the way –  visiting athletes had to sleep on the floor while waiting for their hotel rooms to be ready; foreign journalists didn’t know where to go; and when they finally knew, they were brought to a press conference in a bodega-like room.  

How about going to a restroom with two toilet bowls in one cubicle? How about getting a press ID for the event with a different name on it despite going through the accreditation process? And what exactly is a “press journalist” ? That’s what’s written on the press IDs of journalists covering this year’s games.

When journalists report about these blunders, we’re accused of peddling lies and fake news. A lawmaker wants to investigate the matter in a desperate attempt to manage this crisis of epic proportions.

As Forrest Gump said you really never know what you’re gonna get.

But this isn’t anything like that heart warming movie starring Tom Hanks.

Lord of the flies

Instead, what’s really happening now is like a page out of William Golding’s classic novel Lord of the Flies, which explores the theme of man’s inhumanity to man and failure of small societies to succeed because individuals act out of personal desires rather than for the common good.

In the beginning of the book, a group of young British boys are stranded on a deserted island after a plane crash.

They get excited and decide to live without the rules of the adult world. The result is a disaster.

Doesn’t this sound familiar? Don’t we live in a society that seems to be forgetting the rules and basic governance these days?

We’re suddenly warned of being arrested for vaping even if there’s no legal basis. 

We hear of policies that change drastically – rice tariffication will be scrapped. By lunch time, it’s indeed abolished and come dinner time, it’s back in our lives.

Even financial markets are getting confused about the interest rate environment. Will monetary authorities ease or tighten? They said on November 6 the window is closed for cuts only to say two weeks later a rate cut is still possible.

And then of course there’s this month’s unpleasant surprise – the SEA Games preparations.

It is good the SEA Games opening night was a success, judging from the positive posts on social media. 

But let’s not forget what happened during the preparations.

Indeed, we seem to be under the governance of lost boys who simply don’t care about the rules of the adult world. How relevant Golding’s book is in our society 65 years later.

The parallelism is hair-raising. It’s as if Golding knew that his story will come alive in chaotic Manila and warned of what could happen if self interest prevail over the interest of the common good, when there are no rules and when lost boys are tasked to govern.

Audacity not stupidity

The problematic hosting of the SEA Games could be a portent of things to come. It’s a perfect example of what can happen if governance isn’t taken seriously.

To dismiss the SEA Games mismanagement as an act of stupidity is to let the (dis)organizers get away with what they did. This has nothing to do with stupidity. It really has everything to do with audacity— the audacity to not care whether or not the result is a disaster, or whether or not we become the laughing stock in the region or whether or not taxpayers’ money are put to waste. 

The audacity isn’t surprising. It’s actually pretty common these days. For in this country of 100 million, wrongdoings are easily forgotten and forgiven.  They know there will be no accountability anyway. This emboldens individuals to just do as they please.

But it shouldn’t be the case. We should remember how once upon a time we made a fool of ourselves in the international arena because some lost boys just didn’t care enough to do it well.

My journalism professor during my UP college days, Dean Luis Teodoro, is on point. He said “Philippine governance” has been hijacked by “a group of gangsters.”

In the next elections, we should know better. We’ve seen what can happen when we let our society be governed by lost boys who just don’t care. 

In The Lord of the Flies, Golding said “the world — that understandable and lawful world—was slipping away.” 

Let’s not let ours slip away too. 

Iris Gonzales’ email address is [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @eyesgonzales. Column archives at eyesgonzales.com