usually go together. Push-ups for police suspected of extortion (link) is not enough, neither is reinstating suspected rogue cops after retraining (link). Sufficient evidence is important, but such a betrayal of the trust they were given as policemen normally deserves a greater punishment – in order to teach others the responsibility inherent in having the power to potentially even kill in order to protect citizens. But it seems that power in the Philippines is often irresponsible – while those with less power are punished more severely. Starting from plans to punish even 9 year olds (link).
There is a saying in German: die Kleinen hängt man, die Großen lässt man laufen – the small ones are hanged, the big ones walk free. Old wisdom that knows one thing: those drunk with power can become abusive and entitled, totally regardless of the culture and times. Ideas like democracy, rule of law and human rights developed to prevent the abuse of power – it will be interesting to see how people in the United States live by these principles and defend them, now that there is a man on top who shows an irresponsible attitude to power, and could be dangerous for the world.
Now in the Philippines, wang wang culture has obviously returned in traffic (link) – now one could argue that is the culture and forget strange Western ideas of equality and rights. Asian cultures are indeed more hierarchic, but in the successful Asian cultures like Japan, those on top have a highly ingrained sense of responsibility and service which includes self-imposed punishment for error. In the Philippines, even Rizal’s novels show how some who strive for “heroism” are entitled and irresponsible (link) to the point of narcissism. The bandit Elias sacrifices himself for Ibarra, who later returns as the vengeful Simoun. Ibarra is enormously vain in the Noli, for all his striving to do good, while as Simoun he acts almost like a sociopath willing to sacrifice anybody for his idea of what the nation should be. Now is it surprising that many Filipinos refuse to sacrifice for the nation, given that many “leaders” have failed to be responsible? How often do Filipino “leaders” act as if they are saviors while the Eliases of today do the dirty work for them as servants or even henchmen, often taking most of the blame? Such a culture is not bound to be successful I think.
Irineo B. R. Salazar
München, 5. February 2017