‘When a public official forgets that he is just a public servant, our democracy is in trouble. When citizens surrender their right to demand regular and full accounting of their money to their servants, then our democracy is doomed.’
IMAGINE this: you (or the head of your family) come home on payday (maybe the 15th or the 30th and is welcomed at the door by the househelp. But the household do not only open the gate or the door — the househelp also extends their hand, and the head of the family turns over his take home pay. The househelp then go on their merry way spending the money they just received.
Now, imagine a different day when head of family asks the househelp to explain where and how they’ve spent the money. Only fair, yes? But the househelp do not reply. Instead, they launch into a tantrum, accusing the head of household of not trusting them and implying they’re thieves and the most senior among the househelp even tell the rest to just ignore the questions of the head of household.
Sounds silly, yes? This is the very “winarak ninyo kami” drama that unfolded a few days ago.
It tells you how warped Philippine democracy has become because the master becomes servant and the servant, master, especially where spending public funds is involved.
It’s our money, the fruits of our labor. But those in office spend it like it’s theirs and for which they have nothing to account.
That’s in effect what bashing the Commission on Audit implies. It’s people in power saying no one can meddle in the decisions they make around how to spend – or misspend — public funds. And when someone in power suggests that the public should not be told what the audit reports contain — how far more graphic can they be?
Do not tell the general public how we are spending their money. They don’t need to know.
Would you have fired your kasambahay who acts this way? Or would you even give them the keys to the master’s bedroom?
When a public official forgets that he is just a public servant, our democracy is in trouble.
When citizens surrender their right to demand regular and full accounting of their money to their servants, then our democracy is doomed.
A public servant serves, not reigns over, the public. And a perfect test of whether this is the case is how a public servant treats public funds — as funds entrusted to his care, or as funds that are his to treat as he and he alone pleases.
“Winarak ninyo kami” is a servant thumbing his nose at the public knowing that he cannot be held to account.
That’s where we are on the eve of 2022 and the national elections the new year will bring.
