The maneuvering in the Philippine Senate has reached new acrobatic heights, and one can almost hear the clatter of chess pieces being moved around a board that the public never gets to see. The rules are simple: pawns are expendable, bishops can be sacrificed, rooks can be silenced, and even the queen can take a fall. But the king? Untouchable. The entire game, as it turns out, is not about justice, reform, or public service—it’s about shielding the one who sits on the throne of power.
The spectacle is as old as Philippine politics itself. Every time corruption scandals rise like floodwaters, investigations magically stall, reports vanish into thin air, and hearings devolve into theatrics designed more for primetime news clips than for real accountability. The members of Congress of both houses, supposedly the guardians of democracy, morph into defense attorneys for those who wield power. With eloquence sharpened by privilege and hypocrisy polished to perfection, they perform their duty: protect the “king” alongside his immediate and extended family, disorient the public, and keep the illusion of checks and balances alive.
But here’s the brutal truth: accountability in the Philippines’ systemic corruption always circles back to the top, as it should be. Billions vanish in anomalous contracts, ghost projects, “special funds,” and insertions in the National Expenditure Program (NEP), among others, yet the official narrative insists that the throne is as pure as driven snow. A few unlucky pawns—contractors, mid-level government officials, for example, from DPWH, perhaps some senators or congressmen — will be named in a congressional investigation/hearings, and long will be paraded as sacrificial lambs. Still, in all these, it’s as if there’s a deliberate unwritten rule to avoid implicating the palace. Then, the public is told: See? We’ve punished someone. Justice served.
Meanwhile, the royal coffers remain intact, the “king” and those closest to him unscathed, while the nation remains in perpetual check. Congressional oversight becomes an illusion, accountability a mirage, and the real players—the power holders—secure their survival, while Filipinos are cast as spectators, clapping at this exhausting show.
Indeed, in this game of politics as chess, those in power are shielded at all costs. The other pieces on the chessboard may fall, but the king, his immediate family, and extended ones survive and remain, while the nation and the people remain locked in a state of checkmate.
Conclusion:
This is politics as usual, and that accountability is a fairy tale. This isn’t democracy at work; it’s the survival of those who control the levers of power at the moment. And in this game, the king doesn’t move. He doesn’t need to. The rest of the board moves for him.
The question now is how long the Filipino people can continue to pretend all these are still worth watching before they react and act to secure the future of their homeland.
Source: The Lobbyist
https://www.thelobbyist.biz/perspectives/article-details/prime%20insight/checkmate-in-the-senate-saving-those-in-the-seat-of-power-while-the-nation-bleeds
