Cayetano laments: Don’t blame us politicians, blame the oligarchs

House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano on Sunday said the public should not blame political leaders for the ills afflicting the country but the business oligarchs controlling the social and economic systems behind the scenes.

“It is of course always convenient to blame our political leaders. Politicians make good whipping boys. But don’t we all share the blame with those leaders?” the Taguig lawmaker said.

“What about the unseen hands, the King Makers and King Slayers? Do they do this for fun, for profit, or for the country?” he lamented.

“Obviously they themselves have interest, may it be more benevolent or more selfish. Fighting to be on top of the food chain regardless of who is in Malacañang. Because the terms and careers of politicians expire, but big business interests always remain. Sila ang may forever.” Cayetano said on his Facebook page.

The Speaker said the divide now is not between the innocent and the guilty.

“At its most basic, it is among those of us who see that we are part of the problem, those who want to see it but as yet cannot, and those who just flatly refuse to even look,” he said.

“This is a battle between those who are willing to fight their self interest and change with the system, versus those who deny that there is anything wrong with the status quo – specifically as it relates to themselves – and instead simply choose to blame the politicians and officials in government,” he added.

“Now is truly the right time to articulate where the true danger lies. It is not in the military and police with their guns and fatigues, nor from the petty graft and corruption that we see on the news everyday,” he said.

“These are issues made inordinately larger by the arbitrary exposure it gets in the media. A motivation driven more by ratings and ad money, or simply because its always easier just to point to the usual suspects rather than digging deeper,” Cayetano said.

“No, the real threat to the stability of our socio, political, and economic ecosystems are those backroom deals that make exploitation legal,” he said.

“The quiet acquiescing to a system that naturally favors the ultra rich and very powerful. It is our collective silence that has allowed the injustice of a health care system that too often uses the bottomline to separate those who live or die, or the high priced business of education that do more to extend the privileges of power to the next generation, and the elitist economy that is heavily leveraged to favor those who already have more than their fair share, he said.

“And here, without a doubt – ALL. OF. US. ARE. GUILTY. And those of us who have been in government the longest, perhaps guiltier than most. No matter the level of our accountability, no one who is part of this system can escape culpability. But the good news is, we are all redeemable,” Cayetano said.

Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)