PERHAPS THE saddest part of what is happening in the Philippines today is not the lies themselves. It is how boldly the lies are told, and how willingly they are believed.
One can still somehow understand how and why ordinary Filipinos fall for fake news. Many do not have access to reliable information. Many are too busy trying to survive daily life to fact-check every viral video or Facebook post. In a country where social media has become the main source of news, trolls and paid vloggers thrive because fear, anger, and blind loyalty spread faster than truth.
But what about the educated?
What about lawyers who twist legal terms on livestreams? Senators who rewrite facts during hearings?
That is what makes this whole thing exhausting.
Every day, Filipinos watch lawmakers gaslight the public in plain sight.
Alan Peter Cayetano early this week described the bloody drug war as “pro-life,” as if thousands of deaths can somehow be rebranded into a defense of life itself.
Robin Padilla brushed off questions about helping Senator Ronald dela Rosa leave the Senate by casually saying, “Nakisakay lang.” Apparently, helping a wanted man becomes harmless if you say it with enough confidence.
Rodante Marcoleta argued there was supposedly nothing wrong with accepting donations from wealthy personalities without properly declaring them. Transparency, it seems, now depends on convenience.
Then there was Pia Cayetano asking the public for sympathy over being “ignored” during the poorly-scripted and badly-acted Senate drama last week while conveniently forgetting that fellow senators were messaging them and that they themselves were calmly livestreaming dinner afterward.
And of course, there is Dela Rosa himself, now loudly demanding due process from institutions he once mocked. This is the same man who dismissed the death of a three-year-old child during a drug operation with the words: “Shit happens.”
Suddenly, rights matter.
Meanwhile, Imee Marcos now treats Senate hearings like conspiracy podcasts, throwing out speculation, fake narratives, and unverified claims, then presenting them as exposes simply because they were delivered behind a Senate microphone.
But do you know what the truly insulting part is?
They do all this confidently because they believe Filipinos will eventually forget or worse, defend them anyway.
The tragedy is that they may be right.
The masks are already off. Senate hearings are livestreamed. The lies are preserved online forever. Filipinos can clearly see the opportunism, selective morality, and manipulation happening in real time.
And yet, election after election, many still vote for the same people.
Not because the lies are believable anymore, but because loyalty has become stronger than truth.
This is why frustration now feels heavier than anger. Because what we are witnessing is no longer simple misinformation.
It is a collective surrender and slow acceptance that being deceived is easier than demanding better.
And somewhere along the way, the people making fools of Filipinos stopped hiding.
Because they realized they no longer had to.
