“The Social Cancer"

Society itself is cancerous, it never healed and it will keep grasping every corner of people's lives. If it really does heal, it's only in the guise of a fake diagnostic report.

"Man's desire is insatiable," Mayor Magalong states in an interview video with Jessica Soho as a response to the ghost flood control projects. My phone lit up with that interview video whilst I lay in bed with a frown, exhausted from school after a long day. I tilted my head to the side and stared up at my drawer where books are neatly arranged, and words engraved on the spine of a book squeezed in between other books stood conspicuous. "Noli Me Tangere"—that's what it says. Above it is a diminutive label that I couldn't make out and didn't bother to.

Seeing that book, it brought me back to a certain time, back when I was in 9th grade. I was sitting before a blackboard while our Filipino teacher was lecturing about Jose Rizal's book titled "Noli Me Tangere."

The book revolves around Crisostomo Ibarra's life as a Filipino living in Spanish colonial times. In a sea of darkness, he illuminated and recognized Filipino autonomy while also acknowledging the corruption and unfair treatment that the Filipinos experienced from the Spanish Catholic friar-centered colonial governance in the late 19th century. Every day, the Filipinos endured humiliation, inequality, abuse, and corruption from the Spanish colonial rule. They were treated worse than that of an animal until their dignity was stripped off of them.

One afternoon, our section was tasked to carry books from the former library to situate them on a storage room, where equipment and discarded items were stored. I stared at the pile of books, and a fetid mix with a nutty aroma wafted at me. At the corner of my eye, I caught a book cover—and it's exactly the one I'm looking for. Noli Me Tangere by Jose Rizal. Curiosity gnawed at me on the details of the book, but I could not find the purpose of caring too much about past events. I was so naive and cared so little about such matters that I failed to realize that I reek of arrogance and apoliticism.

After organizing the books as requested by our teachers, I asked if I could have the Noli Me Tangere book and I managed to bring it home. I would lie if I said that I have read it. I couldn't bring myself to do so—not because I didn't want to, but because I have a preference when it comes to writing styles. But even so, I found ways to learn the book by heart through watching narrative videos where the events in it are recounted.

Along the way, I have learned that Noli Me Tangere isn't only defined in English as "Touch Me Not."

It's more closely translated as "The Social Cancer." This so called "cancer" was a metaphor for the corruption and injustice that occurred in the Philippine societies. It is based on a cancer of the eye and its neighboring parts called lupus erythematosus, a condition that shouldn't be touched or treated, as it will only worsen, just like how Jose Rizal attempted to heal the social cancer through his book, but it only worsened. It prompted havoc and revolution.

After watching the interview video by Jessica Soho—a branch snapped in my mind that prompted me to thoroughly search for my country—the Philippines' state.

News of floods and challenges in healthcare, transportation, education, etc. piled up like used clothes. But comparing it to mere clothes is an understatement. Many suffered from the flood, and with that came the revelation of corrupt politicians, like a jigsaw puzzle arranged with accuracy. It all made sense now. We aren't poor. We are robbed.

The corruption in the country is deeply rooted to the ideologies that are imposed on Filipinos, ideas that lingered for more than it is needed in an institution and that is—education. As the late Miriam Defensor stated, our education is not progressive because politicians are afraid of educated voters. We are stuck in a cycle of a rotten system and the more we work hard, the more they thrive. I mean, how can we take voting with a grain of salt when the salt itself is taken from us?

While the corrupt politicians in the country had wine being poured in their glass, the Filipinos drown in floods, hunger, poverty, inequality, low wages, spiking crime rates, and the list keeps adding up. The fund from people's taxes that's supposed to be used in flood control projects were used to support these corrupt politicians' luxurious lifestyles. Corruption isn't on the hook of a rod that can easily be taken off like a fish—rather, it runs deep and embedded in society worse than a barnacle. It's parasitic, addictive—corrupt politicians' greed knows no bounds, and it is noxious.

Jose Rizal's book—Noli Me Tangere is timeless. The problem in the past is perennial; it's a repeating disease. We are yet to be healed from the "social cancer" that Jose Rizal had fought in eradicating while he still lived, and this disease had existed for centuries. We are still bound in shackles that are made to fit into our wrists and necks, but this time, the perpetrators aren't foreigners but our fellow countrymen. Although they differ in race, era, and face, they match in intention, rapacity, and moral compass.

Progress is a two-way process. There would only be prosperity if citizens vote wisely, as well as having political candidates that exhibit the characteristics of a proper politician.

With corrupt politicians being pervasive in our society, it dawned on me that greed is like when hunger strikes and you bite off of a piece of bread, you would end up wanting more. And you wouldn't realize that you had already finished eating it. It's not any different from hunger for power and control. Once you start, you won't be able to stop yourself—like what I had stated earlier, it's addictive.

As someone living in a democratic country, we have the right to hold politicians accountable because they prove themselves not through empty promises, but through their actions and their results. Let us, as Filipinos, remind them who's truly in power in a democratic country. What the nation needs is not a hero, but rather, stability and prosperity through the people's hands itself.

There would be a day where this social cancer would be diminished — hopefully. It’s idealistic but plausible as equality is not prerogative, it’s universal. But it can only be the case if we decide to move forward to get rid of the shackles binding us to mediocrity.