It’s been a few days since September 21, 2025, when Filipinos flooded Luneta and EDSA demanding transparency and accountability over the government’s controversial flood control projects. The Baha sa Luneta and Trillion Peso March protests thundered with the outrage of citizens from all walks of life: students, professionals, celebrities, public servants, even parents with their children.

Yet everyone is asking, Why is no one still jailed? Until when does this drama drag on? What happens next?

I personally wasn’t on the streets, but like many others, I expressed my anger through social media. This issue affects me deeply as a Filipino, as a taxpayer, and as a parent. Honestly, I pray we get answers and justice soon. But in the meantime, I believe we – especially parents – need to keep speaking up.  Here’s why I believe silence is not an option now.

We work hard at the expense of precious time with our family.  

Whether we work from home or commute daily, we spend precious time away from our families when we’re at work. Some of us have no other choice but to do it rain or shine, so we can put food on the table, send our kids to school, and survive the rising costs of goods until the next payday. Many of us even have to take one or two extra jobs to cope.

Needless to say, our salaries are taxed even before we receive them. We’re taxed again when we spend, even on simple amusement and joy we spend for our kids to compensate for lost time. So we toil more to earn more, just to avail of more time with them… and the cycle continues.

Then, calamity strikes. The same old story follows: streets flooded at the lightest rains, sources of livelihood are lost in a snap. Sadly, we’ve come to accept them as our country’s harsh realities. We’ve known for so long that corrupt officials pocket our taxes that it has become a running joke, but lives are lost every time there’s a typhoon. This isn’t funny anymore. These politicians and their accomplices are living ostentatious lifestyles while people suffer and die.

Is the tax we dutifully pay at the cost of our time with our families still worth it? I don’t think so. We’ve had enough.

We speak up, because our children’s future is on the line.

As a teacher and as a parent, it pains me to learn about the stories of individuals and families enjoying one meal amounting to a year’s salary, wearing clothes that carry brand names inaccessible to many, and booking international flights as if they earned the right to ever vacate their office chairs. All these happen alongside schoolchildren not getting the bare minimum, teachers work overtime without pay, and alternative learning modes not adequately supported due to “lack of funds.”

These schoolchildren are our children. In truth, I don’t expect my child to learn much from a teacher who’s physically and mentally exhausted from the commute and the workload; add to that their perpetuating problem in making ends meet. And we continue to wonder why the Philippines underperform in international standard tests?

We can be at par, if not better, than our neighboring countries in terms of education, if only our taxes go where they’re meant to go. If we’re already suffering now, what kind of future awaits our kids if we remain to be silent?

We lead by example, because our kids are watching.

And so, we continue to speak up, no matter what this means in our household. In our dinner table, let’s open difficult conversations. Let’s allow our kids to ask questions, and we answer to the best that we can. The kind of training our kids get from us in handling issues that affect them will most likely be the way they raise their children in the future. So now, when there’s injustice, we rise and take action. Staying silent does not equate to kindness and obedience. With the kind of issues this country is facing, speaking up is not an offense, but a responsibility.

As we continue to watch senate hearings and we continue to hear more names involved, let’s take everything with a grain of salt. Answers may be given in broad daylight to cover up lies. While we continue to demand accountability, it’s not wrong to question what we’re offered and refuse to take things at face value. For after all, a corruption issue this scale cannot be solved by a single list of names. There are other things at play, something we parents know so well whenever we notice our children hiding the truth.

Corruption doesn’t only concern our kids when they’re “old enough.” They may already be witnessing corruption with their naked eyes – everyday, in every canteen or sari-sari store transaction, normalized. Are we shaping our kids the way they should properly respond to a situation like that?

We have a long way to go before the 2028 elections, the ultimate truth teller if we’ve already learned our lesson. But now, if we’re on the same page about not letting our kids live in a country where corruption is the norm, let’s hold each other accountable. The huge protest rallies may be over, but let it just be the beginning. Let’s continue to speak up and demand accountability so our kids inherit a country we’ve long dreamed of having.