07/09/2025
When I think of violence, I often imagine it with blood and guns. But Rob Nixon, in Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor, challenges us to recognize another kind of violence — evil that is incremental, creeping, almost invisible until it finally overwhelms us. Slow violence is not loud — it is relentless. And its victims are most often the poor and the marginalized.
Look at what is happening now in our country, the Philippines. The rains have only revealed a violence that has been building for years — corruption and moral callousness that rob communities of safety, dignity, and even life itself.
Plunder may not look like genocide in the conventional sense, but its effects are no less deadly. It erodes the foundations of collective survival. It leaves the poor drowning in both floodwaters and neglect. It creates a culture of slow death.
And perhaps the most painfully piercing truth is that slow violence thrives because we continue to be part of the “system.” It is not only in Congress or in high offices where corruption festers. It also shows up in the ordinary choices of everyday life — in the office, on the streets, in broad daylight.
So I dare to confront myself and ask, "Have I allowed myself to be “corrupted” — to gain traction in my career, my business, or my position?" As we watch and grow angry at the ruins laid bare by this flood control scandal, we must also look within. Let what we scroll past on social media not fuel outrage, but become a mirror that compels us to see ourselves, too.
Corruption has slowly drowned our Perlas ng Silanganan.
Bayang magiliw, we cannot look away — not even from ourselves. We cannot refuse to take a stand. We cannot abandon the generation after us.
We are not mere watchers of those in power. We are not “fans” of politicians. We are THE SOVEREIGN FILIPINO PEOPLE.
The public office is for service, not a venue for self-advancement or family dynasties. It is not a stage for popularity contests, nor a marketplace for favors and bribes. It is an OFFICE OF TRUST—given by the people, for the people, to serve the common good.
“We, the sovereign Filipino people, imploring the aid of Almighty God, in order to build a just and humane society and establish a Government that shall embody our ideals and aspirations, promote the common good, conserve and develop our patrimony, and secure to ourselves and our posterity the blessings of independence and democracy under the rule of law and a regime of truth, justice, freedom, love, equality, and peace, do ordain and promulgate this Constitution.” — Preamble, 1987 Philippine Constitution
And so, I end with a light of hope and fervent prayer, that in time, we will decide — by the votes we cast, the voices we raise, the silences we break — whether the floods will keep drowning us or whether the waters will finally become streams of change.
A G O N I A
09.06.2025
Resource:
Photo CCTO
Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor | Rob Nixon
https://southwarknotes.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/slow-violence-and-the-environmentalism-of-the-poor.pdf
1987 Constitution
https://www.set.gov.ph/resources/philippine-constitutions/1987-constitution/
