When we asked the members of the Sangguniang Panlungsod for their reactions to the latest COA report on the City’s financials, we were actually not surprised with the response – a coordinated retreat and carefully worded non-responses.
It was entirely predictable in a political landscape where “Kuridas” politics has long since dismantled check-and-balance dynamics that once existed between the executive and legislative branches.
“Hindi ko pa nababasa ng buo,” said one councilor. “Nasa taas na ‘yan, no comment na muna ako,” echoed another. Another explained he wanted to give the executive a chance to respond to the COA report, evidently unaware that it had already gone through an exit conference and the administration had already explained its side and is incorporated in the report.
What had emerged from our poll was not merely individual caution but a collective understanding that the City Council feels no real obligation to perform its oversight function. In a political culture built on accommodation rather than accountability, on “Kuridas” rather than confrontation, the notion of the legislature as a check on executive power has become mostly ceremonial.
The Council exists, it deliberates, it passes ordinances—but scrutinize? Question? Demand answers? That would disrupt the comfortable arrangements that keep local politics running smoothly for those inside the system.
The national scandals swirling around flood control funds and massive corruption have perhaps already sensitized us to these patterns. What was once shocking has become routine. What should spark outrage now barely registers as news.
Still, we will continue to document it. We will ask the questions, record the non-answers, and publish them. Not because we expect or demand any change, but because the record matters. In a political system built on short memories and convenient amnesia, someone needs to remember what was said, what was avoided, and what was left unaddressed.
The Commission on Audit will issue its next report in due course. It will likely repeat many of the same findings — uncollected advances, unresolved disallowances, systemic compliance issues that persist year after year. The City Council will respond with the same studied detachment, the same deferrals to committees, the same comfortable assurance that someone else is handling it. The cycle will continue, as it always has, until the political calculus changes.
That calculus may shift come the next local elections. Those who now remain silent may discover that audit findings make for potent campaign material. What is ignored today by political convenience may become tomorrow’s talking points when the same politicians seek to differentiate themselves from an administration they currently refuse to scrutinize.
This is the sad reality of Philippine politics. Accountability is deferred until it becomes politically useful, oversight suspended until it serves electoral purposes, silence maintained until breaking it offers some advantage.
The City Council’s collective evasion of the COA findings is not a failure of the system—it is the system working exactly as it should, in a political culture where “Kuridas” trumps even constitutional duty.
When the next election cycle arrives, when suddenly everyone discovers their passion for fiscal responsibility and government accountability, we will have the record of who spoke up and who stayed silent when it mattered. Until then, we watch this theater of evasion play out with the jaded familiarity of those who have seen this script before and know exactly how it ends.
