The Day of the Living Dead

Every year on Araw ng mga Patay (All Souls’ Day), Filipinos troop to cemeteries to honor their dearly departed. Candles are lit, flowers are arranged, and the air smells faintly of sampaguita and barbeque. Families gather around tombstones to share stories and laughter. But if we really want to see the true undead, perhaps we should visit a different kind of cemetery — one with marble halls, red carpets, and microphones instead of tombstones.
Because in the Philippines, the real “living dead” aren’t in the cemeteries — they’re in government offices.

Everywhere you look, corruption has its own mausoleum. There’s the Department of “Infrastructure and Pocket Expansion,” the Bureau of “Customary Bribery,” and the Department of “Education Fund Diversion.” Inside these halls, you can hear the faint moaning of taxpayers — haunting cries from souls who paid their dues but never saw the roads, classrooms, or hospitals they were promised.
The irony? These bureaucratic zombies don’t crave brains. They’ve evolved beyond that. They crave budgets.

Each election season, they rise from their crypts of scandal with freshly pressed barongs and promises that smell suspiciously like formalin. They shake hands, kiss babies, and swear to serve the people — only to serve themselves once the votes are counted. You’d think garlic and holy water would work, but these creatures are immune. Not even exposés, viral videos, or Senate hearings can kill them.
Some of them have mastered necromancy: resurrecting long-dead projects just to drain more funds. Others perform séances during budget hearings, invoking the “spirit of the Filipino people” while secretly channeling the spirits of Swiss bank accounts. The most talented among them can even vanish entire billions without leaving a trace — a vanishing act Houdini himself would envy.

And the Congress? Ah yes, that grand graveyard of good intentions. Here, they gather in committees like cultists, chanting about “transparency” while passing envelopes under the table. The Senate, meanwhile, pretends to investigate, but we all know the drill: one grandstanding speech, two crocodile tears, and three rounds of golf later — case closed.
Even the lower house has mastered resurrection. Remember those “dead” bills for salary increases or healthcare reforms? They rise like zombies only during election season, conveniently reanimated to remind voters that hope still “lives.”

Meanwhile, the ordinary Filipino lights a candle each November 1, whispering prayers for their loved ones. But maybe — just maybe — it’s time we light candles for the nation itself. Because it’s hard to tell who’s really resting in peace: our dead relatives, or our dead democracy.
The cemeteries are full of the dead we miss.
The government is full of the dead we can’t get rid of.
And so, as we light our candles and whisper our prayers this Araw ng mga Patay, let’s ask one simple question that echoes through the marble halls of corruption:
“Kelan kaya sila kukunin ni Lord?” - (“When will God finally take them?”)

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