I look around and I see a nation asleep. Worse, I see its leaders clapping, posturing, grandstanding, and posing for photo ops while the world burns; while tectonic shifts in technology and geopolitics redraw the future.
We are entering an era marked by two unstoppable forces: the rise of artificial intelligence and the drumbeat of global war. And what are our leaders doing in response? Nothing. Less than nothing, in fact. They’re doubling down on old, tired games: dynastic politics, performative debates, and the same recycled slogans that have led us nowhere.
Let me be blunt. The Philippines is unprepared for the AI revolution. Countries across the globe are pouring billions into AI infrastructure, overhauling educational systems, and building tech-forward economies to stay ahead. Meanwhile, our local officials still think digital literacy means going online, handing out tablets, and offering free WiFi in plazas.
But where are the national and local strategies to retrain workers displaced by automation? Where is the investment in robotics, machine learning, cybersecurity, and quantum computing?
Instead of preparing for the most disruptive technological leap in human history, our leaders are still obsessed with political pageants and perpetuating their families in power.
We have senators, congressmen, board members, councilors, department heads, and chief executives who can’t even explain how AI works, much less legislate effectively about it. Our school curricula still emphasize memorization over innovation. Meanwhile, other countries are turning coding into a national language.
We are producing graduates who are ten years behind before they even get their first job. That is a catastrophic failure of vision. And make no mistake, those who fail to adapt to AI will become economically dependent, technologically obsolete, and politically irrelevant.
As if that weren’t bad enough, we are equally blind to the coming global storm. While tensions rise in the West Philippine Sea, Taiwan, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe; while superpowers sharpen their weapons in preparation for a potential third world war, our politicians are busy securing their bailiwicks for the next election.
We talk more about doomed love teams and the latest social media frenzy than we do about the modernization of our military or defense strategy.
We buy token jets and rusty ships, parade them around like trophies, then pretend we’re ready to defend our sovereignty.
It’s a delusion. We are not ready.
Readiness is not just about weapons. We need leaders who understand the world beyond the narrow lanes of patronage and pork barrel politics. We need people who read history and think about the future, not just their reelection. But what do we do every election cycle?
We vote for the familiar, the famous, those with the loudest mouths, and the deepest pockets. We choose to elevate trapos, actors, athletes, and influencers into positions of power and expect them to build policy in a world that demands brilliance and urgency.
This is the real national emergency, not AI, not war, but our own political apathy and intellectual decay. We are ruled by people who live from crisis to crisis, election to election, without any coherent long-term vision. Leaders who prepare for the next press conference, not the next decade.
If the Philippines wants a future, it needs to stop acting like it still lives in the 1980s. We need leaders who understand AI and will help us prepare for its continuing role as a disruptor. We need leaders who recognize that geopolitics is no longer a distant affair; it’s at our doorstep. We need citizens that demand more than charisma and name recall.
Because if we keep sleepwalking through this era of upheaval, we won’t just be left behind; we’ll be trampled.
Wake up, Pilipinas. The future isn’t waiting. And neither are the threats.
