One line at President Marcos’ SONA hit like a thunderclap that’s still echoing until now: “Mahiya naman kayo!”
He was speaking directly to those in power—politicians, government officials and their private-sector partners—who had been exposed for corruption in flood control projects. The kickbacks, the SOPs, the “for the boys” arrangements, the padded contracts, the ghost projects, the shameless diversion of public funds while communities drowned in floodwaters. And for once, many Filipinos felt that someone in power had finally said what needed saying.
It was raw and direct—and it worked. “Mahiya naman kayo!” triggered investigations. More names surfaced, implicating even public servants we never expected would be involved. Public outrage exploded on social media, which since has called for accountability, jail time, heads to roll, and for justice without mercy. “Ikulong na yan!” “Patayin ang mga buwayang naka-barong!” The anger was loud and understandable.
We needed to hear that rebuke. Those who steal from public coffers while ordinary people suffer deserve to be held accountable—they deserve the full weight of the law. But let me be honest, as one who has watched this cycle repeat for decades: shaming and jailing the corrupt is not enough.
We have grown too comfortable with the small corruptions we commit every day. We slip an extra bill to the government clerk “para mapabilis ang approval”. We request the traffic enforcer to “make it lighter” and then hand over our driver’s license cheerfully with “Pangkape lang, bossing!” We tweak our income tax returns to save a little, or look the other way when a relative or friend uses “connections” to get ahead. We convince ourselves that these are just small, practical things—“everybody does it.”
These “small, practical” acts don’t make headlines, but they are not harmless. They slowly corrode our character and normalize the idea that bending the rules for personal convenience is acceptable. Once that mindset takes root, and we become complacent about our own little compromises, we lose the moral ground to demand integrity from others. Complacency corrupts. We become part of the very system we love to condemn.
The truth is, our nation is not only made up of those who govern. It is also made up of those who are governed. Corruption thrives not only because some politicians have lost all shame—it thrives because too many of us have become comfortable living with shame in measured doses, participating in the same broken culture, even in small ways.
The President’s words were a necessary wake-up call for those in power. But while we rightly cry out “Mahiya naman kayo!” to the exposed and the powerful, it is time we also hear a quieter, sharper challenge directed at ourselves: “Mahiya naman tayo.”
I’m not defending the corrupt or saying we are all equally guilty. This is about refusing to stay in the comfortable illusion that the problem belongs only to “them.” Real change will not begin and end in Malacañang or the Senate. It begins the moment each of us decides to stop feeding the very system we complain about. This is a call to move beyond outrage and selective anger, toward consistent personal accountability. Only then will “Mahiya naman kayo!” carry real weight—not just as a rebuke to the guilty, but also as a turning point for the whole country.
“Mahiya naman tayo!” may not make headlines but it is a radical call to authenticity in following Christ. We Filipinos love to call ourselves “the biggest Christian nation in Asia”—we say it with pride, but we hardly live it in humility. We quote Scripture when it suits us, but we rarely live it in the hard places—in our daily choices, in our small transactions, in what we do when no one is watching.
If we are serious about healing this land, then we must go deeper. We must stop pretending the problem belongs only to the government or to the corrupt officials we see in the news. We must look in the mirror and begin the real work—the uncomfortable, radical work—of personal repentance and change. (Spoiler alert: I’m going preachy, and doing it with open eyes and a thick hide.)
As the Lord Himself declared in Scripture: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14). Do we really believe this promise? Believe enough to print “Mahiya naman tayo!” on our t-shirts, umbrellas, coffee mugs, key chains? Will we post it as a battle cry on social media and hope it goes viral?
This is the radical path we have avoided for too long. More than just outrage or demands for others to change—we need genuine humility, honest prayer in silence. Not a self-assured silence that tells us all is well, but a silence where we allow God to speak—to reveal the “small” ways we have normalized corruption, not only in our country but in our souls.
Only then will “Mahiya naman kayo!” move beyond being a powerful soundbite and become a true turning point for our nation. Mahiya kaya tayo? The question is no longer whether the corrupt officials will feel shame. The real question is whether we will. And that’s the truth.
/Teresa R. Tunay, OCDS
