What do you do when you find yourself attacked by a parasite determined to suck the life out of you? Ticks? Tapeworms? Fleas? Barnacles? Skin mites?

How about predators? Wolves, hawks, snakes, lions, tigers or sharks.

Parasites are insidious. They usually attack the weak, those with compromised immune systems.  To target the weak is a method that quenches their thirst for blood, for life, a lot easier. The strong can fight them off. Not the weak.

In a medical analogy, the course of action is to take the proper antidote, boost the host to combat parasitic infestation. In nature, parasites are known to multiply prolifically exponentially. Once they find a weak host, the attack is swift.

Predators are more overt. They come to you aggressively, sometimes in packs, sometimes one at a time. They always overwhelm their victims. They lure you into thinking that they are trustworthy. But once you turn back, they’ll devour you without a warning.

Politicians are both predators and parasites. They look for and create crises in order to weaken the targets. They start salivating when they find weak, gullible people. They can easily smell blood. They can smell money.

Their favorite pastime is deception: they tell lies, making themselves appear the ultimate workers for the welfare of the people. One of their most effective weapons is the determination to make the target feel as if he or she cannot make it in this world without them. You are rendered helpless. You end up reliant, dependent.

Politicians and predators are good at making a lunch out of those whom they think can satisfy their cravings.

Like parasites, politicians attack the strong with the objective of weakening them. As predators, they know how to turn the target into a full meal. The task is not easy, they know. It would be a real challenge. So the desired overtake has to be done in public. Thanks to the media the job becomes easy — somewhat. A perfect attack includes a smear campaign. The darker you are, the more exciting the process of murdering you becomes. And the public? They love blood.

So, the strong ones or those who will save us from this hell becomes the very people will be pushed back to their caves, trapping them there forever.

I wonder how these politicians sleep at night. I wonder whether they even think about how the poor hurdles the day.

Disgusting even just the thought of them spending money minus the guilt — the guilt behind their accumulation of wealth at the expense of the poor and the hapless.

For how can they kiss their kids without thinking of the generations their kids will be growing up to. How these parasites can pull off a wide smile, without thinking of the people have suffered because of their insatiable greed for wealth? For how can they wake up every morning and live to last the day and sleep once again without cares in the world?

Greediness. Is it a human nature or a character acquired from the love of money? Has this become a tradition for the politicians? Just because everyone appears to be doing it, does it mean it is already morally possible?

These politicians are supposed to be the one serving us, not us serving them, but today, everything they do appeals to be serving only their personal interests. And us? We get nothing for believing sugarcoated empty promises.

The predatory parasite-in-chief and his minions have already sucked 2.6 trillion borrowed pesos from the coffers of our already wounded nation. The money is supposed to be for us. And now, they are out there pushing to suck up dollars, sacrificing their people, for an amount that cannot be compared to the flocks they heartlessly immolated.

The Philippine’s goose will be cooked. In fact, our poor goose has already been plucked and readied for the pot.

With predators and parasites, you only have a few choices: Get strong, get smart, and get rid of them fast before they multiply even more.

We have come to the tipping point. Take the correct prescription, stop the bleeding, be aware, care, act up, speak out and be heard, speak out and be counted, claim what is yours, claim what is ours, and down with these filthy pests. Let these sink in.

This article authored by Glazyle Gamy Aragon was published in Excalibur, the magazine edition of Crossroads.