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Abstract

Political scandals in the Philippines often provoke intense outrage yet rarely lead to decisive accountability. Leaders are condemned but continue to endure, a paradox commonly attributed to weak institutions or entrenched elites. This research note advances a different explanation by foregrounding hiya (shame), tino (uprightness), and bait (goodness) as vernacular grammars through which publics interpret misconduct. Rather than fixed cultural traits, these idioms operate as interactive processes of depletion and endurance that shape how scandals resonate emotionally, register as morally legible, and align with familiar narratives. Hiya and tino collapse once violated, marking leaders as shameless or irresponsible, while bait persists as a relational resource embodied in presence, generosity, and sociability. Their interplay shows how condemnation and attachment coexist, producing a moral economy in which accountability and resilience are mutually embedded. Philippine sociology thereby contributes to a Global South scandalogy attentive to vernacular trust cultures.

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