balls, gold, rules

Two writers I highly respect wrote excellent pieces in their respective columns. First, Conrad de Quiros asked in his column (2 March 2006, Philippine Daily Inquirer) what ever happened to 'never again?' and Manuel L. Quezon III said, she is as they are.

In the first place let us answer Mr. de Quiros' questions. he first asked, what idiocity possessed people to think of PGMA as the lesser evil?

thats an easy answer. if the choice between FPJ, though certainly a good guy but had little to no experience in running a country already in trouble, or someone with a bright, clear, crisp CV, who went to all the right schools, they chose the latter. if the choice was between a proxy of someone who a few months before was ousted in EDSA 2, and the person who replaced him, the latter was the choice. If the choice was between FPJ, PGMA and someone who was sick, they unfortunately had to choose PGMA. if the choice was between FPJ--- the idealistic choice and PGMA the practical choice, they chose the latter.

our people chose practicality over idealism. why? because idealism didn't, hasn't worked for them. and because the idealistic people didn't do much after EDSA to strive for that goal. This is why MLQ3 was saying the Middle Forces faces extinction. Cory Aquino best answered all this as well in a podcast interview by the PCIJ. she said something along these lines: that we had won against a dictatorship so easily--- four days that people forgot that democracy isn't an easy thing, we had to work for it.

second, conrad de quiros was asking if we had lost fire in our bellies. i quite agree with his statement though that it is funny that the protesters were running away from the police. and he joked about that there was more people at Ultra than there were in the protest rallies.

i have an answer for that as well bt it'll have to wait until the end of this post. Lets move on to greater understand our current political climate.

MLQ3 in his inquirer column stated this: "there are two things I have been saying in private since the present political crisis broke out. The first: We must assume that Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has no choice -- and no other desire -- but to be president for life. The second: Her presidency is being propped up by the most immovable of forces: a stubborn refusal by many Filipinos to reject her, because to do so would entail rejecting themselves."

I quite agree with his first assumption. PGMA really has no choice in the matter. she has to cling to power, to her position, to move heaven and hell to be president because quite frankly she'll never have a quiet moment after her presidency--- even if she were able to complete her term until 2010. a sword will hang over her head .

but i do not quite agree with his second assesment. I do not think many Filipinos see her as a representation of who they are and that is not why they do not reject her. sad and very painful for me to write this, but her assessment that she is the best person to lead this country, right now may be true and more importantly because of EDSA. and both brings us to the heart of the matter.

Let us look into Mrs. Arroyo. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is conservative. she went to the right schools, and indeed married into the right family. she is a good Catholic, at least what almost every Filipino is raised to do. her dad was president and she is a master political operative. She is almost royalty, at least the closest thing. And she is one hell of a lucky lady. She is lucky to be in the right place, at the right time.

EDSA happened 20 years ago. In that span of time our people have become jaded--- because change hasn't happened as fast as we expected it to be. That all we see are politicians and government officials--- basically teh same old crowd who ran EDSA get into all sort of trouble. Then EDSA 2 happened and that was the nail in the coffin. We swept PGMA to power and after scandal after scandal including the Garci Tapes, people ask, "hold on right there for a minute, you guys go on with your fighting, and we'll go back and do our work, for us." And so people are finding more jobs abroad or migrating.

and on that note we answer both Conrad de Quiros' and MLQ3 questions. our people are apathetic. our people are jaded. they need results and they can not be trusted to have the answer, it is up to those of us who are in positions to make change to make change. at the same time, they are only now realizing that economic prosperity begins by we working hard, toiling the toil of the slave hoping against hope someday, their children will be better exactly because they work hard today, damn who sits in the Palace.

Who cares if Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo stays in power or not? Most Filipinos have no love for Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo--- all the surveys say so: six out of ten filipinos say they don't like PGMA. she has the lowest approval rating--- far worst than Marcos, yet here she is still in power.

the problem with the Anti-Arroyo Factions is that, they are Anti-Arroyo. They aren't anti-corruption, they aren't anti-poverty, they aren't anti-patronage politics. They are Anti-Arroyo. Granted, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is now the poster girl of Patronage Politics, when Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo goes, if she is somehow removed from office, what happens after? The face will become different. The person sitting in the palace will be the new face of Patronage Politics, upon which Civil Society will rise up against. So join them, the militant groups will. It will never end.

I personally have no love for PGMA. I don't subscribe to her politics. I certainly disagree very strongly with her recent political moves. I disagree when the PGMA thinks the state and her administration is one and the same. But I will not race to the streets and yell at the top of my voice to get her to step down.

Filipinos have done that. And look where it got us.

It is time for those who do not subscribe to the conservative, patronage politics that Arroyo represents to form ranks. Change begins from the inside--- not by toppling a government. It begins by winning elections from the barangay up to the senate and into the presidency. It begins by proposing innovative ideas in the proper forums--- the halls of Congress, and in our daily lives. It takes years as the cancer our society is in is very deep. But change begins in us.

We need to oppose what Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo represents--- Patronage Politics. But not Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. It shouldn't be personal. No matter how much we dislike her. We shouldn't be petty. Our Politics shouldn't subscribe to the name of who is in power, which is happening right now. Rather our Politics should subscribe to ideology. What is it that we believe in?

Do we not believe in Truth and Justice? Equally important, Do we not believe in giving every Filipino equal Opportunity to Change their lives?

MLQ3 already understands the problem when he wrote at the end of his column last March 1 (2006): "Says Philippine National Police chief Arturo Lomibao: "I am trained to command with arms, rather than with words." That is the argument of the brute; the defining statement of this administration's governance. That so many are prepared to accept it says as much about them as it does about the administration proud to hear its people utter such lines. It is a society that will stubbornly defend Ms Arroyo because its members and she believe in the golden rule: Whoever has the gold makes the rules. A mentality best described by the Spanish word, "Somos."

We need balls to stand up against people who uses gold to make the rules at the same time, we need balls to keep on working for economic prosperity and democracy. When Conrad de Quiros wrote that we should "Forget about economic recovery. Let's just recover our balls." Why can't we do both? Like Truth and Justice, Economic prosperity and Democracy go hand-in-hand and to achieve it, we need balls.