Our discussion board centered on an article entitled “A Cry From the Heart“ (Gemma Dimaculangan, ABS CBN Online News). Someone begged to disagree with the points raised in the article, ending his discussion with these lines:
We all love our country but let us not destroy it the way we are now doing. The economists will tell that in all the EDSA I, I and III, after the unconsitutitonal take over, the economy did not grow but was even set back by several years. Without political stability there can be no economic stability. Even the basic unit of society- the family – has now become victim to this political circus.
Someone made this reply:
The rule of law would be nice in a country where the law can be depended upon, when it serves not only the interest of the rich but also those who have been abused and victimized (syempre, rhetorics lang ito pero sentiments namin ito e).
Respect for authority would be grand if only we grew up with authority that we could learn to respect. Si Mamang Pulis e kinokotongan tatay ko nung 8 years old lang ako tapos ngayong 28 na ako (ahem…hehe) e ako naman ang kinokotongan with silly traffic violations.
Respect for our institutions would be absolutely agreeable if on a personal level, all our transactions with our institution would leave us feeling good about ourselves and government, rather than us feeling like we have been fist-rammed in our asses for every transaction.
When controversies such as the fertilizer scam, hello garci and now this ZTE remains unanswered and unresolved, it grows on us, like a dark cancer that knaws at us in the night.
It is frustrating for a regular citizen to feel powerless – in wanting answers from their institutions and getting nothing but fresh faced spokesperson telling us to leave it to the courts. It is frustrating to be told to respect our institutions whilst these very institutions ignore our knawing need to know the truth.
Oh how my blood boils when I hear from the government that there are these truths and that truths when speaking of JLo’s testimonies . . . it makes me clench my teeth when I hear that an allegation stems from a person’s frustration with the church. I can go on about the spin they spew at us. It is disgusting. Just listen to Gen. Razon’s rationale on declaring Makati a no fly zone during the Inter-faith Prayer Rally. Just listen to how he accuses JLo of changing his story about the abduction – while we all know it is he who has changed his story thrice about the abduction.
When our institutions seem inutile in our eyes to give us answer and tries to feed us spin instead, we find no recourse but to head to the streets to voice our displeasure and disgust. Where else can we vent our anger? How else can we communicate our collective outrage. How else can we tell these erring officials that we have our vindictive eyes on them?
We want stability, but not when this stability will afford more opportunity for these bastards to further bleed us.
Related posts:
- OFWs as stakeholders in the government
- Rule on DNA Evidence
- The Application of Islamic Family Law in the Philippines
- Rule on Mandatory Legal Aid Service issued by Supreme Court
- 10 Little Things OFWs, Balikbayans and Pinoy Expats Could Do To Help
- Life Goes On . . . After the Bar Exams
- Para sa ‘yo, kabayan
by Rey Tan
05 Mar 2008 at 08:55
February 27, 2008
I HAVE BEEN A SILENT, IF AGGRIEVED, OBSERVER OF ALL THAT HAS BEEN GOING ON OVER THE RECENT PAST. I HAVE LONG BEEN WANTING TO WRITE ON IT, BUT HAVE FOUND NEITHER TIME NOR ENERGY FOR IT, BUSY AS I AM WITH TEACHING, PREACHING, AND COUNSELING.
I WOULD LIKE TO LAUD THE BISHOPS FOR THEIR WISE, PRUDENT, & PASTORAL STATEMENT THAT GOES BEYOND MERE MORALIZING AND MORE OF THE SICK FINGER-POINTING THAT HAS APPARENTLY BECOME THE SICKENING HALLMARK OF OUR CULTURE (APART FROM AND DISTINCT FROM THE PERVASIVE CULTURE OF CORRUPTION IN ALL LEVELS AND SECTORS OF OUR SOCIETY).
I THANK THEM FOR NOT SUCCUMBING TO THE TEMPTATION OF AN EASY SOLUTION (WHICH IS REALLY A NON-SOLUTION) CALLED FOR BY CERTAIN SECTORS WHO THINK THAT ANOTHER EDSA PEOPLE POWER REVOLUTION (SIC) WOULD MAKE THE PROBLEM GO AWAY. I LAUD THEM FOR NAMING THE REAL ISSUE AT BOTTOM AND THAT IS THE DEEPLY EMBEDDED CULTURE OF CORRUPTION IN AND OUT OF GOVERNMENT, IN THE VERY FABRIC OF OUR PERSONAL AND SOCIAL LIVES. I COULDN’T AGREE MORE WITH THEM IN CALLING FOR THE DISMANTLING OF EVERYTHING THAT OBSTRUCTS TRUTH. TOGETHER WITH THEM, I MAKE A PASSIONATE PLEA TO EVERYONE TO DESIST FROM PROSTITUTING EVEN THE VALUE OF TRUTH-TELLING ITSELF FOR THEIR OWN SELFISH AND SINISTER ENDS. I SUPPORT THEM IN REITERATING THE CALL TO “COMMUNAL ACTION” WHICH IS NOT REDUCIBLE TO ANOTHER NOISY, MANIPULATED MOB AT EDSA, ROUSED POSSIBLY TO NON-THINKING AND NON-REFLECTING STATUS BY PARTISAN MANIPULATED MASSES. MISLED, MISGUIDED, & MIS -EDUCATED BY WELL CALIBRATED SOUND BYTES & CAREFULLY SCRIPTED AND CRAFTED GRANDSTANDING BY POLITICIANS (CROOKS ALL!) WHO STAND TO PERSONALLY GAIN FROM ALL THIS FRENZY OF FINGER-POINTING AND BLAMING!
I MAKE A CALL FOR PRUDENCE AND SOBRIETY – PRECISELY WHAT THE BISHOPS MEAN BY “COMMUNAL ACTION” BASED ON PRAYER AND REFLECTION – AND ONLY THEN – ACTION!
I SUPPORT THE BISHOPS FOR ADDRESSING THE ROOT ISSUE OF THIS CRISIS WHICH IS, AT BOTTOM, A MORAL AND NOT PRIMARILY, A POLITICAL CRISIS.
I MAKE A PERSONAL PLEA TO ALL FILIPINOS TO GO BEYOND EDSA, BEYOND THE MASSIVE PULL OF THE CAREFULLY ORCHESTRATED “MEDIA MOMENT” AND THINK ABOUT THE BIGGER PICTURE, THINK ABOUT THE COMMON GOOD, AND REFUSE TO JOIN THE BANDWAGON OF KNEE-JERK REACTIONS (TO BORROW FROM KAHLIL GIBRAN) “TO BUILD A FENCE, BY DESTROYING THE WALL ON THE OTHER SIDE..” I SUPPORT, NOT THE EMPTY RHETORIC OF A SOUR-GRAPING TRAPO WHO MOUTHS THE CALL FOR A MORAL REVOLUTION – A FACETIOUS SLOGAN COMING FROM ONE WHO SHOULD HAVE STARTED WITH HIMSELF FIVE TERMS AGO!
I MAKE A CALL TO EVERYONE IN GOVERNMENT WHO HAS BEEN IMPLICATED IN SCANDAL UPON SCANDAL OF MASSIVE PROPORTIONS. KUNG MAY NATITIRA PANG HIYA SA PUSO NINYO, PLEASE MAKE THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE BY BOWING OUT OF YOUR SO-CALLED “PUBLIC SERVICE.” PLEASE DO NOT INSULT OUT INTELLIGENCE AND WHAT LITTLE IS LEFT OF OUR NATIONAL SELF-RESPECT BY HIDING BEHIND THE CONVENIENCE OF LEGALITY, THE SEMBLANCE OR CHARADE OF YOUR HONORABLE STATUS AND WORK ACTIVELY SO THAT TRUTH PREVAILS, AND JUSTICE SERVED.
I MAKE A CALL TO EVERYONE WHO IS ALREADY DROOLING FOR THE TOP OFFICES OF THE LAND, WHO MAKE MAXIMUM USE OF THE MEDIA MOMENT TO PROP UP THEIR ILL-CONCEALED AMBITIONS, NOW PLAYING THE GOOD GUYS IN COMPARISON TO THE EVIL WOMAN AND THE FAT GUY AT THE RESIDENCE BY THE PASIG RIVER … THE PEOPLE LIKE US WHO BELONG TO THE SILENT MAJORITY ARE WATCHING. PLEASE DO NOT ADD MORE INSULT TO OUR ALREADY JADED AND FADING HOPES. WE DO NOT NEED GRANDSTANDING HEROES. WE JUST NEED HONEST PEOPLE WHO ARE SINCERELY OUT TO SERVE THE COMMON GOOD, NOT TO INVENT GRANDIOSE PROJECTS, LOAN OODLES OF MONEY, AND STEAL EVEN BEFORE THOSE QUESTIONABLE PROJECTS EVEN TAKE OFF THE GROUND! STEALING IS BAD ENOUGH. BUT ROBBING FUTURE FILIPINOS OF THEIR RIGHT TO NATIONAL SELF-RESPECT IS A CRIME THAT CRIES OUT FOR JUSTICE TO HIGH HEAVENS!
TO ALL OF YOU ALREADY CAUGHT WITH YOUR DIRTIED FINGERS IN THE COOKIE JAR … NOW IS YOUR TURN TO SALVAGE WHAT LITTLE DIGNITY IS LEFT IN YOU BEFORE THE PEOPLE’S COURT. RESIGN AND DO YOUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN SOME GOOD. TO ALL OF YOU POISED TO DIP THOSE VERY SAME DIRTY FINGERS IN THE SAME COOKIE JAR OF DISHONESTY AND CORRUPTION … DESIST … AND BECOME THE UNSUNG HEROES OF GOSPEL FAME, THE POOR OF YAHWEH WHOM THE LORD DECLARED AS “BLESSED.”
AND TO EVERYONE LIKE ME, FRUSTRATED AND ANGERED BY SO MUCH BRAZEN DISHONESTY, CORRUPTION, AND HYPOCRISY … PAUSE, REFLECT, AND PRAY “FOR THERE BUT FOR THE GRACE OF GOD, GO I”
I AM ENCLOSING HEREWITH AN ANONYMOUS LETTER FROM A FELLOW FILIPINO. I SHARE HIS SENTIMENTS … I COULD NOT AGREE MORE WITH WHAT THIS LETTER SAYS. THESE ARE WORDS I’D LIKE TO MAKE MY OWN.