Say, I am not guilty of stealing from the people's coffers. Say I am innocent. If interrogated, I would answer it this way:
"Why ask me if I had stolen money when that is not even in my vocabulary, that word steal. You presume too much, my dears, that I am capable of stealing. My mother taught me that stealing is a sin. My eldest sister told me it is a crime. Now why are you doing this to me?
It is difficult to decipher who is really guilty from the not guilty of a crime. However, the way they speak could reveal a lot of their background.
It is just like this teenager who I suspected of having stolen my cellphones last March 2013 at E. Rodriguez corner Araneta Avenue, Quezon City (and which the police officer 1, Ryan Aguila said he could not arrest because he was a minor, and to my insistence, PO1 replied: "Ma'am kung makuha natin ang sim cards okay na sa inyo?) The teenager replied to a question of the barangay chair whether he had stolen the cellphones or not: "Hindi ako ang kumuha noon. Tulog na ako noong Huwebes." How could he be suddenly so sure of what his activity had been then when it was already four days after the incident? He must have a fantastic mind to be able to switch to the details of the night then.
Well, Folks, I have decided to bring the case of theft of my cellphones to the National Police Commission because of the inaction of the office at Camp Karingal which has been sitting on it for nearly a year now. Where lies justice in our country? I hope that the Napolcom could really help this time. I found out by the way that the police investigator handling my case has been at the office for more than two decades. She looks so cool and collected as if no murder could jolt her. And she does not even have a gun on her body. "I opted not to because I am taking care of a child," she reasoned out.
Folks, do you know why those cellphones are very dear to me? My Nokia celphone has all the pictures which I had taken through the years since 2003. That's a lot of historical visual documents that I had taken. It also has the background music of the songs that we sing under the FACES (Faculty, Alumni Choir Ensemble Singers-- all from UP.) I need those background music so that I can rehearse the songs at home without looking at the scores.
Then I also have shots of the onset of Filipino women's wearing short shorts in the streets of MetroManila, revealing the blurring lines between the costumes of bar girls at night and non-bar girls in the daytime. Folks, would you believe that in the cold malls, just to be in fashion, there are lots of women who wear short shorts? And they enter cinemas which are much colder in such attires? What is happening to the minds of Filipino women? Do they need externals in order to emphasize their value?
Going back to the topic of theft, thievery in the government is really like a chronic disease. Once you sit on the chair and occupy a position, all sorts of temptations will come your way. A truly morally strong individual will have a Bible on the table, have the pictures of Jesus Christ, Mary, and many cards of prayers. Others are just simply callous, nothing on the table.
Way back in the 70's when I used to work at the Budget Commission, now the Department of Budget and Management, I used to see budget officers in Malacanang (at the height of Marcos rule, Folks), wearing big carat diamond rings. I could only sigh and shake my head at that flagrant display of "stolen wealth." It seemed normal then to sport such rings. And I was told then by my friends in Malacanang that every time an agency had its budget approved, to ge the SARO released, they have to give up the ten percent. WHAAAT?
Yes, there was already "kotong" at that time. And what did the erring employees do after they got their moolah? Well, some disappeared in the United States. Others set up their own business knowing already the ropes on how to corner government contracts.
At the Land Registration Administration branch somewhere in Rizal, I see the tables of employees always open. I wondered why one time until I learned that they were to simplify "procedures" of grease money being dropped easily inside.
The sick bureaucracy extends to the core. We cannot deny that. Corruption is bred from within. What we are seeing is only the skimmed part, latak. There are bigger slices of the pie from within. and we should not let up in watching and being alert at every turn of events.
But let us have more artistic symbolization of corruption, Folks. For a thieving government official, let us have him or her wear black glove on the right and white on the left. The left is supposed to show to the people their clean hand, clean inside. The black glove is hidden behind the back.
Another symbol is an official with two faces, a Gemini, one good and the other one questionable.
Then the pocket of the questionable one is stuffed with bills.
I am already sick and tired of having PNoy always the brunt of papier mache jokes. This type of hitting at the president dates back to ancient times. There are underlings who are as guilty and could be the guilty ones.
Another symbol I can think of is the dove flying with blood streaming down on roses and bread.
Still another, the Mother and Son statue at Luneta with the Mother crying over the bloodied son.
What about the monument at Monumento, which is truly a very beautiful classic depiction of the Philippine Revolution? We could start a tableau with the static images and then slowly make the figures move.
When we parade such images on the street, then we are able to make the people ask, "Ano ang ibig sabihin niyan?" So their minds think behind the artistic delineation of corruption, instead of being spoonfed with words like Korap, Buwaya, Porky Pigs, etcetera.
By the way, I heard a series of songs that are anti-women by a band, whose name I did not get. This group parades itself as nationalistic and creatively free, simply because they know how to sing and to use the Filipino language; but analyzing more deeply they are just male chauvinists whose little knowledge they had acquired they are now using to oppress women through words and music. How I wish that some music group could castigate them and prevent their being able to reproduce an album and disseminate them.
It is so much like the excessive freedom in the internet where those killers (before they killed their victims) were able to say all the murderous things they had wanted to say before going on the rampage. I do think that the series of killings especially at schools should make the authorities already clamp down or censor the internet more closely for criminal messages. prevent and eventually stop murders from happening right away.
When Independence Day leaves a lot of questions unanswered, we still need to value it because it is our way of presenting to the world our national identity as a people. However, all that we can do now, despite the lack of full import of independence in our midst, is to cry:
Happy Independence Day! And may we have more vibrant, colorful and meaningful celebrations of holidays throughout the year.
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