So many people think now it is good to have people power over PNoy's faux pas and is rousing everyone to mass up and demand that he step down.
But that is shortcutting the real meaning of people power. No, the power of the people does not rest on marching up and down the streets always. It has many methods -- if only the leaders would think twice about rocking the boat at this time.
Gradual development -- that is the key to everything, not potshots here and there. Look at what happened after the booting out of Marcos. Sure, democracy was restored, especially freedom of the press but that was all. Reconstructing our society, making the people aware and moving them to act were uphill battles.
Then came Erap's abrupt descent. I think everyone thought that we had already restored the sanctity of the ballot when Erap was elected by a landslide vote. We expected everyone to respect it. But no, he was deposed after a Senate hearing that never ended properly. And so we had 9 years of fakeries.
So what is the alternative to massing up? We should show what is NGO power -- that is truly people power. Non-government organizations who are watching government daily, by the hour, must have stronger positions vis-a-vis the government.
Parallel to the coterie of yes-people around PNoy, we must have our own council that will advise him on what to do. We must make them strong enough to make PNoy sit up and listen to what they will say.
That council need not arise after a people power. No. They are sitting up vis-a-vis PNoy because they have viable ideas on how to run a pro-people government.
to be continued.
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