TO BE PRO-MASA

Politics is in the lips of almost every broadcaster nowadays. This early, the printed pages, radio and TV stations are full of news, rumors, gossips, opinions about this and that potential candidate for the highest or lower positions of the land. 

What does that say of our country? I think that it just shows that the people are very leader-oriented. We rely too much on what the next leader will promise or will bring us but does not say how we ourselves will act, say and move to better the lives of our countryfolks (including ourselves of course). 

So what does that show of our education as a people? Haven't we learned anything from the people power movement of 1986 and subsequent events imitating it? 

The purpose of people powering is to empower the people, to make them strong enough to trash an official if he or she commits an error in judgment or function. I think that in a way, we have achieved that. But who are left there standing, so to speak, that have not been dented at all despite their questionable backgrounds and inclusion in the PDAF (priority development assistance funds) scandals? It seems that our sense of justice is quite skewed to present officials who are close to the powers that be. 

So has there been any change since 1986. 

Worse yet, some candidates being touted as potential leaders have a scorched background of having gangster-like tactics in dealing with crimes, and one even escaped from the arms of the law and resurfaced scotfree of being judged at all. 

Thoroughness is what seems to be lacking in our pursuit of our realizing our principles in practice. We tease, we prick here and there but there is not follow-through. To do so is to be branded "makulit," or "sirang plaka," yet the issue is never closed at all. 

Maybe there is something in the way media directs itself. Perhaps we should have a weekly tickler in one column, detailing the different issues that have been discussed the past week and then our giving a status report. Monthly, we could also have a recap of the issues and find out which ones have been resolved or continue to irritate us. Yearly, we could then say if we have spent the 365 days as the best of our lives in changing our society to be humane, democratic and truly maka-MASA.