by Wilhelmina S. Orozco
What accounts for the significance of an artistic work? Is it the medium, the name of the artist, the content of the art object? The period when the artwork was completed?
It really seems difficult to pinpoint where a significant artwork begins and ends. So many factors could influence its creation and make the viewers appreciate it. But viewing Alwin Reamillo’s exhibit entitled “AngBalutViand” which features real balut and then cast into plaster with emulsion, is a study in high artwork. Reamillo has created an installation that speaks of the history, the cultural taste, as well as the economic state of a people that has seen various evolutions and revolutions in thought, word and deed.
Going through the pieces that he assembled at the Tin-aw Gallery at Makati City, the financial capital of the Philippines, one can find a bit of himself/herself in all of the items. Why because there is something in every piece that seems to exude a trait, a viewpoint, a quality of our race and even a question. Should we continue looking for change, or should we just flow with the historical tide?
An egg reminds us of something that will be born. In fact, we women have eggs that men’s sperms mix with to give life to a foetus or foetuses. In a similar vein, duck eggs are also birthing media. They give birth to ducklings but the process is cut short to produce something either as penoy – all yolk and albumin or balut, an egg with an unborn duckling, now both snackfoods in our country. Thus in this exhibit, a basket of balut reveals eggs cracked open and many more duck eggs hanging and lying here and there with a lot of things to say about Philippine life.
Now why did Reamillo choose a balut to signify the Balikbayan or the Balutviand? Is there a rebirthing process in his idea of the Filipino in another land and in this case Hong Kong where the art installation emanated?
The exhibit features many facets presenting what Reamillo ideates about of the balut. In the middle of the gallery is a table where lie silver saucers with plaster-hardened balut – half – and semi-cracked. From the ceiling hang several balut also and a few small helicopters with carapace bodies that swing in the air as the electric fan blows the air from the floor. Then at the right and left walls of the gallery are many more similar balut.
However, these are not ordinary balut transformations because they contain manyu messages. One egg contains a torn piece of a map of Hong Kong; another minute human male figures in orange and black suits. Other balut pieces contain a black and white drawing of the face of Christ, a clenched fist, the face of a woman saint, and Ninoy Aquino’s face in the 500 peso bill with serial number PS64655. Then in two other balut are, again, minute men in black and orange suits but this time with locks of black hair in disarray in the background.
Meanwhile on the left wall of the gallery are another set of balut – one containing a piece of “alambre” used for fences and reminding us of those used by the military and the police to seal off Malacanang from demonstrators. Another features a picture of a man’s face with eyes closed and drinking from a bottle. Still another, the carapace of the crab with Mao Ze Dong’s face. Such objects reveal a fragile existence manifesting an idea that cannot be sustained. They could also be Reamillo’s comments on a people that continually transforms to another kind of existence in another setting. This must be why his exhibit title Ang BalutViand has a caption “a transcultural balut project by Alwin Reamillo.”
Aside from poking fun at balut eaters, Reamillo also lightens up our view of the anti-Spanish period in Philippine history. In Tatlong Itlog (Los Indios Bravos), he presents a picture of three heroes – Jose Rizal, Marcelo H. del Pilar the propagandist and Mariano Ponce whose face is superimposed with an “itlog.” Rizal’s hand also has an embedded egg with a small man in black suit and his back turned to the viewer. Why Tatlong Itlog? Probably Reamillo thinks these men possessed ideas which never materialized.
Now, why did he pick this picture among all so many photographs of our heroes? The poses are frozen in time – with Rizal looking at the camera, and del Pilar’s gaze somewhere else. The photo seems to want to make us look back to history but at the same time warns us of the pitfalls of revolutionary ideas, thus showing Reamillo’s half-hearted view of societal change. Why, is it because of its bloody consequences once carried to extreme the way Bonifacio and the Katipunan conducted the revolution? It is not so strange anymore that Bonifacio’s face does not figure at all in this exhibit.
Meanwhile, the image of Rizal is repeated in a “posporo” a Phimco matchbox which is a common need in Philippine home-kitchens. On the other side of the matchbox is a painting of a human heart. Of this juxtaposition of ideas – Rizal and the heart - Reamillo shows his intellectual view of life– that a man who follows Rizal’s fiery heart could induce a change – but then the matchbox is transformed into a “maleta” or a luggage – that property of the Filipino Balikbayan who comes home for a vacation then flies to other lands to seek greener pastures. Thus the matchbox which could ignite change becomes a luggage, a tool for exiling oneself in another land.
Does the artwork show Rizal’s ideas being hatched in foreign lands or do they reflect the Balikbayan’s unending aspiration for Rizal’s love for a free Philippines even when abroad? Truly this artwork can evoke a lot of meanings and it is not for us to give a definitive explanation but rather to bring up many thoughts provoked by this artistic excursion of Reamillo.
At the gallery center wall is tacked “Sirangan,” a four-paneled wood almost two and a half feet high and three feet long shaped like a moth with a body and wings. Sirangan is a pun on Silangan, the East, where the Philippines is located, and is also a potshot at our country’s being labeled, “Perlas ng Silangan.” Embedded on this panel are chicken bones, feathers, a bahay kubo (nipa hut) and a man holding two fishes and whose feet are lifted up by a drawn forefinger of a hand reflecting the delicate situation of the poor folks as that of a moth.
Could this be an extension of Rizal’s story about a moth? Actually, Rizal wrote that children’s story told him by his mother, Teodora Alonzo. A moth gets attracted to the light of the gas lamp. It goes flying in circles nearer and nearer to the light until its wings get singed and it dies.
Over-all the exhibit does not transform us into revolutionaries nor into any kind of advocate. Rather it induces us to be a cynic --- cynical of institutions--- as can be found in one corner of the gallery floor, a 3-piece broken presidential seal with an inscription “Sagisag ng Ulo-pang ng Pilipinas,” an outright denigration of any kind of change emanating from the highest office of the land. However sarcastic this is, we need to know first when Reamillo did this – was it during this time of Pnoy or that of GMA whose administration brought us to the depths of moral degeneration, politically?
Also this exhibit tells us that we need not take life seriously as it could be just a temporary journey without beginning nor ending. Rather life calls us to immerse ourselves in it and to savor the big and small ideas that come our way, whether they involve an overhauling of institutions that deprive the people of a humane existence or just simply a case of enjoying the eating of balut. But be careful, the balut could contain a lot of messages ---consequential and inconsequential too.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Saturday, April 23, 2011
EVIL IN MODERN PHILIPPINE TIMES
When Pilar Pilapil, former beauty queen was hacked and left for dead by criminals in an isolated area in Antipolo, and then rescued by kindhearted individuals whom she had approached after the incident, her description of her attackers was classic. She was assaulted by devils.
Now some quarters have asked why use the word, devil, instead of criminals? Her background was unearthed and she was found out to be very spiritual, married to a pastor and has been active in many undertakings related to spiritual upliftment.
But is it simply thus, that she would describe her enemies as devils? Why should she not use that word at all, devils or evil?
In our times, we seem to gloat on the fact that we are well read, that our vocabulary, our social consciousness is so deep that we can analyze to death any issue from a philosophical or sociological perspective and come out erudite. But no, no longer at this time when there are drugs that make the mind convoluted.
That's it, the attackers of Pilar could have been drug-induced and so they could use all kinds of murderous methods to kill life. And those drugs destroy the brain cells to make the human less human, or probably to make the human beastly, no longer thinking, caring or humane.
And so with those drugs, the word devil, and its real character has surfaced in our era because of those drugs that cause hallucinations, murderous thoughts, and unleash inhibitions to make the individual feel all powerful over his or her reality and over other people.
Why not call any murder an evil act? After all, if we believe that life is God-given, then we must also accept that evil, the devil, still exists among us. Why for are there greedy people, who would destroy our legal institutions just so they could pockets millions of dollars, not pesos, but dollars?
I am sure those people are taking drugs that make then crave for more and more material things so that their lust for wealth becomes insatiable. And that's a pity nowadays.
Instead of focussing on what are evil acts in our country, the Catholic Church chooses to debate and earn enemies by concentrating on the Reproductive Health bill, which only pertains to the unborn. Why could they not focus on the real crimes against the soul, against humanity, against those who kill people and dreams of a better life?
We should not make the devil so powerful in our land that we could no longer distinguish between good and evil. Evil should not be allowed to exist, persist, especially in the higher echelons of power.
To cite an instance, I have been asking for water connection to my condo units since October. The barangay denied they have the power to make the governor of the building connect the water line. Then I went to the Department of Interior and Local Government and from the public information unit my request was farmed out to the legal office which then assigned it to the trial division whose officer then asked me to appear there. I asked what for? To massage their egoes again? I had gone there three times already, and even typed my legal arguments for my request, that water is a BASIC RIGHT. But the lawyer insisted that I go there.
And so I called up the office of Secretary Robredo for intervention. Now, I have been told to wait for a reply from the Undersecretary.
How would you call this? Is this humane at all, to be denied water? Why doesn't the governor provide water to my unit? The governor told me that I owe them something like 4 thousand since many years back, when actually I had not lived there since 2002, simply because some residents there made my stay untenable. Unscrupulous individuals entered my unit to pilfer my articles in the computer, to steal the locks, to make me feel unsafe, and this was at the time I was writing for the Philippine Post about the unconstitutionality of deposing Erap, for Manila Times Kabayan when I was writing against the invasion of Iraq and my preference for FPJ who had his heart in the right place.
I had to leave the place, as I was living alone there, because as a writer, I felt very much unsafe with my life, my things, my writings. On top of that, I was writing my dissertation.
How else could we describe those intruders except as devils out to make life hellish for me in the name of gross power so that the political leaders at the time could insure their hold on the people's coffers?
Of course, I refuse to pay condominium association fees when there was only a loose organization headed by someone then with a convoluted sense of power and who could not insure my safe there. And so to day, I have used all legal arguments to make my case: that my unit deserves a water connection if only to make me reside there humanely. Hopefully, the new governor under a newly registered organization will be able to see the light and finally give me the water connection that I need.
Maybe it is time to resurrect the word "evil" and "devils" so that we could be clearer on what we are up against in our society. We have been mincing our words too much, thus failing to provide accurate solutions to our problems.
Words are important in understanding how our realities become so, and thus allow us to act accordingly. They provide us with images, and meaning that will give us the imopetus to act on our lot with dispatch or to wait for sometime meditating on how to act to effect our desired ends.
Now some quarters have asked why use the word, devil, instead of criminals? Her background was unearthed and she was found out to be very spiritual, married to a pastor and has been active in many undertakings related to spiritual upliftment.
But is it simply thus, that she would describe her enemies as devils? Why should she not use that word at all, devils or evil?
In our times, we seem to gloat on the fact that we are well read, that our vocabulary, our social consciousness is so deep that we can analyze to death any issue from a philosophical or sociological perspective and come out erudite. But no, no longer at this time when there are drugs that make the mind convoluted.
That's it, the attackers of Pilar could have been drug-induced and so they could use all kinds of murderous methods to kill life. And those drugs destroy the brain cells to make the human less human, or probably to make the human beastly, no longer thinking, caring or humane.
And so with those drugs, the word devil, and its real character has surfaced in our era because of those drugs that cause hallucinations, murderous thoughts, and unleash inhibitions to make the individual feel all powerful over his or her reality and over other people.
Why not call any murder an evil act? After all, if we believe that life is God-given, then we must also accept that evil, the devil, still exists among us. Why for are there greedy people, who would destroy our legal institutions just so they could pockets millions of dollars, not pesos, but dollars?
I am sure those people are taking drugs that make then crave for more and more material things so that their lust for wealth becomes insatiable. And that's a pity nowadays.
Instead of focussing on what are evil acts in our country, the Catholic Church chooses to debate and earn enemies by concentrating on the Reproductive Health bill, which only pertains to the unborn. Why could they not focus on the real crimes against the soul, against humanity, against those who kill people and dreams of a better life?
We should not make the devil so powerful in our land that we could no longer distinguish between good and evil. Evil should not be allowed to exist, persist, especially in the higher echelons of power.
To cite an instance, I have been asking for water connection to my condo units since October. The barangay denied they have the power to make the governor of the building connect the water line. Then I went to the Department of Interior and Local Government and from the public information unit my request was farmed out to the legal office which then assigned it to the trial division whose officer then asked me to appear there. I asked what for? To massage their egoes again? I had gone there three times already, and even typed my legal arguments for my request, that water is a BASIC RIGHT. But the lawyer insisted that I go there.
And so I called up the office of Secretary Robredo for intervention. Now, I have been told to wait for a reply from the Undersecretary.
How would you call this? Is this humane at all, to be denied water? Why doesn't the governor provide water to my unit? The governor told me that I owe them something like 4 thousand since many years back, when actually I had not lived there since 2002, simply because some residents there made my stay untenable. Unscrupulous individuals entered my unit to pilfer my articles in the computer, to steal the locks, to make me feel unsafe, and this was at the time I was writing for the Philippine Post about the unconstitutionality of deposing Erap, for Manila Times Kabayan when I was writing against the invasion of Iraq and my preference for FPJ who had his heart in the right place.
I had to leave the place, as I was living alone there, because as a writer, I felt very much unsafe with my life, my things, my writings. On top of that, I was writing my dissertation.
How else could we describe those intruders except as devils out to make life hellish for me in the name of gross power so that the political leaders at the time could insure their hold on the people's coffers?
Of course, I refuse to pay condominium association fees when there was only a loose organization headed by someone then with a convoluted sense of power and who could not insure my safe there. And so to day, I have used all legal arguments to make my case: that my unit deserves a water connection if only to make me reside there humanely. Hopefully, the new governor under a newly registered organization will be able to see the light and finally give me the water connection that I need.
Maybe it is time to resurrect the word "evil" and "devils" so that we could be clearer on what we are up against in our society. We have been mincing our words too much, thus failing to provide accurate solutions to our problems.
Words are important in understanding how our realities become so, and thus allow us to act accordingly. They provide us with images, and meaning that will give us the imopetus to act on our lot with dispatch or to wait for sometime meditating on how to act to effect our desired ends.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
WHERE SHOULD TAXES GO?
I have not heard anyone talk nicely about taxes. It seems human beings have always rejected the idea of paying the government money for governing. But taxes are really the ones that could propel a country to prosperity. Without taxes, how can a government, local or national function? I remember when I was in London, my friends hated paying taxes. It was really atrocious, but then we could see where the money was going. London is a top attraction to tourists because the city is well planned, no telephone and electric cables running haywire; most of the streets are clean, the huge buildings some of which date back to the medieval ages are well taken care of, cleaned up to make them look light gray or white as the pollution from the factories tend to blacken their walls. Then of course, bus is cheap and reliable, and does not emit pollutants. Also, London has those public baths, hot baths where for something like 120 pesos way back in the 80’s one could have a good relaxing moment there. But the greatest come-on of London are the theatres which have running shows at the West End, daily. And if you come late to the show, you could get in for a discount.
That is how taxes are spent. But here in our country, where do we find big time returns from our taxes? Nada, nada, nada. When we go out of our homes, what we see are hundreds and thousands of electric wires where birds have a neat time swinging about. When a huge truck passes by and its roof gets entangled with them we would find ourselves negotiating the street where this happens, with great caution as we could get electrocuted. The barangay cleaners hardly clean, or they clean only those streets which they like to.
What about Manila? Manila, the shining city of the Spanish era is terribly abhorrent. The streets are dirty, with pedestrians just throwing their cigarette butts, plastic and foil empty packs around. I would even question now if Mayor Alfredo Lim ever walks through the Manila streets at all.
My dentist, Dr. Hao showed me pictures of her sojourn in Vigan where she conducted a medical mission with other doctors under her evangelical church. My goodness, I was really amazed to see the pictures because the location was a street where nary a piece of white paper or garbage was lying about. That Vigan street where they posed was truly clean, and with the beautiful background of old houses dating to the Spanish era. It is really well-kept. Now compare that with the Balic-Balic and Legarda streets where you could still find the same architecture of houses. Zero, man. Getting off to walk through those streets you would feel as if you could catch tetanus or TB.
I really think now that taxes should have a caveat. Okay, we will pay taxes when we shall get good plans and programs for our country. Taxation should be connected to what the government will do with it, not just a ritual of paying.sums of money, no matter how big or small. Yes, that’s it. We should move the tax period to that time after the government has given us its blueprint for what it will do for a year. By doing so, we would feel confident and sure that it would be performing its functions well and then we could also get back at it should it not perform according to what it had planned.
Now with regard to paying taxes correctly, I do think many of our businesses are willing to pay their correct taxes. The problem is that the oil prices, the major anti-business factor, keep going up, thereby making the pricing of their products and services go gaga all the time; worse, the government looks helpless about this. I recall that former Representative Enrique Garcia of Bataan has a plan to topple the oil cartel in this country,. He wants the government to buy the oil itself from the oil producing governments abroad and then sell it to the different companies here for refining. In this manner, all the prices of oil could be measured if they are based on normal pricing. Now what happened to his idea? Nada, nada, nada. Again.
Truly now, how could the Philippine government expect the people to be good citizens, to pay our taxes promptly, and dutifully when the very basic problem is not being addressed, and that is the skyrocketing oil prices? I think that PNoy and his cabinet have to really sit down with Mr. Garcia now and map out a strategy on how to carry out his plan to make the oil companies truly serve the needs of the Filipino people.
I have been reading the problems of some affluent foreign countries in raising taxes among the rich sectors of the country and I wonder greatly why that could really be a big problem. I think that would stem from the lack of visible poverty-stricken areas. Their media could be partly to blame, I guess. The newspapers and television hardly carry those scenes. Most of the time, they just depict the debates, the rational perspectives in looking at their problems. If ever there would be such scenes at all, usually they are situated somewhere out there in Africa, or southeast Asia, and not really within their perimeter. The normal reaction to that of course is to shun poverty and say, “Thank God it is not happening to us.” But is that being a Christian?
That’s it. A news report said that many churches in the west have been desanctified simply because people do not go to worship anymore. And in a place where godlessness prevails it is very easy to close our eyes to the next door neighbor and say “That’s his problem, not mine.” Yesterday, I was appalled to watch on an NBC TV news how in New York, a mother of three children in her twenties drove down the Hudson river, eight feet below. Her son survived by opening the car window and swimming out He said that his mother tried going to the driver’s seat to reverse the happening and said, “Oh my God, I made a mistake.”
All morning, I could not erase the images of that report from my mind. I really felt numb because it could have happened here as well. The children were beautiful and I could not understand how the mother could possibly prefer an afterlife to the life now.
Here is where a need exists for leaders to be inspiring for people to live. They should make the people understand that “We are in this together,” not the officials saying, “I am just doing my job, and that is fiscalizing.” No, a leader must show that every act, every step of his or her is geared towards enhancing the lives of the people, towards making them feel that this country, or this planet is ours to live in, to prosper in, and to protect in order that we would also be happy.
Yes, it all boils down to that. Everyone could be happy. Or that should be the goal of governance – the people’s happiness, not just of a few. Now, is that too much to ask?
That is how taxes are spent. But here in our country, where do we find big time returns from our taxes? Nada, nada, nada. When we go out of our homes, what we see are hundreds and thousands of electric wires where birds have a neat time swinging about. When a huge truck passes by and its roof gets entangled with them we would find ourselves negotiating the street where this happens, with great caution as we could get electrocuted. The barangay cleaners hardly clean, or they clean only those streets which they like to.
What about Manila? Manila, the shining city of the Spanish era is terribly abhorrent. The streets are dirty, with pedestrians just throwing their cigarette butts, plastic and foil empty packs around. I would even question now if Mayor Alfredo Lim ever walks through the Manila streets at all.
My dentist, Dr. Hao showed me pictures of her sojourn in Vigan where she conducted a medical mission with other doctors under her evangelical church. My goodness, I was really amazed to see the pictures because the location was a street where nary a piece of white paper or garbage was lying about. That Vigan street where they posed was truly clean, and with the beautiful background of old houses dating to the Spanish era. It is really well-kept. Now compare that with the Balic-Balic and Legarda streets where you could still find the same architecture of houses. Zero, man. Getting off to walk through those streets you would feel as if you could catch tetanus or TB.
I really think now that taxes should have a caveat. Okay, we will pay taxes when we shall get good plans and programs for our country. Taxation should be connected to what the government will do with it, not just a ritual of paying.sums of money, no matter how big or small. Yes, that’s it. We should move the tax period to that time after the government has given us its blueprint for what it will do for a year. By doing so, we would feel confident and sure that it would be performing its functions well and then we could also get back at it should it not perform according to what it had planned.
Now with regard to paying taxes correctly, I do think many of our businesses are willing to pay their correct taxes. The problem is that the oil prices, the major anti-business factor, keep going up, thereby making the pricing of their products and services go gaga all the time; worse, the government looks helpless about this. I recall that former Representative Enrique Garcia of Bataan has a plan to topple the oil cartel in this country,. He wants the government to buy the oil itself from the oil producing governments abroad and then sell it to the different companies here for refining. In this manner, all the prices of oil could be measured if they are based on normal pricing. Now what happened to his idea? Nada, nada, nada. Again.
Truly now, how could the Philippine government expect the people to be good citizens, to pay our taxes promptly, and dutifully when the very basic problem is not being addressed, and that is the skyrocketing oil prices? I think that PNoy and his cabinet have to really sit down with Mr. Garcia now and map out a strategy on how to carry out his plan to make the oil companies truly serve the needs of the Filipino people.
I have been reading the problems of some affluent foreign countries in raising taxes among the rich sectors of the country and I wonder greatly why that could really be a big problem. I think that would stem from the lack of visible poverty-stricken areas. Their media could be partly to blame, I guess. The newspapers and television hardly carry those scenes. Most of the time, they just depict the debates, the rational perspectives in looking at their problems. If ever there would be such scenes at all, usually they are situated somewhere out there in Africa, or southeast Asia, and not really within their perimeter. The normal reaction to that of course is to shun poverty and say, “Thank God it is not happening to us.” But is that being a Christian?
That’s it. A news report said that many churches in the west have been desanctified simply because people do not go to worship anymore. And in a place where godlessness prevails it is very easy to close our eyes to the next door neighbor and say “That’s his problem, not mine.” Yesterday, I was appalled to watch on an NBC TV news how in New York, a mother of three children in her twenties drove down the Hudson river, eight feet below. Her son survived by opening the car window and swimming out He said that his mother tried going to the driver’s seat to reverse the happening and said, “Oh my God, I made a mistake.”
All morning, I could not erase the images of that report from my mind. I really felt numb because it could have happened here as well. The children were beautiful and I could not understand how the mother could possibly prefer an afterlife to the life now.
Here is where a need exists for leaders to be inspiring for people to live. They should make the people understand that “We are in this together,” not the officials saying, “I am just doing my job, and that is fiscalizing.” No, a leader must show that every act, every step of his or her is geared towards enhancing the lives of the people, towards making them feel that this country, or this planet is ours to live in, to prosper in, and to protect in order that we would also be happy.
Yes, it all boils down to that. Everyone could be happy. Or that should be the goal of governance – the people’s happiness, not just of a few. Now, is that too much to ask?
Friday, March 25, 2011
POSITIVE CORRUPTION
POSITIVE CORRUPTION
By Wilhelmina S. Orozco
In a country that has seen colonialism, martial law and covert martial law under GMA rule, it is very difficult to discern what is a good political move from a bad one. What is good but that which redounds to the best of our people – the alleviation of their poverty, the strengthening of human rights and education for a moral type of living. What is bad but the opposite – all the undemocratic moves that deprive the people of our human rights, that which sink us deeper and deeper into debt, and that which leads most of the people to a life of penury, deprivation, if not prostitution of bodies and values.
The current situation of the present leadership is seesawing between these poles – that which is pulling it to a kind of administration that will be kind to the people, and another, that will make it practical enough – to make hay while in power. It is truly a very difficult situation because it has only existed less than a year and yet people expect much.
Yet gauging the speed with which it has acted in terms of saving our OFW compatriots in the Middle East and Africa, we can see that is truly concerned with the plight of the people. No matter how grievous the statements are of its detractors, it is earning high marks for its sincere acts of moving out the people from war– a case of life-and-death situation which only God perhaps would be able to stop.
How about our compatriots who are about to be executed in the communist People’s Republic of China for drug trafficking? Although the diplomatic officials were able to stay the execution by a few weeks, the result has not been good, as the PRC officials are adamant about executing them. Here we can see what type of leadership PRC has. It does not adhere to a democratic rule but instead imposes its will on every individual, including appropriating the life of any individual who transgresses its human-made laws.
Is it a case of atheism, not believing that there is a higher power who controls all living things and people? Or is it a case of believing that they are the first and last to judge all acts of human beings in their territory? Is that not some form of megalomania?
I believe that the death penalty should be eradicated in all countries, and that the UN has to impose in order to call any country worthy of being a part of it. Any country which chooses to impose death penalty must pay a fine for every execution it makes to be given to the family. Not giving any individual a chance to reform at all and cutting off the life is an act that is not human anymore. The UN is supposed to be an organization of human beings upholding the dignity of every individual, from birth to death.
Worse yet, PRC even decries the use of force against Khadafy who has committed genocide against the Libyans. How can we ever appreciate PRC and all of its products when it condones genocide by its declaration pro-Khadafy? How else could PRC act to contain the murderous intentions and acts of the Libyan colonel if not by using force against his forces?
So here we can see the pressures on any kind of leadership to rise up and be appreciated for all of its moves. It is very difficult to be a leader indeed. It is not enough to cling to some ideals but a need also exists to be pragmatic. But ideals need not be sacrificed for pragmatism to rule.
For example, on the matter of this tit-for-tat – that of offering millions project funds in exchange for a vote to impeach the Ombudswoman, Merceditas Gutierrez. Was there a case of a surrender of ideals for using this move? Or was it just a case of pragmatism to sway the votes in favour of easing out MG so that all other anti-corruption cases could move in the Sandiganbayan?
In political circles which I was lucky to have joined, that move would be called positive corruption of the Congress representatives. It is positive because it has a desired positive result – that of unearthing the tools and corrupt people who have been propping up the system of governance in our country. This is like positive discrimination. We make a positive move to discriminate against men in order to raise the benefits for women. For example, we want equal number of women in the workforce – instead of the men lording it over all the time. So by increasing the number of women, we are decreasing the number of men in the workforce.
Hence positive corruption results just the same to more funds for the people, that is granting that the Congress reps would truly use them to help the people.
I hope that intellectuals in this country would cling to idealism but then to also look at its downside if carried out in black and white terms. In the world of politics, anything, all methods are possible; but in the last analysis, any move should make us ask: will this benefit the people? Let us call it Machiavellian at this time, but then when you and I are up there, wouldn’t you use that knowing you have very little time to institute monumental changes in our society?
I think the past administration was Machiavellian to the point of even eliminating many of its critics, especially the media practitioners, only to sustain its ill-gotten powers. It is time to turn the tables now. Resurrect Machiavelli to remove those corrupt officials including the Ombudswoman. I may be pro-women but not to a woman who is only a woman in women’s clothing. For a true woman does not forget nor turn away from her maternal feelings – and as a political official – that of caring for those who have been oppressed by the corrupt officials and employees whose cases for their removal, sanction and indictment have been languishing on her desk.
By Wilhelmina S. Orozco
In a country that has seen colonialism, martial law and covert martial law under GMA rule, it is very difficult to discern what is a good political move from a bad one. What is good but that which redounds to the best of our people – the alleviation of their poverty, the strengthening of human rights and education for a moral type of living. What is bad but the opposite – all the undemocratic moves that deprive the people of our human rights, that which sink us deeper and deeper into debt, and that which leads most of the people to a life of penury, deprivation, if not prostitution of bodies and values.
The current situation of the present leadership is seesawing between these poles – that which is pulling it to a kind of administration that will be kind to the people, and another, that will make it practical enough – to make hay while in power. It is truly a very difficult situation because it has only existed less than a year and yet people expect much.
Yet gauging the speed with which it has acted in terms of saving our OFW compatriots in the Middle East and Africa, we can see that is truly concerned with the plight of the people. No matter how grievous the statements are of its detractors, it is earning high marks for its sincere acts of moving out the people from war– a case of life-and-death situation which only God perhaps would be able to stop.
How about our compatriots who are about to be executed in the communist People’s Republic of China for drug trafficking? Although the diplomatic officials were able to stay the execution by a few weeks, the result has not been good, as the PRC officials are adamant about executing them. Here we can see what type of leadership PRC has. It does not adhere to a democratic rule but instead imposes its will on every individual, including appropriating the life of any individual who transgresses its human-made laws.
Is it a case of atheism, not believing that there is a higher power who controls all living things and people? Or is it a case of believing that they are the first and last to judge all acts of human beings in their territory? Is that not some form of megalomania?
I believe that the death penalty should be eradicated in all countries, and that the UN has to impose in order to call any country worthy of being a part of it. Any country which chooses to impose death penalty must pay a fine for every execution it makes to be given to the family. Not giving any individual a chance to reform at all and cutting off the life is an act that is not human anymore. The UN is supposed to be an organization of human beings upholding the dignity of every individual, from birth to death.
Worse yet, PRC even decries the use of force against Khadafy who has committed genocide against the Libyans. How can we ever appreciate PRC and all of its products when it condones genocide by its declaration pro-Khadafy? How else could PRC act to contain the murderous intentions and acts of the Libyan colonel if not by using force against his forces?
So here we can see the pressures on any kind of leadership to rise up and be appreciated for all of its moves. It is very difficult to be a leader indeed. It is not enough to cling to some ideals but a need also exists to be pragmatic. But ideals need not be sacrificed for pragmatism to rule.
For example, on the matter of this tit-for-tat – that of offering millions project funds in exchange for a vote to impeach the Ombudswoman, Merceditas Gutierrez. Was there a case of a surrender of ideals for using this move? Or was it just a case of pragmatism to sway the votes in favour of easing out MG so that all other anti-corruption cases could move in the Sandiganbayan?
In political circles which I was lucky to have joined, that move would be called positive corruption of the Congress representatives. It is positive because it has a desired positive result – that of unearthing the tools and corrupt people who have been propping up the system of governance in our country. This is like positive discrimination. We make a positive move to discriminate against men in order to raise the benefits for women. For example, we want equal number of women in the workforce – instead of the men lording it over all the time. So by increasing the number of women, we are decreasing the number of men in the workforce.
Hence positive corruption results just the same to more funds for the people, that is granting that the Congress reps would truly use them to help the people.
I hope that intellectuals in this country would cling to idealism but then to also look at its downside if carried out in black and white terms. In the world of politics, anything, all methods are possible; but in the last analysis, any move should make us ask: will this benefit the people? Let us call it Machiavellian at this time, but then when you and I are up there, wouldn’t you use that knowing you have very little time to institute monumental changes in our society?
I think the past administration was Machiavellian to the point of even eliminating many of its critics, especially the media practitioners, only to sustain its ill-gotten powers. It is time to turn the tables now. Resurrect Machiavelli to remove those corrupt officials including the Ombudswoman. I may be pro-women but not to a woman who is only a woman in women’s clothing. For a true woman does not forget nor turn away from her maternal feelings – and as a political official – that of caring for those who have been oppressed by the corrupt officials and employees whose cases for their removal, sanction and indictment have been languishing on her desk.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
ENEMY OF DEMOCRACY
Enemy of Democracy: The Authoritarian Mind
By Wilhelmina S. Orozco
The authoritarian mind still lurks around the world, now concentrated in Libya. The acts of Ghadafy to the Libyans reflect that mind that has gone berserk ready to use all annihilating forces and means just to be able to hold on to power.
We have had our share of authoritarian minds way back in the 80’s and well into
The irrational obsession with maintaining political power at all costs means the individual possesses an authoritarian mind. Our colonial history of Spanish and American colonization show how the foreign forces used all kinds of manipulation and strangulation devices in order to make the revolutionaries surrender and to instill blind obedience to their rules. Worse yet, the Spanish conquerors connived with the Americans to continue our being under colonial rule for US $200 million dollars in 1998.
However, time changes everything so much so that some benevolent governors and foreign rulers were sent here to be kinder to the people, and eventually, we were freed from one colonial rule to the other. But the kind of democracy that the Americans handed down to the people was not strong enough to counter all forms of authoritarian minds. From 1946 when the American flag was brought down and the Philippine flag was raised up, to 1972, or 26 years after, we were back to a lowly state, with the imposition of Marcos dictatorial rule.
And Marcos indeed showed three glaring characteristics of that authoritarian mind: a hankering for omnipotence – making his face and the faces of his family ubiquitous in every corner of our life, from children’s elementary books to T-shirts, newspapers and other media; and using militaristic force to make the people toe all of his self- and subalterns-written presidential decrees. And to counter his powers, the people resorted to all kinds of propaganda – mimeographed papers slid secretly into homes and offices, lightning rallies, shooting incognito and using Church resources to distribute films and other critical writings, as well as using pseudonyms just so we could make the people see the other side of life – that of breathing freedom and exercising our fullest potentials in thinking, speaking out and acting on our lot.
What is obvious in the authoritarian mind is that hierarchical structure which feeds the control powers. By having underlings ready to bow and kowtow to every whim and caprice, the authoritarian is able to maintain power no matter how undemocratic. Just look at the countries in revolt now in Africa and the Middle East. Seating powers have been there for decades and the desire of their peoples for changes is meeting all kinds of obstacles from the use of tear gas to outright bombing, which means annihilation of life. Obviously, an authoritarian mind cannot exist on its own. It is also bred by a fearful people whose fears freeze their minds and bodies to act as human beings. They become puppets and robots to the machinations of the authoritarian. However, once they remove their fears, the people could always overturn the forces of oppression and bring about a new life for themselves as our history of People Power in 1986 not and never the Edsa Dos, had shown.
Another trait of the authoritarian is that need to manipulate people and events for his or her own selfish ends. Any reaction to that is dealt with severely, either by reduction of budgetary allocations, abolition of institutions or structures that nurture democratic inclinations such as the complete takeover of media during the first years of martial rule in the Philippines, or eventually, the use of violent forces to arrest, jail, murder secretly, or to exile the so-called “recalcitrant” person or group. No corner of the land is free from its tentacles to hold on to power permanently.
Unspeakable cruelty
The third and possibly the worst trait of the authoritarian mind is unspeakable cruelty. It shows no mercy to its victims, as it is ready to use all tools and devices to show that it is in control and in power, that the people have to follow every step it commands to be done, and for everyone to align and subsume all thoughts to how it thinks. Just imagine how Hitler created concentration camps during WWII in order to obliterate the Jews and to uphold the Aryan race. Do we remember how GMA used the budget to feed the rapacious appetites of the military that propped her up through all of her 9 years in power, despite the protests against her fake ascension to power and the moves to impeach her twice in the legislature? The current investigations of the generals who had pasalubong and pabaon during term of office are now unearthing those acts of her.
This kind of ruthlessness of the authoritarian can be more easily gleaned from the way it uses resources. It puts a premium on military budgets rather than for those that will promote the well-being of the people, like education, health and social welfare. (To show its adherence to democratic rule, I hope that within the year, the Department of Social Welfare will have had a permanent policy and program for dealing with vagrants in all the MetroManila cities. Allowing them to roam and sleep at any corner while government officials travel in first class vehicles is a blot to the record of any ruling democratic party.)
Maybe in our case, a part of the Third World, authoritarians who passed our political scenes were able to do their will is because the gap between the educated and the uneducated was too big. More people were pragmatic rather than idealistic – living for that idea of freedom. And so, Marcos was able to harness the government resources to create a huge number of followers who could readily be united– loyalist urban poor –to march for him, ride buses and show up at his rallies to show later on in media that he enjoys popularity among the people.
Are authoritarians beyond change? Or maybe we should just start educating the public on how to spot an authoritarian and correct him or her right away. Our elementary and high schools must encourage the creation of student councils and student newspapers so that the youth are able to practice on and exercise democratic methods and social responsibility right away. In the larger society, the rules for candidacies from local—the barangay - up to the national elections by the Commission on Elections should ensure democratic treatment of every candidate. The Comelec should be transparent and provide rational and legal reasons for denial of candidacies. I know for a fact that certain partylist groups shelled out large sums in order to be able to gain candidacies. Then, professional organizations must not allow corrupt practices such as manipulation of the election of officers within so as to perpetuate the rule of some vested interest-groups.
In conclusion, a permanent solution to preventing the occurrence of authoritarian minds in our midst is by having an educated and alert citizenry ready to act against any form of manipulation and domination, and skilled in assessing any person using a situation for garnering unbridled power.
By Wilhelmina S. Orozco
The authoritarian mind still lurks around the world, now concentrated in Libya. The acts of Ghadafy to the Libyans reflect that mind that has gone berserk ready to use all annihilating forces and means just to be able to hold on to power.
We have had our share of authoritarian minds way back in the 80’s and well into
The irrational obsession with maintaining political power at all costs means the individual possesses an authoritarian mind. Our colonial history of Spanish and American colonization show how the foreign forces used all kinds of manipulation and strangulation devices in order to make the revolutionaries surrender and to instill blind obedience to their rules. Worse yet, the Spanish conquerors connived with the Americans to continue our being under colonial rule for US $200 million dollars in 1998.
However, time changes everything so much so that some benevolent governors and foreign rulers were sent here to be kinder to the people, and eventually, we were freed from one colonial rule to the other. But the kind of democracy that the Americans handed down to the people was not strong enough to counter all forms of authoritarian minds. From 1946 when the American flag was brought down and the Philippine flag was raised up, to 1972, or 26 years after, we were back to a lowly state, with the imposition of Marcos dictatorial rule.
And Marcos indeed showed three glaring characteristics of that authoritarian mind: a hankering for omnipotence – making his face and the faces of his family ubiquitous in every corner of our life, from children’s elementary books to T-shirts, newspapers and other media; and using militaristic force to make the people toe all of his self- and subalterns-written presidential decrees. And to counter his powers, the people resorted to all kinds of propaganda – mimeographed papers slid secretly into homes and offices, lightning rallies, shooting incognito and using Church resources to distribute films and other critical writings, as well as using pseudonyms just so we could make the people see the other side of life – that of breathing freedom and exercising our fullest potentials in thinking, speaking out and acting on our lot.
What is obvious in the authoritarian mind is that hierarchical structure which feeds the control powers. By having underlings ready to bow and kowtow to every whim and caprice, the authoritarian is able to maintain power no matter how undemocratic. Just look at the countries in revolt now in Africa and the Middle East. Seating powers have been there for decades and the desire of their peoples for changes is meeting all kinds of obstacles from the use of tear gas to outright bombing, which means annihilation of life. Obviously, an authoritarian mind cannot exist on its own. It is also bred by a fearful people whose fears freeze their minds and bodies to act as human beings. They become puppets and robots to the machinations of the authoritarian. However, once they remove their fears, the people could always overturn the forces of oppression and bring about a new life for themselves as our history of People Power in 1986 not and never the Edsa Dos, had shown.
Another trait of the authoritarian is that need to manipulate people and events for his or her own selfish ends. Any reaction to that is dealt with severely, either by reduction of budgetary allocations, abolition of institutions or structures that nurture democratic inclinations such as the complete takeover of media during the first years of martial rule in the Philippines, or eventually, the use of violent forces to arrest, jail, murder secretly, or to exile the so-called “recalcitrant” person or group. No corner of the land is free from its tentacles to hold on to power permanently.
Unspeakable cruelty
The third and possibly the worst trait of the authoritarian mind is unspeakable cruelty. It shows no mercy to its victims, as it is ready to use all tools and devices to show that it is in control and in power, that the people have to follow every step it commands to be done, and for everyone to align and subsume all thoughts to how it thinks. Just imagine how Hitler created concentration camps during WWII in order to obliterate the Jews and to uphold the Aryan race. Do we remember how GMA used the budget to feed the rapacious appetites of the military that propped her up through all of her 9 years in power, despite the protests against her fake ascension to power and the moves to impeach her twice in the legislature? The current investigations of the generals who had pasalubong and pabaon during term of office are now unearthing those acts of her.
This kind of ruthlessness of the authoritarian can be more easily gleaned from the way it uses resources. It puts a premium on military budgets rather than for those that will promote the well-being of the people, like education, health and social welfare. (To show its adherence to democratic rule, I hope that within the year, the Department of Social Welfare will have had a permanent policy and program for dealing with vagrants in all the MetroManila cities. Allowing them to roam and sleep at any corner while government officials travel in first class vehicles is a blot to the record of any ruling democratic party.)
Maybe in our case, a part of the Third World, authoritarians who passed our political scenes were able to do their will is because the gap between the educated and the uneducated was too big. More people were pragmatic rather than idealistic – living for that idea of freedom. And so, Marcos was able to harness the government resources to create a huge number of followers who could readily be united– loyalist urban poor –to march for him, ride buses and show up at his rallies to show later on in media that he enjoys popularity among the people.
Are authoritarians beyond change? Or maybe we should just start educating the public on how to spot an authoritarian and correct him or her right away. Our elementary and high schools must encourage the creation of student councils and student newspapers so that the youth are able to practice on and exercise democratic methods and social responsibility right away. In the larger society, the rules for candidacies from local—the barangay - up to the national elections by the Commission on Elections should ensure democratic treatment of every candidate. The Comelec should be transparent and provide rational and legal reasons for denial of candidacies. I know for a fact that certain partylist groups shelled out large sums in order to be able to gain candidacies. Then, professional organizations must not allow corrupt practices such as manipulation of the election of officers within so as to perpetuate the rule of some vested interest-groups.
In conclusion, a permanent solution to preventing the occurrence of authoritarian minds in our midst is by having an educated and alert citizenry ready to act against any form of manipulation and domination, and skilled in assessing any person using a situation for garnering unbridled power.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
FEEDBACK from TONY VILLAN
Tony Villan
Sun, Feb 20, 2011 at 2:41 AM
Dear Ms Wilhelmina Orozco,
Very interesting insight of yours regarding the appreciation of Classical Ballet.
How many can understand the movement of the Ballet Dancers? Classical Ballet in its overall concept and performance tells the story as projected by the movements of the Prima Ballerina and the Primo Ballerino. Even the movements of the supporting ballet dancers and the scene must also be coordinated with the entire cast on the stage.
Not all ballet proteges will be able to handle the rigorous training in projecting the correct body movements.
But, those that had the chance to watch and observe the studies and trainings of the students of Classical Ballet will surely have the different outlook.
Good that you had the chance to watch Classic Ballet Performance. How many of our posters will show appreciation of Classical Ballet?
Just the Art of Pantomime can tell the story of movements without words as projected mostly by Clowns. While a Ballet Movement can tell the Fantasies of Dancing within the Story.
Sincerely,
Tony Villan
Sun, Feb 20, 2011 at 2:41 AM
Dear Ms Wilhelmina Orozco,
Very interesting insight of yours regarding the appreciation of Classical Ballet.
How many can understand the movement of the Ballet Dancers? Classical Ballet in its overall concept and performance tells the story as projected by the movements of the Prima Ballerina and the Primo Ballerino. Even the movements of the supporting ballet dancers and the scene must also be coordinated with the entire cast on the stage.
Not all ballet proteges will be able to handle the rigorous training in projecting the correct body movements.
But, those that had the chance to watch and observe the studies and trainings of the students of Classical Ballet will surely have the different outlook.
Good that you had the chance to watch Classic Ballet Performance. How many of our posters will show appreciation of Classical Ballet?
Just the Art of Pantomime can tell the story of movements without words as projected mostly by Clowns. While a Ballet Movement can tell the Fantasies of Dancing within the Story.
Sincerely,
Tony Villan
STANDING ON SOLID GROUNDS
So what else is new on this planet? Ho-hum, our globe must be yawning about the changes occurring now from the east to the Middle East and then down to Africa, too.
Must we celebrate now because the road to democracy is being unblocked one by one by in countries, especially in those that have highly conservative religions that restrict women's rights?
Truly, democracy's last recipients are women. It is the people who must first experience total obliteration of autocratic rule before they would focus on the rights of children. They do not come together: people's rights and women's rights. Why so?
In our country, the Philippines, we had a woman, Cory who led the country in toppling the male dictatorship backed up by the military. Later on, she signed the Family Code giving women almost equal rights as men in family life. She also signed the declaration of March as Women's Month as March 8 which is International Women's Day is a significant occasion for us in observing our roles in the family, the community and the larger society.
As the People Power Movement is reverberating all around now, we ask, how come the People's Republic of China seems to be unshakeable in its Communist Party's tenacious hold on power when it is so near our country? How come there is so much restriction of freedoms there, especially that freedom to write?
When we held the Asian Women's Conference in Davao way back in 1985, the Singaporean women, most of whom were of Chinese origin, said that they traded off their freedoms to speak, demonstrate and write for the right to eat, and to lead a comfortable life. They came then with their nice clothes and high lifestyle reflected in the things they carried with them.
And so why is it so easy for the Chinese to disbelieve in a democratic life? I think that it is the family life which puts a great pressure on the people to conform to authorities, a Confucian legacy. Conservativism is ingrained from childhood to adulthood so that turning against State repression is almost akin to losing one's ties with the family, a kind of self-annihilation, which is a sad thought to carry, really.
I remember that in our People Power movement in the 80's, the majority of the leaders were in their 30's and 40's then who had experienced living under democratic rules and had traveled in many parts of the world especially US and Europe. Hence it was easy thinking of and acting on reverting back the country to that time when we could speak and exercise all of our human rights without chains, literally and figuratively.
Our movement required intense debates then on where our country should go -- communist or democratic as the radicals were bent on wresting the rule from Marcos, too, at that time. But in the end the democrats won, us, and that's why we are here now.
However, in the case of China and the Arab worlds, the youth are in the frontlines now to change their country's path, having been awakened by the broad freedoms that communication technologies are able to dish out and allow them to experience, no matter how vicarious. Maybe to them viewing other people's struggles on screen is no longer enough; they themselves must experience that freedom to act on their lot. And so this is what is happening to them.
Meanwhile, the United States, the so-called torch that lights up the democratic world is now being run by conservatives in the House and could be threatened with lack of budget for the Federal Government next month. She does not seem to pose now as a good model for what is democratic in the world.
Anyway, so long as they are still using that power of speech to debate on what is good for their country, I guess that would still be called an essential element of democratic rule -- the right to debate to death on what is good for the country.
But seriously speaking now, I think that the Middle Eastern rulers who have held their powers for decades over a timid population must now confront the reality that times have changed and they are now being made accountable for the slow growth of their populace, not just physically but more so, intellectually.
I do think that repressive regimes are curtailing the human mind to think and bring forth positive ideas that could turn our planet as the best place in the universe to exist in. They should be made to realize that the human body exists at the most a hundred years only and that controlling so much wealth and power is not conducive to leading a happy life on earth.
But do the rulers in those regimes still think of happiness? Having gone through 9 years of questionable presidency, I think that such rulers only think of power from day to day and no longer pause to ponder over the total lot of their life. They bask in the glory of having underlings who call them "Sir" or "Ma'am" and who bow to them no end, and that is all that matters to them -- that "glorious" feeling of being on top of the world.
But the human mind changes, even those of poor people. I recall one vendor giving me P200 peso bills as change for my P500. And I asked him, Sir, please change this to hundreds. Why, he asked. Because I don't want to be reminded of that past era in our life. He replied, "But she and her family will not last long on this earth, as all of us. All those who made millions out of the people's lives shall not live very long. Everyone's life shall terminate.Diyos na ang bahala sa kanila," he said in conclusion.
Yes, we can turn philosophical about events in our lives but still we need to act in our society where certain groups still are hankering for a return to undemocratic rule where they could enjoy the wealth and power they once had without question.
This is why our Congressional investigations of the hidden wealth of the military soldiers are just the first step in our concretizing what should be the real face of democracy.
Actually, we never had a complete digging into the workings of martial law. It was the American courts that held the investigations and are now ruling in favor of ML victims, not a court nor any court, not even the Philippine Commission on Good Government, lifted a finger to make the Filipino people watch, hear, or read about the way Marcos and his cohorts ruled the country for 14 years, undemocratically. Instead we have academic writings, books,feature stories, and write-ups. Not once did we see any member of Marcos' family or cabinet member face and explain to the investigators how they amassed such wealth.
Hence, what we are bequeathing the world is just the preparatory phase to toppling an undemocratic rule but running a democratic country is not our best record. We are just starting now, and hopefully, we would also learn from other countries how the people fare and rule after gaining power, finally. That exchange of political lessons in democracy would be the best exercise of what is called a united world.
Hence, this world, this planet stands a better chance of not self-destructing if we could insure the survival and the rights of everyone to live humanely. Why because we would not want to stand on grounds that could not hold us up permanently and solidly while we breathe and watch the beauty of Mother Nature around us.
Must we celebrate now because the road to democracy is being unblocked one by one by in countries, especially in those that have highly conservative religions that restrict women's rights?
Truly, democracy's last recipients are women. It is the people who must first experience total obliteration of autocratic rule before they would focus on the rights of children. They do not come together: people's rights and women's rights. Why so?
In our country, the Philippines, we had a woman, Cory who led the country in toppling the male dictatorship backed up by the military. Later on, she signed the Family Code giving women almost equal rights as men in family life. She also signed the declaration of March as Women's Month as March 8 which is International Women's Day is a significant occasion for us in observing our roles in the family, the community and the larger society.
As the People Power Movement is reverberating all around now, we ask, how come the People's Republic of China seems to be unshakeable in its Communist Party's tenacious hold on power when it is so near our country? How come there is so much restriction of freedoms there, especially that freedom to write?
When we held the Asian Women's Conference in Davao way back in 1985, the Singaporean women, most of whom were of Chinese origin, said that they traded off their freedoms to speak, demonstrate and write for the right to eat, and to lead a comfortable life. They came then with their nice clothes and high lifestyle reflected in the things they carried with them.
And so why is it so easy for the Chinese to disbelieve in a democratic life? I think that it is the family life which puts a great pressure on the people to conform to authorities, a Confucian legacy. Conservativism is ingrained from childhood to adulthood so that turning against State repression is almost akin to losing one's ties with the family, a kind of self-annihilation, which is a sad thought to carry, really.
I remember that in our People Power movement in the 80's, the majority of the leaders were in their 30's and 40's then who had experienced living under democratic rules and had traveled in many parts of the world especially US and Europe. Hence it was easy thinking of and acting on reverting back the country to that time when we could speak and exercise all of our human rights without chains, literally and figuratively.
Our movement required intense debates then on where our country should go -- communist or democratic as the radicals were bent on wresting the rule from Marcos, too, at that time. But in the end the democrats won, us, and that's why we are here now.
However, in the case of China and the Arab worlds, the youth are in the frontlines now to change their country's path, having been awakened by the broad freedoms that communication technologies are able to dish out and allow them to experience, no matter how vicarious. Maybe to them viewing other people's struggles on screen is no longer enough; they themselves must experience that freedom to act on their lot. And so this is what is happening to them.
Meanwhile, the United States, the so-called torch that lights up the democratic world is now being run by conservatives in the House and could be threatened with lack of budget for the Federal Government next month. She does not seem to pose now as a good model for what is democratic in the world.
Anyway, so long as they are still using that power of speech to debate on what is good for their country, I guess that would still be called an essential element of democratic rule -- the right to debate to death on what is good for the country.
But seriously speaking now, I think that the Middle Eastern rulers who have held their powers for decades over a timid population must now confront the reality that times have changed and they are now being made accountable for the slow growth of their populace, not just physically but more so, intellectually.
I do think that repressive regimes are curtailing the human mind to think and bring forth positive ideas that could turn our planet as the best place in the universe to exist in. They should be made to realize that the human body exists at the most a hundred years only and that controlling so much wealth and power is not conducive to leading a happy life on earth.
But do the rulers in those regimes still think of happiness? Having gone through 9 years of questionable presidency, I think that such rulers only think of power from day to day and no longer pause to ponder over the total lot of their life. They bask in the glory of having underlings who call them "Sir" or "Ma'am" and who bow to them no end, and that is all that matters to them -- that "glorious" feeling of being on top of the world.
But the human mind changes, even those of poor people. I recall one vendor giving me P200 peso bills as change for my P500. And I asked him, Sir, please change this to hundreds. Why, he asked. Because I don't want to be reminded of that past era in our life. He replied, "But she and her family will not last long on this earth, as all of us. All those who made millions out of the people's lives shall not live very long. Everyone's life shall terminate.Diyos na ang bahala sa kanila," he said in conclusion.
Yes, we can turn philosophical about events in our lives but still we need to act in our society where certain groups still are hankering for a return to undemocratic rule where they could enjoy the wealth and power they once had without question.
This is why our Congressional investigations of the hidden wealth of the military soldiers are just the first step in our concretizing what should be the real face of democracy.
Actually, we never had a complete digging into the workings of martial law. It was the American courts that held the investigations and are now ruling in favor of ML victims, not a court nor any court, not even the Philippine Commission on Good Government, lifted a finger to make the Filipino people watch, hear, or read about the way Marcos and his cohorts ruled the country for 14 years, undemocratically. Instead we have academic writings, books,feature stories, and write-ups. Not once did we see any member of Marcos' family or cabinet member face and explain to the investigators how they amassed such wealth.
Hence, what we are bequeathing the world is just the preparatory phase to toppling an undemocratic rule but running a democratic country is not our best record. We are just starting now, and hopefully, we would also learn from other countries how the people fare and rule after gaining power, finally. That exchange of political lessons in democracy would be the best exercise of what is called a united world.
Hence, this world, this planet stands a better chance of not self-destructing if we could insure the survival and the rights of everyone to live humanely. Why because we would not want to stand on grounds that could not hold us up permanently and solidly while we breathe and watch the beauty of Mother Nature around us.
INVISIBLE PICTURE
Folks, I tried several times to upload an image of Arab people protesting but it does not show on this site.
You see, democracy is such a cuss word in states that are ruled secretly by conservative intel officers who hack computers of critics, all kinds of critics.
Sad. This is the Philippines.
You see, democracy is such a cuss word in states that are ruled secretly by conservative intel officers who hack computers of critics, all kinds of critics.
Sad. This is the Philippines.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
BALLET AND BEYOND
BALLET AND BEYOND
Wilhelmina S. Orozco
Why do we watch cultural shows? Why do our kababayan line up to buy tickets no matter how long the queue is? Why do they smile at the mere mention of their favorite media star? I think that’s the wonder of art and culture in general. The artistic products that the media stars put out provide the audience, the viewers, their fans with respite from the daily struggles to eke out a living. The messages they give, whether it is about their life, or their latest escapades with their romantic partners provide a glimpse of a starry life, maybe reachable or unreachable but nonetheless remaining attractive, interesting and inspiring for them.
Now there is such a thing as high or low brow shows. Classical ballet is one of those high brow elite arts that the masses generally shy away from watching as they have been used to the so-called “masa entertainment fare” on luncheon TV programs with gyrating dancers dressed in skimpy attire, or the acrobatic teenagers aping the crotch-catching steps of Michael Jackson. They are enticed no end to remain glued on TV no matter how repetitive, how monotonous the music coming from these programs are, as they also contain “Manalo ng milyun-milyun” promos, making their dream of becoming instant millionaires a possibility, whether as direct or home viewer.
But Lisa Macuja-Elizalde is not one to skip her dream of bringing ballet to the masses, no matter what the odds are stacked against her high brow field. Instead, she continues to produce shows that could generate interest, not only mere viewing but also educating the audience on what is great art. Her latest show, “Ballet, Band and Ballads” attests to this.
In this program, Lisa showcases Ballet Manila, her dancing ballet group with themes that are not commonly used in our everyday cultural entertainment shows. In “Less Sylphides,”, music by Frederic Chopin ‘s Les Sylphides, and choreography by Bam Damian III, the dancers are all male, with bare chests, and wearing half petticoat tied at the back executing vigorous ballet steps in very manly yet graceful ways, not one moment exhibiting any effeminate stance. It was refreshing watching that piece as if we were watching a group of swans floating on air and stepping down on the ground in gay abandon.
One of two paired pieces was “Grand Pas Classique” with music by Daniel Auber and choreography by Alexander Gorsky performed by Elena Chernova and her partner I don’t know which of these two: Nazer Salgado or Nino Guevarra. Elena, a Caucasian danced very lightly and made pirouettes that were too dazzling to count. The audience was so mesmerized by her dancing and of course her lone white beauty among the group of kayumanggi dancers that they gave her a loud applause.
The other piece was “Summer’s End”, performed by no less than the ballet icon Lisa, together with Rudy de Dios, with music by Chopin’s Concerto in E minor Opus 10 and choreography by Norman Walker. The story is the ill fate of two lovers whose feelings for each other are so passionate that they explored the heights and depths of romance, but in the end have to be separated from each other. The ending shows spotlights focused on the two and the rest of the stage in dark background thereby hinting at that great divide separating them. This was visual expression of romantic break-up at its best. Of course, the dance elicited great applause from the audience, a sincere appreciation especially at this time when Lisa would be rarely dancing on stage given her busy schedule of being the artistic director of the company.
“Alla Luce del Sole” with music by Josh Groban, choreography, concept, costume and light design and concept by Manuel Molina. has 31 male and female dancers, dressed in gray and black long robes, covered faces and heads dancing together, winding their way through the stage, molding themselves as humans, and later on as natural shapes as a mountain. “Alla” carries the theme of again, another kind of unfulfilled love, with the woman, rising up above this “human-made” mountain and then dropping down to her death. The man dances to retrieve her body covered by the group of dancers, lifeless, and then carries it on his shoulders, only to kill himself in the end also.
In between the various ballet pieces are the pop tunes sang by Side A band like “Hold On,” and “Got to Believe in Magic,” among others. This group was formed in 1985 and continues to produce albums, that carry songs popularized over the radio and in live performances by the band members who exhibit confident stage presence, at the end, making the audience stand for their last piece. Unfortunately, the audience is so tame that only a few swayed to the beat of the song which carries a message about a romantic person, waiting for love to fall his or her way.
Somehow, the repertoire that night of 17th February 2011 at Aliw Theatre shows an inclination towards heartbreaking love affairs, unrequited love, love abandoned, and all the ramifications of romantic attachments which are hot stuff among the majority of our cultural audiences. I guess, Lisa has captured the mindset of the Filipino viewers so that she prepared this program just to be able to make them appreciate ballet as well, an artform that usually appeals only to the highly educated and culturatti. Having been schooled in Russia with its educational program emphasizing not only expertise in the artform but also in social processes, Lisa has read the minds and hearts of the Filipino people and must be accorded our salute for her unending energy to bring culture to the masses.
Catch the program tonight and tomorrow night at Aliw Theatre again. Soprano Fides Cuyugan, our very own cultural music gem will be there tonight.
PS A legislative move exists to make another company the National Ballet Company of the country which is rather destructive and divisive of the current state of our culture. I think this move should not prosper because making a company lay claim to being THE company worthwhile being labeled as such is opening the cultural discourse to political wranglings. The arts should be politics-free – free from the manipulation of individuals, groups and government officials into nurturing only their chosen artists instead of making the arts reachable to everyone, especially the masses regardless of political color.
Wilhelmina S. Orozco
Why do we watch cultural shows? Why do our kababayan line up to buy tickets no matter how long the queue is? Why do they smile at the mere mention of their favorite media star? I think that’s the wonder of art and culture in general. The artistic products that the media stars put out provide the audience, the viewers, their fans with respite from the daily struggles to eke out a living. The messages they give, whether it is about their life, or their latest escapades with their romantic partners provide a glimpse of a starry life, maybe reachable or unreachable but nonetheless remaining attractive, interesting and inspiring for them.
Now there is such a thing as high or low brow shows. Classical ballet is one of those high brow elite arts that the masses generally shy away from watching as they have been used to the so-called “masa entertainment fare” on luncheon TV programs with gyrating dancers dressed in skimpy attire, or the acrobatic teenagers aping the crotch-catching steps of Michael Jackson. They are enticed no end to remain glued on TV no matter how repetitive, how monotonous the music coming from these programs are, as they also contain “Manalo ng milyun-milyun” promos, making their dream of becoming instant millionaires a possibility, whether as direct or home viewer.
But Lisa Macuja-Elizalde is not one to skip her dream of bringing ballet to the masses, no matter what the odds are stacked against her high brow field. Instead, she continues to produce shows that could generate interest, not only mere viewing but also educating the audience on what is great art. Her latest show, “Ballet, Band and Ballads” attests to this.
In this program, Lisa showcases Ballet Manila, her dancing ballet group with themes that are not commonly used in our everyday cultural entertainment shows. In “Less Sylphides,”, music by Frederic Chopin ‘s Les Sylphides, and choreography by Bam Damian III, the dancers are all male, with bare chests, and wearing half petticoat tied at the back executing vigorous ballet steps in very manly yet graceful ways, not one moment exhibiting any effeminate stance. It was refreshing watching that piece as if we were watching a group of swans floating on air and stepping down on the ground in gay abandon.
One of two paired pieces was “Grand Pas Classique” with music by Daniel Auber and choreography by Alexander Gorsky performed by Elena Chernova and her partner I don’t know which of these two: Nazer Salgado or Nino Guevarra. Elena, a Caucasian danced very lightly and made pirouettes that were too dazzling to count. The audience was so mesmerized by her dancing and of course her lone white beauty among the group of kayumanggi dancers that they gave her a loud applause.
The other piece was “Summer’s End”, performed by no less than the ballet icon Lisa, together with Rudy de Dios, with music by Chopin’s Concerto in E minor Opus 10 and choreography by Norman Walker. The story is the ill fate of two lovers whose feelings for each other are so passionate that they explored the heights and depths of romance, but in the end have to be separated from each other. The ending shows spotlights focused on the two and the rest of the stage in dark background thereby hinting at that great divide separating them. This was visual expression of romantic break-up at its best. Of course, the dance elicited great applause from the audience, a sincere appreciation especially at this time when Lisa would be rarely dancing on stage given her busy schedule of being the artistic director of the company.
“Alla Luce del Sole” with music by Josh Groban, choreography, concept, costume and light design and concept by Manuel Molina. has 31 male and female dancers, dressed in gray and black long robes, covered faces and heads dancing together, winding their way through the stage, molding themselves as humans, and later on as natural shapes as a mountain. “Alla” carries the theme of again, another kind of unfulfilled love, with the woman, rising up above this “human-made” mountain and then dropping down to her death. The man dances to retrieve her body covered by the group of dancers, lifeless, and then carries it on his shoulders, only to kill himself in the end also.
In between the various ballet pieces are the pop tunes sang by Side A band like “Hold On,” and “Got to Believe in Magic,” among others. This group was formed in 1985 and continues to produce albums, that carry songs popularized over the radio and in live performances by the band members who exhibit confident stage presence, at the end, making the audience stand for their last piece. Unfortunately, the audience is so tame that only a few swayed to the beat of the song which carries a message about a romantic person, waiting for love to fall his or her way.
Somehow, the repertoire that night of 17th February 2011 at Aliw Theatre shows an inclination towards heartbreaking love affairs, unrequited love, love abandoned, and all the ramifications of romantic attachments which are hot stuff among the majority of our cultural audiences. I guess, Lisa has captured the mindset of the Filipino viewers so that she prepared this program just to be able to make them appreciate ballet as well, an artform that usually appeals only to the highly educated and culturatti. Having been schooled in Russia with its educational program emphasizing not only expertise in the artform but also in social processes, Lisa has read the minds and hearts of the Filipino people and must be accorded our salute for her unending energy to bring culture to the masses.
Catch the program tonight and tomorrow night at Aliw Theatre again. Soprano Fides Cuyugan, our very own cultural music gem will be there tonight.
PS A legislative move exists to make another company the National Ballet Company of the country which is rather destructive and divisive of the current state of our culture. I think this move should not prosper because making a company lay claim to being THE company worthwhile being labeled as such is opening the cultural discourse to political wranglings. The arts should be politics-free – free from the manipulation of individuals, groups and government officials into nurturing only their chosen artists instead of making the arts reachable to everyone, especially the masses regardless of political color.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
GUARDING AGAINST POLITICAL AMNESIA
by Wilhelmina S. Orozco
I remember February 7th, 1986 when a group I was with held a rally in and harangued the Marcos media people in front of Channel 4, now ABS-CBN network along Bohol Avenue. I spoke at that rally and said how the Marcoses stole the network from the Lopezes and the need to return it to them.
After that, I sought to produce a women's program in Channel 2, after Cory returned it to the Lopezes. But aside from one crack at directing "Ang Pagmumulat ni Ellen" which is about child abuse and incest, an episode of the Bantay Bata TV program,courtesy of Ms. Gina Lopez, which folded up immediately afterwards, and twice appearing in the show of Carl Balita's Go Negosyo, I have not had the luck to deal with the network, nor with directing a film for Star Cinema under Charo Santos-Concio.
Is it a case of amnesia on their part that they would not give me a chance to exercise my skills -- to work, and not be given a silver platter -- as a filmmaker, despite my political contributions? No, not amnesia but political savviness. I am not savvy enough to know with whom to connect more permanently and more significantly with them. Media, film especially. is a powerful tool, to raise the political consciousness of the public and probably the ABS-CBN honchos had viewed me as a competitive alternative to them, employment-wise.
Anyway, the above are relevant to what I really want to say here.
I maintain that it is not correct to say that what is happening in Egypt is miles apart from what had happened in our People Power Movement in the 80's. I am sure that the Egyptians who are rising up against a dictator have taken lessons from our and other countries' experiences who also underwent people power transitions to a democratic rule, like Germany, Ukraine, Russia and other Eastern European countries, and so are more determined now to attain their objective. They have learned a lot in terms of not only massing up physically at the Tahrir Square but also in terms of using peaceful means to achieve their ends.
Right now, their movement has expanded to places outside of Cairo, covering various sectors of their society -- textile workers, journalists, and other workers. This shows that the Egyptians are now systematic in their approach to socio-political changes knowing that the broad participation of the populace is highly important in insuring the success of the movement. Also, by having such participation, future moves to strengthen the success of political popular acts could readily tap these sectors in times of peace, and hopefully would not occur, of war.
City-based People Power
On the other hand, our People Power in '86 was largely city-based, Metro-Manila wide, and spontaneous, although there were also masses of people at cities in the Visayas and Mindanao. Actually, there were more individual rather than organizational participants as the people then were wary of organized groups, especially the radical ones who had (and maybe have) the tendency to lord it over in any kind of association.
Removing one dictatorship does not mean falling under a new one, after all. Our movement revolved around Cory, the bereaved widow, who was able to unite the contending opposing factions and rally the people to move as one to make the Marcoses leave the Malacanang Palace. Unfortunately, our people power movement was so fragile, the first in human history to have occurred so that the leaders of EDSA Dos were able to subvert its aims and install a kunu-democratic but actually, corrupt regime of 9 years.
Anyway, now our people power is still in effect. The success of electing PNoy in the 2010 national elections showed the people's will through the ballot. Our people stood and brave the heat just so they could exercise their right of suffrage and elect the leaders they want to rule over our fate for the next 6 years.
Now, our people power has acquired a legalistic color with Congressional hearings going into full swing, scrutinizing official acts of government officials, including the military and the police. Have these officials really understood what democracy means and practice its tenets -- in terms of a respectful treatment of the institutions, their use of funds - whether judicious or not, and their respect of the needs of their own constituents?
Our people are glued to what is happening, but I am sure, are still ready to take public action should the Congressional sessions revert to becoming moro-moro propaganda.
Contrary political approaches?
Are we far from the experiences of the Egyptians? Not really although we should view changes in this way: different cultures have different approaches to problems.
Our approach happens to be this way because we could be lacking in numbers and the will in terms of conducting another people power. Labour migration has crippled our workers' movement. Many professionals have left the country for better pay outside. And so, our people power movement could not take a vigorous push so much as we are experiencing a great number of populace who could be dependent on remittances from abroad and so would be doubtful or willy-nilly about taking to the streets in order to experience change. The young people who could serve as the core of a movement are stuck to their chairs playing computer games and experiencing love-dovey dates pulled as they are by sex and romance-inclined media.
The possibility of cutting off remittances could truly make even the politically aware and the courageous not to make a stand even to such a simple issue as removing the oil deregulation law. Luckily though we still have a vibrant media - print and radio, especially RMN, Super BB, DZMM, DWIZ, and DZRH, which give critical assessments- pros and cons- of what are happening on a daily basis. I can't say much about tv critics because the hosts in public affairs programs could run against network policies (the network could run in danger of being disenfranchised) should they become too radical with their views.
Anyway, many of those we have elected are showing us their mettle, their commitment to truly transforming our country and the lives of the majority of the Filipino people by targetting those who have illegally amassed wealth at the expense of their own constituents. Something is brewing also as political realignments are occuring to make everyone take a strong stand against erring officials especially those who transgress the law.
Investigations have focused on the military chiefs who have thrown our soldiers to warzones, who risk their lives, facing danger every second without any assurance of getting what is legally due them as their basic salaries, equipment and supplies. Colonel Querubin, or is he a general now, narrated how he and his troops had gone to East Timor to fight in the war with very meager paraphernalia compared to soldiers from other countries. Yet they performed meritoriously, he said. (I really think that's the height of insensitivity of the military higher-ups. I was able to catch the statements of some on radio and truly, I squirmed when some generals even gleefully joked about the charges exhibiting no pangs of guilt or sorrow about having been in power and yet not doing a thing about such corrupt practices at all during their time. This shows that corruption could truly desensitize individuals in power.)
As an aside, should more guilty people use suicide as an option, may I say that psychologists believe self-destruction is one way of making the people around, the living, feel guilty about what had happened to them instead of admitting their own vulnerabilities. Let us have a scientific view of events, involving everyone, especially the experts in giving a critical assessment of why guilty people react in a radical way. In our current times, let us get everyone's opinion, especially the psychiatrists' and psychologists' to make us also pay attention to mental and emotional health as important factors to consider when carrying out any public movement at all.
In conclusion, let us continue to observe the Congressional sessions while keeping a close watch on what is happening in Egypt. We need to watch the latter in order to act readily should destruction of her culture, among other things, happen just like what had occurred during the siege of Iraq. Worldwide reaction to such happenings could stop such irreverent acts, or any inhuman act that would destroy historical treasures that show us the evolution of human societies.
By the way, in our case, our cultural treasures were not really destroyed but the jewels and other articles of Imelda were pilfered, some of which are reverting now to her possession. Instead of displaying them forever at the Malacanang museum to remind us and show to foreign visitors why we undertook the movement in '86, how loathing the lifestyle was of the Marcoses at that time and why they including their cohorts deserved to be deposed, some officials seem to want to erase every article that would remind us of our People Power '86. That is an utterly disgusting act.
Hence, Folks, let us guard against national political amnesia, induced and not induced, in our midst. Eternal vigilance is the answer to dictatorships of any kind.
I remember February 7th, 1986 when a group I was with held a rally in and harangued the Marcos media people in front of Channel 4, now ABS-CBN network along Bohol Avenue. I spoke at that rally and said how the Marcoses stole the network from the Lopezes and the need to return it to them.
After that, I sought to produce a women's program in Channel 2, after Cory returned it to the Lopezes. But aside from one crack at directing "Ang Pagmumulat ni Ellen" which is about child abuse and incest, an episode of the Bantay Bata TV program,courtesy of Ms. Gina Lopez, which folded up immediately afterwards, and twice appearing in the show of Carl Balita's Go Negosyo, I have not had the luck to deal with the network, nor with directing a film for Star Cinema under Charo Santos-Concio.
Is it a case of amnesia on their part that they would not give me a chance to exercise my skills -- to work, and not be given a silver platter -- as a filmmaker, despite my political contributions? No, not amnesia but political savviness. I am not savvy enough to know with whom to connect more permanently and more significantly with them. Media, film especially. is a powerful tool, to raise the political consciousness of the public and probably the ABS-CBN honchos had viewed me as a competitive alternative to them, employment-wise.
Anyway, the above are relevant to what I really want to say here.
I maintain that it is not correct to say that what is happening in Egypt is miles apart from what had happened in our People Power Movement in the 80's. I am sure that the Egyptians who are rising up against a dictator have taken lessons from our and other countries' experiences who also underwent people power transitions to a democratic rule, like Germany, Ukraine, Russia and other Eastern European countries, and so are more determined now to attain their objective. They have learned a lot in terms of not only massing up physically at the Tahrir Square but also in terms of using peaceful means to achieve their ends.
Right now, their movement has expanded to places outside of Cairo, covering various sectors of their society -- textile workers, journalists, and other workers. This shows that the Egyptians are now systematic in their approach to socio-political changes knowing that the broad participation of the populace is highly important in insuring the success of the movement. Also, by having such participation, future moves to strengthen the success of political popular acts could readily tap these sectors in times of peace, and hopefully would not occur, of war.
City-based People Power
On the other hand, our People Power in '86 was largely city-based, Metro-Manila wide, and spontaneous, although there were also masses of people at cities in the Visayas and Mindanao. Actually, there were more individual rather than organizational participants as the people then were wary of organized groups, especially the radical ones who had (and maybe have) the tendency to lord it over in any kind of association.
Removing one dictatorship does not mean falling under a new one, after all. Our movement revolved around Cory, the bereaved widow, who was able to unite the contending opposing factions and rally the people to move as one to make the Marcoses leave the Malacanang Palace. Unfortunately, our people power movement was so fragile, the first in human history to have occurred so that the leaders of EDSA Dos were able to subvert its aims and install a kunu-democratic but actually, corrupt regime of 9 years.
Anyway, now our people power is still in effect. The success of electing PNoy in the 2010 national elections showed the people's will through the ballot. Our people stood and brave the heat just so they could exercise their right of suffrage and elect the leaders they want to rule over our fate for the next 6 years.
Now, our people power has acquired a legalistic color with Congressional hearings going into full swing, scrutinizing official acts of government officials, including the military and the police. Have these officials really understood what democracy means and practice its tenets -- in terms of a respectful treatment of the institutions, their use of funds - whether judicious or not, and their respect of the needs of their own constituents?
Our people are glued to what is happening, but I am sure, are still ready to take public action should the Congressional sessions revert to becoming moro-moro propaganda.
Contrary political approaches?
Are we far from the experiences of the Egyptians? Not really although we should view changes in this way: different cultures have different approaches to problems.
Our approach happens to be this way because we could be lacking in numbers and the will in terms of conducting another people power. Labour migration has crippled our workers' movement. Many professionals have left the country for better pay outside. And so, our people power movement could not take a vigorous push so much as we are experiencing a great number of populace who could be dependent on remittances from abroad and so would be doubtful or willy-nilly about taking to the streets in order to experience change. The young people who could serve as the core of a movement are stuck to their chairs playing computer games and experiencing love-dovey dates pulled as they are by sex and romance-inclined media.
The possibility of cutting off remittances could truly make even the politically aware and the courageous not to make a stand even to such a simple issue as removing the oil deregulation law. Luckily though we still have a vibrant media - print and radio, especially RMN, Super BB, DZMM, DWIZ, and DZRH, which give critical assessments- pros and cons- of what are happening on a daily basis. I can't say much about tv critics because the hosts in public affairs programs could run against network policies (the network could run in danger of being disenfranchised) should they become too radical with their views.
Anyway, many of those we have elected are showing us their mettle, their commitment to truly transforming our country and the lives of the majority of the Filipino people by targetting those who have illegally amassed wealth at the expense of their own constituents. Something is brewing also as political realignments are occuring to make everyone take a strong stand against erring officials especially those who transgress the law.
Investigations have focused on the military chiefs who have thrown our soldiers to warzones, who risk their lives, facing danger every second without any assurance of getting what is legally due them as their basic salaries, equipment and supplies. Colonel Querubin, or is he a general now, narrated how he and his troops had gone to East Timor to fight in the war with very meager paraphernalia compared to soldiers from other countries. Yet they performed meritoriously, he said. (I really think that's the height of insensitivity of the military higher-ups. I was able to catch the statements of some on radio and truly, I squirmed when some generals even gleefully joked about the charges exhibiting no pangs of guilt or sorrow about having been in power and yet not doing a thing about such corrupt practices at all during their time. This shows that corruption could truly desensitize individuals in power.)
As an aside, should more guilty people use suicide as an option, may I say that psychologists believe self-destruction is one way of making the people around, the living, feel guilty about what had happened to them instead of admitting their own vulnerabilities. Let us have a scientific view of events, involving everyone, especially the experts in giving a critical assessment of why guilty people react in a radical way. In our current times, let us get everyone's opinion, especially the psychiatrists' and psychologists' to make us also pay attention to mental and emotional health as important factors to consider when carrying out any public movement at all.
In conclusion, let us continue to observe the Congressional sessions while keeping a close watch on what is happening in Egypt. We need to watch the latter in order to act readily should destruction of her culture, among other things, happen just like what had occurred during the siege of Iraq. Worldwide reaction to such happenings could stop such irreverent acts, or any inhuman act that would destroy historical treasures that show us the evolution of human societies.
By the way, in our case, our cultural treasures were not really destroyed but the jewels and other articles of Imelda were pilfered, some of which are reverting now to her possession. Instead of displaying them forever at the Malacanang museum to remind us and show to foreign visitors why we undertook the movement in '86, how loathing the lifestyle was of the Marcoses at that time and why they including their cohorts deserved to be deposed, some officials seem to want to erase every article that would remind us of our People Power '86. That is an utterly disgusting act.
Hence, Folks, let us guard against national political amnesia, induced and not induced, in our midst. Eternal vigilance is the answer to dictatorships of any kind.
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