Tama Na Party: Maraming Tiyanak Baby

(Prologue: At sa wakas, nagtinta na ang utak ko.

Nitong mga nakakaraang buwan para bang napakahirap magsulat [o, kung magsusulat ka man, parang walang taga sa damdamin, walang pagpapahalaga talaga, walang pagtataya]. Parang napakahirap pigain at/o ilabas ang mga bagay na ang akala mo dati mo nang alam, dati mo nang naiintindihan, dati mo namang kayang sabihin nang walang alinlangan. Kung tutuusin, ang mga dating mahahabang rant at/o pagpapahayag ng ideya, damdamin, etc. ay nauwi sa bigla-biglang bugso ng damdamin sa Plurk, pagsipi sa mga binabasa kong kung sinu-sino nang patay na tao sa Facebook, at tandisang pagkabagoong ng aking isiping kritikal. Para bang naka-life support ang utak ko nitong nakaraang tatlong buwan at ang nakapagpanatili lamang sa aking paki sa mga nangyayari sa aking paligid ay ang mga nakatatanda’t mga tagapaggabay sa Kagawaran ng Agham Politikal, ang mga kapatnugutan sa Matanglawin at ang mga kakilalang paminsan-minsa’y pinararaket ako sa Paaralan ng Pamamahala.

Siguro special thanks sa aking mga itinuring nang mga political parents na sina Ma’am Joy Aceron at Sir Kiko Isaac (peminista ako, bakit?), sa revolutionary counsel nina Sir RR Rañeses, Sir Arjan Aguirre, Sir Gino Trinidad, Boss Rosselle Tugade at Master Biboy Alimangohan (mga kainuman, tagapayo, tagahubog ng pagtanaw sa politika at tsismis, steady supply ng second-hand smoke, at palaging tinatanong sakin ang normative question na “nakakain ba yan?”), sa mag-anak ni Karen Mae Cruz at Phillip Recentes (na pinaglalabasan ko ng mga singaw sa utak at hinihingan ng payo), ang Block I1 at I na nagpapakita saking may pag-asa pa rin pala ang isang nabulok na utak na gaya ng sa akin, ang Block II na lagi’t lagi akong binibigyan ng hamon na sumabay at/o umigpaw, ang Matanglawin na nagtitiwala pa rin sa aking kakayanang ayusin ang sirang cabinet (matatapos na po!), ang Ateneo College Ministry Group na may tiwala pa rin sa aking kakayanang maglingkod sa harap ng dambana, kay Padre Luis David at G. Patrick Momah para sa isang taon ng pagsigang sa aking utak kay Michel Foucault at Hannah Arendt, kay Dr. Benjamin Tolosa na hindi na kailangan ng pagpapaliwanag, sa Legal Network for Truthful Elections na alam kong binigyan ako ng marmaing bigay sa kabila ng aking mga walang-wawang pagkukulang, sa mga manong guard ng aking tinutuluyan na walang-sawang bumabati sa akin sa pag-alis at pag-uwi na para ko nang mga tatay, at sa aking suking binibilhan ng mangga. May utang pa akong dalawang kilo sa kanya.)

~O~O~O~

Alam kong maraming tuwang-tuwa sa atin nang masaksiha’t marinig natin ang isang bagong administrasyon at ang pangako ng isang bagong pagtalad tungo sa daang matuwid na ibinandila ng ating bagong Pangulong Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III. Maraming kabataan siguro ang ngayon pa lang nakarinig ng isang Pangulong nagsasalita na tunay na pinalakpakan at pinagtitiwalaan ng sambayanang nakakapagsalita, na malamang ay naikukwento lamang sa inyo ng inyong mga guro sa HeKaSi tuwing pinag-uusapan si Ramon Magsaysay o maski ang kanyang inang si Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino. Sabi nga ng marami, isang bagong kabanata, isang bagong pagkakataon, isang bagong Pilipinas.

At siyempre, ang sinasabi ng pinakamarami ang siyang pinaka-hindi dapat pagtiwalaan. Oo, tunog elitista yun, pero patapusin niyo ako.

Marami sa atin ang may tendensiyang magpakasaya tuwing tayo’y makakakamit ng maliliit na tagumpay. Sa totoo nga lang, sinabi na dati pa ni Nick Joaquin na ang ating kasaysaya’y isang kasaysayan kung saan napakalaki ng papel ng mga piging. Na siyang supposedly ay pinag-uugatan ng ating fixation sa mga pista sa puntong ipag-uutang pa natin ang siyang ipampipista kahit malubog sa utang at hindi na mabayad-bayaran. Na kung tutuusin ang ating mga dinadakilang rebolusyon ng 1986 at 2001 ay sobrang parang katuwaan lang, na iilan lang ang namatay, kaya parang chipipay sa ilan ang napanalunan nating “demokrasya,” at dahil doon ay parang binabale-wala na ng kasalukuyang henerasyon (at ng ating mga kaibigang taxi driver) na mas ok pa yata ang mamuhay sa ilalim ng isang diktadurya. Siyempre, insulto naman ang sinabi kong iyon sa libu-libong pinatay ng rehimeng Marcos, pero sa totoo lang, minsan may appeal yung sinabi ng RAM na walang value ang iyong kinakamit na panlipunang pagbabago kung wala kang itinaya. Preferably, dugo. O sa panitik ni Simoun:

Ano ang kamatayan? Kawalan, o isang panaginip? Maihahambing ba ang mga katatakutan nito sa mga paghihirap ng isang isinumpang salinlahi? Kailangang wasakin ang kasamaan, patayin ang dragon at paliguin ang bagong bayan sa dugo nito upang sila’y lumakas at di-magugupo. Ano pa ba ang batas ng kalikasan, ang batas ng pag-aalit kung saan ang mahihina’y dapat malipol upang ang mga walang-silbing lipi’y di magtagal at nang di bumalik ang takbo ng mga nilikha? Tama na ang mga pambinabaeng pagdidili-dili! Sundin ang mga batas na ito, payabungin sila, at tataba ang lupa habang lalong nadidiligan ng dugo, at ang mga trono’y lalong titibay habang sila’y nakasandig sa mga krimen at bangkay! Huwag nang magduda, huwag mag-alinlangan! Ano ang sakit ng kamatayan? Isang saglit na damdamin, marahil nakakalito, marahil kasiya-siya, tulad ng paggising mula sa paghimbing. Ano ang winawasak? Kasamaan, pagdurusa – mga mahihinang damo, upang palitan sila ng magagandang tanim. Tinatawag mo ba iyang pagwasak? Dapat ito tawaging paglikha, paggawa, pagkandili, pagbuhay!

Pero ewan. Supposedly pinanghahawakan ko ang paninindigan ng sosyalistang demokrasya (hindi sosyalera¸ putek, alisin mo ang fluffy-shit na napupulot mo sa Starbucks, Rockwell o Emba). Na ang pakikibaka’t pagsusulong ng pagbabago ay sa pamamagitan ngpagsasalita, diyalogo, diskurso at pakikibahagi sa parlamentaryo ng lansangan. Na lahat ay madadaan sa salitaan at diskurso. Na ang tanging paraan ng dahas na puwede nating paghugutan ng lakas para lumaban ay ang ay dahas ng mga salita. Dahil sabi nga ni Napoleon, mas nakakatakot harapin ang isang diyaryo kesa sandaang kanyon.

Pero parang kulang e. Parang may mga tao talagang hindi dapat patawarin. Kumbaga sabi nga na “may mga hindi mapapatawad ang Espiritu Santo,” mayroon ding mga bagay na hindi tayo dapat patawarin kung tunay tayong Kristiyano at naniniwala sa katarungan.

Kagaya ni Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Kagaya ng lahat ng mga kupal na trapong tinutularan ngayon ni Manny Pacquiao (siyempre, pwedeng-pwede natin idaan sa dirkurso ang pangangailangan sa mga trapo o etikong trapo sa pagpapanatili ng demokratikong espasyo). Ewan. Para bang may pakiramdam ka na sa mga ganitong panahon “hindi na sapat ang mga reporma at mga paki.” Kumbaga, sa etika ng MAGIS na sa malaking hamon ay higit na malaking tugon, ang isang malaki’t tandisang pambabalahura ay dapat gantihin ng higit pang pambabalahura sa mga maysalang kalaban ng bayan.

Kasi, isipin mo naman, ang sarap pakinggan nitong mga salitang to nung Miyerkules di ba?

Kayo ba ay minsan ring nalimutan ng pamahalaang inyong iniluklok sa puwesto? Ako rin. Kayo ba ay nagtiis na sa trapiko para lamang masingitan ng isang naghahari-hariang de-wangwang sa kalsada? Ako rin. Kayo ba ay sawang-sawa na sa pamahalaang sa halip na magsilbi sa taumbayan ay kailangan pa nila itong pagpasensiyahan at tiisin? Ako rin.

…

Kami ay narito para magsilbi at hindi para maghari. Ang mandato ninyo sa amin ay pagbabago – isang malinaw na utos para ayusin ang gobyerno at lipunan mula sa pamahalaang iilan lamang ang nakikinabang tungo sa isang pamahalaang kabutihan ng mamamayan ang pinangangalagaan.

Ang mandatong ito ay isa kung saan kayo at ang inyong pangulo ay nagkasundo para sa pagbabago – isang paninindigan na ipinangako ko noong kampanya at tinanggap ninyo noong araw ng halalan.

Sigaw natin noong kampanya: “Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap.” Hindi lamang ito pang slogan o pang poster – ito ang mga prinsipyong tinatayuan at nagsisilbing batayan ng ating administrasyon.

…

Binuhay natin ang diwa ng people power noong kampanya. Ipagpatuloy natin ito tungo sa tuwid at tapat na pamamahala. Ang naniniwala sa people power ay nakatuon sa kapwa at hindi sa sarili.

Sa mga nang-api sa akin, kaya ko kayong patawarin, at pinapatawad ko na kayo. Sa mga nang-api sa sambayanan, wala akong karapatan na limutin ang inyong mga kasalanan.

To those who are talking about reconciliation, if they mean that they would like us to simply forget about the wrongs that they have committed in the past, we have this to say: there can be no reconciliation without justice. Sa paglimot ng pagkakasala, sinisigurado mong mauulit muli ang mga pagkakasalang ito.

Mga ilang ulit na rin naibahagi ni Prof. Ambeth Ocampo: “History does not repeat itself: we repeat history.” (Hindi inuulit ng kasaysayan ang kanyang sarili; tayo ang umuulit sa kasaysayan.) Medyo hindi ko magawang maging kampante na magagawa natin ang mga pagbabagong ito habang nakaamba ang punyetang balitang ito:

The former President and her son, Camarines Sur Rep. Diosdado Arroyo, filed House Resolution No. 8 calling for a constitutional convention (Concon) to propose amendments to the 1987 Constitution.

…

“We are aware that her heart has always been to amend the Constitution. That is not a surprise, that is something we will deal with together with our partners in the House,” presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda told reporters. “It is something that we are not bothered with, it is something we expected from the start.”

Lacierda said that Cha-cha was a “matter of numbers in Congress” and that if the Aquino administration succeeded in convincing members of the House that amending the Constitution would be untimely, “then that will be dead in the water.”

“Gloria is trying to test the waters,” said Ramon Casiple, executive director of the Institute for Political and Electoral Reforms. “It’s one way of polling members of the House and find out whether she still has the numbers.”

“Her proposal to change the Constitution could be a rallying point for congressmen who will not get positions under the Liberal Party-led House leadership,” Casiple said.

Other analysts said that while the Arroyo resolution posed no direct threat to the presidency of Benigno Aquino III, an early debate on Cha-cha could tie down Aquino’s legislative agenda at a time when he needs his reform program to take off.

…

House Resolution No. 8 states that the various proposals put forward to change the Constitution are vital to addressing the people’s needs and to making the country globally competitive.
It says the changes are best achieved through the least controversial method—the constitutional convention. The other prescribed modes for revising the Charter are through a constituent assembly and through a people’s initiative.

“Calling for a constitutional convention to propose amendments or revisions of the Constitution is the least divisive and the most transparent, exhaustive and democratic means of implementing constitutional reforms,” the resolution states.

“The ... Constitution contains certain provisions which have outlived their purpose and need to be revisited to institute much-needed socioeconomic and political reforms,” it adds.

Electing delegates to the Concon would also allay concerns that sitting officials would just want to take advantage of the constitutional changes.

“To dispel fears of promoting any vested interests among the incumbent elected officials, the election of delegates to the constitutional convention is necessary and desirable,” the resolution says.

…

Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Teodoro Casiño said that Arroyo’s move was cause for alarm, adding the threat of her eventually becoming a prime minister remained because lawmakers might just back her resolution to gain more power for themselves.

“That’s precisely one of the reasons she ran for Congress. The cat is out of the bag,” Casiño said.

“Remember, most congressmen want Cha-cha in order to abolish the Senate and make Congress more powerful.”

Another Liberal Party stalwart, Mandaluyong Rep. Neptali Gonzales, is proposing that the question of whether there should be a constitutional convention in the first place should be thrown to the people in a referendum.

“Let’s relieve Congress of this issue,” Gonzales said. “If the people say they don’t want (a constitutional convention), let’s stop it. If they say yes, we push for it with a new measure.”

Sige, given, kinatawan na lamang ng Pampanga si Arroyo. Malaki ang dipirensya ng kapangyarihan niya noon bilang Pangulo at ngayong nasa Kongreso lamang siya. Pero kailangan pa ba nating harapin ito? Gusto ba talaga natin ang ganitong proposisyon? Tinanong ba talaga ang Pampanga ukol dito? Siyempre, gaya ng Ilocos na “hindi bibitiw ang loyalty” kay Apo, ganoon nga siguro ang takbo ng sikmura ng mga tao doon ngayon. Kahit ba sabihin ni Frederic Schaffer na ang paglalatag ng repormismo at “clean and honest election” ay kadalasan nakakainsulto sa sensibilidad ng mga mahihirap (na naniniwala sa politika ng pakikipag-ugnayan at palitan ng mga kagamitan sa pagkakaibigan, na swak naman sa sinabi ni Aristoteles), ito ba talaga ang gusto ng mamamayan? Gusto ba talaga nila ang baguhin ang porma ng konstitusyon na inilalatag ng isang partidong matagal na nilang gustong paalisin sa poder? Paano natin matutulungan ang ating Pangulong makapagsimula tayong lahat sa landas na matuwid kung ang mga “kinatawan” natin ay ang mga datihang ungas pa rin?

Minsan, marami talagang interesanteng bagay sa proposisyon ng “good governance,” pero hangga’t hindi nito nagagawang mailatag ang mga talagang nais at kailangan ng mamamayan, anti-demokratiko pa ring paraan ng pagpapatakbo ito. At dapat lang sigurong isuka na natin ang pagkukumpara natin sa Singapore sa ating mga sarili: lungsod lang yan! Mas malaki pa nga ang Makati diyan e (isa pa siguro sa mga dahilan kung bakit nga nanalo si Binay).

Hindi madali ang baguhin ang isang lipunan: sure, Rome wasn’t built in a day. Pero parang hindi rin yata ayos na lumaban tayo na ang dala lang natin ay salita at mga reporma. May natitira pa rin sa aking damdamin na ang isang sambayanang handang manglipol at magbubo ng dugo ng mang-aapi (maski kababayan pa niya ito) lamang ang may kakayanang magtagal bilang demokrasya. Yung sinabi ni Padre Florentino sa panulat ni Rizal: “kapag ang sambayanan ay di handa, kapag lumaban ito sa pamamagitan ng panlilinlang at dahas, nang walang malinaw na pag-unawa sa kanyang ginagawa, mabibigo ang mga pinakamatatalinong panukala. At mabuti na ngang mabigo, dahil bakit mo ipapakasal ang babae sa lalake kung hindi niya ito lubusang mahal, kung hindi siya handang mamatay para sa kanya?”

Pero baka mainit lang ang ulo ko. Takot ako dahil mayroon ngayong posibleng makapagpadala ng pagbabago na haharangan na naman ng mga anti-politikal na elemento. Takot ako dahil pagod na pagod na ang mamamayan at ayoko nang mabigo sila sa kanilang mga pangarap. Dahil sa mga ganitong pagkakataon, kapag nabigo pa ang anumang layon sa reporma, dalawa ang puwede nating hantungan: ang mapilitang lisanin ang bansang ito at ang identidad na Pilipino, o ang tumungo sa larangan na may dalang tabak, rebolber, sumpak, tirador, boga, pillbox at molotob.

Molotob. Kaunting kibot lang ng kabiguan, baka magtapon na ako nito. At ang mga taong pagod na na pipiliin ang mamatay na lumalaban.

~O~O~O~

(Postscript: Ewan ko lang: antagal ko rin hindi nakapagsulat dahil hindi ko alam kung ano talaga ang dapat sabihin. Actually humaba lang ito dahil sa mga news clippings, pero nakita niyo naman na sa puntong ito ng buhay ko hindi ko talaga alam kung papaano haharapin ang mga posibleng panganib na haharapin nating mga lumalaban para sa tunay na pagpapatatag ng demokrasya. Baka senior syndrome lang din ito.)

A Mother Not Like Any Other: Postscript to Cory Aquino

Look around you! Look at these people. Do you see the suffering and unhappiness in this world? Their only hope is the Resurrected Jesus. I don't care whether you're Jesus or not. The Resurrected Jesus will save the world -- that's what matters...

I created the truth out of what people needed and what they believed. You don't know how happy he can make them. Happy to do anything. He can make them happy to die and they'll die… all for the sake of Christ. Jesus Christ. Jesus of Nazareth, Son of God. Messiah...

My Jesus is much more powerful.

- Paul the Apostle, The Last Temptation of Christ

Nick Joaquin, in an attempt to placate the anti-clerical bent of the traditional reading of the Filipino revolution, once proposed that we look kindly on our culture of festivities as it is these that bred the preferable ground for the Katipunan to launch their revolt on the eve of their discovery. We Filipinos, despite our pervasive liberal-democratic institutions, nevertheless have a legendary penchant for communal activities. We appreciate and bask in festivities not just because we swallow the shallow one-liner of John Donne of “no man being an island,” but because we value familial ties so much we want the familial mode of relations to be the dominant paradigm of transaction in any context. We have established superiority and authority in the parental figure, infusing it with such attributes that the private sphere has already become the priority of people, an ethic of sincerity and relationality.

These thoughts run in our mind in witnessing this week’s proceedings within the confines of La Salle Greenhills and its culmination from the Walled City of Intramuros. Truly Filipino, we find ways to solemnize any particular event with the air of a festivity, whether for revelry or reflective grieving. The funeral of the woman we have hailed and have been proud of as “the mother of democracy,” Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino, despite efforts to render her a simple human being like all of us in that last journey of her earthly existence, has not dimmed nor effaced the gravity of her impact on an entire generation of Filipinos in their continuous, drudging, desperate, yet ever-hopeful struggle for a truly democratic society.

For all means and purposes, we do not exculpate our beloved Tita Cory from the many other questions regarding her tenure of office that have not been given satisfactory resolutions up to today. We never discount the fact that she, being a Cojuangco and a Sumulong, married to an Aquino, is inherently a part of the systematic (and, shall we say, chronic) dysfunction of our popular democratic institutions. We never forget her inabilities and shortcomings which found her in a compromising position with the very people to whom she owed her chance at proving her dedication to destroy all ramparts of the Marcos fascist-crony-capitalist state. We do not forget that she has a bumbling senator for a son and a deranged excuse for a daughter.

And yet, as Ambeth Ocampo would always reiterate, it is precisely these limitations, these failings, that make them all the more admirable for trying to dare the impossible. We have a culture of seeking to comprehend in the midst of incomprehensibility. Despite our penchant for jumping at the bandwagon to condemn incompetents, we never immediately blast somebody for trying to reach the goal through the more ambitious aim. In fact, we have an automatic identification and solidarity with them because we see ourselves in them, and therefore our capacity for greatness.

Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino embodies, in ways that people would be hard-pressed to actually articulate, the revolutionary trajectory of the Filipino in their quest for self-realization and the establishment of a true government of the people, for the people and by the people. We see in her the personification of what can be done to make the best out of a bad situation. It has not been new to us. Emilio Aguinaldo was thrust in the global political sphere in the aftermath of the Spanish-American War, and exhausted every effort he can in order to maintain the independence his people were able to grasp from Spanish hegemony, if not for the tragic mistake of trusting the “cold, calculating Sons of the North.” Manuel Quezon, for all his flair, pushed on the platform of immediate independence despite its unfeasibility not just solely because he wished to strengthen his political acumen but because he is also among those who wanted a Philippines that truly speaks for itself.

Cacique democracy, it must be admitted, can never be separated from Tita Cory’s political identification. And yet despite this, it appears that, similar to that a creole like Quezon gained Malacanang at the downfall of the Federalistas, she was able to achieve what before seemed already a hopeless effort: an inauguration of a new revolutionary tradition. Though many would say that, in her later years, she is a fading voice of conscience in a society that has already lost its own and is apathetically (and pathetically) bumbling towards a hand-to-mouth existence, no one can claim that all that effort for re-imagining and reinstating what the people seeks for themselves did not make any relevant impact on the people’s fight. Her humble demeanour, never the first to impose but willing to strike back (as witness her denouncement of her own Vice-President, Salvador Laurel, after his turnaround during the Christmas Coup of 1989), appeals to our masses in the same way that we have a fanatical devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary (she herself being one), the essential mother figure. That Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo attempted to ape it (and ultimately failed to do so) shows us how permanent an image she has imprinted in our cultural consciousness.

Political analysts might highlight repeatedly (as we have done) her shortcomings, but the people will always give primary importance to her confrontation with the unlamented dictator Ferdinand Marcos, and how she supposedly was able to return “democracy” back to the people. It might also have been helpful that the dichotomies of good and evil are quite clearer then, and thus was able to strike our fellow Filipinos close to home and join the fight that has been protracted for so long. Our inability to fully relive the spirit of the EDSA Revolution is because we do not only have anxieties regarding our ability to do so as long as we fight for democracy, but because we have been kept in such mechanisms of docility stemming from the government created by the EDSA Revolution.

Time and time again, mythology has given us an enslaved community being liberated by a hero. Today, our narrative is no longer epic, but the value of communal commitment is actually stronger than ever: the late Fernando Poe Jr.’s penultimate film Alamat ng Lawin recognizes that only if the people themselves will join the fight will the willing heroes succeed. We have cried at the testimonies of Tita Cory’s friends and relatives. We have worn yellow and have enthroned her in our regard together with her husband Ninoy, the quintessential Filipino martyr in our imagination after Jose Rizal, “the only queen the people recognizes” as Fr. Catalino Arevalo, S.J. would reiterate in his homily during the mass. We have seen her body delivered to her resting place flanked by the very institutions that have been guilty of brutalizing the Filipino nation for two decades and have snuffed the life out of her husband. “Nothing else could be said about her,” the good priest said. But it should it end here?

She has become an ideal. She did not ask for it: we gave it to her. Therefore, this ideal shall only remain potent and serve as a beacon light for our children’s future if we ourselves would use it as our guidance, our source of hope, and our primary weapon against the forces of pervasive, perverted liberal democracy. This is the only, true and befitting tribute we can give her: protect the nation she has thrown her lot with and her whole life into.

And that might just stop the failed impersonator from “materializing” in our midst after 2010.

Gotham needs its true hero... "You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain." I can do those things because I'm not a hero... I killed those people. That's what I can be... I am whatever Gotham needs me to be...

... Sometimes...the truth isn't good enough. Sometimes people deserve more. Sometimes people deserve to have their faith rewarded.

- Batman, The Dark Knight

A Mother Not Like Any Other: Postscript to Cory Aquino by Hansley A. Juliano is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Philippines License.