State Of Emergency

I woke up today thinking it's just like any ordinary day. I went to school, waited for the proctors to arrive, took our Surgery evaluation, and was out by around 9. I went back to the dorm to change my shoes (was wearing high heels) and then go back to school to do our Community Medicine research paper.

On my way back to the dorm, I received a text from a friend saying that they didn't have any classes (he studies in Manila) because Metro Manila was on red alert, although there were still offices. For what, I asked. For possible coup d'etat.

While doing our groupwork for the research paper, I heard from my classmates (and also the same friend) that (1) North and South expressway have military checkpoints so those who were going home via those routes were a bit antsy to leave this morning, (2) Prez GMA declared a state of emergency in the Philippines. I went home about 2, unpacked, ordered a helluva lot of food from Yellow Cab (what can I say? I've been craving pizza the entire week) and after eating our very filling merienda, heard on the news that there was a rally going on in Ayala Ave. My mom and brother work in Makati. In Ayala Ave. That's not to include my friends who are also working in Makati.

It's on the news now... how lots and lots of people are in Ayala Ave, heading off to Mandaluyong City Hall... and welcoming them are the shields of those rally-police people. Cory Aquino's there... and so are a bunch of people in politics that I don't even care to know.

People might seem shocked or look at me with mingled pity or something because I seem a bit indifferent. All I could think of is: again?

Walang katapusang rally ba yan? Never ending complaints for PGMA to step down? The running commentary at the bottom of the news channel keeps saying, "pinagbawal ang kahit anong rally... state of emergency sabi ni PGMA..."

I adore EDSA, the spirit it brought and how everything was resolved in a peaceful manner. Only in the Philppines, I thought (they tried it in China and for their troubles, the rally people got shot). Thinking of the original EDSA makes me feel proud, even though I was just a kid back then. Thinking of EDSA II also makes me feel happy and I can't help but feel a sense of pride because I was a part of it. EDSA III (still debate on whether or not it should be considered an 'EDSA') was not something I'm going to be proud of. It was a mob rule. A bunch of people literally mobbed Malacanyang Palace. That's not an EDSA. EDSA is all about a peaceful way of throwing off a government that has gone beyond it's boundaries and is causing the people pain.

In February 1986, my people threw off a dictator that lasted for 2o-years who had started out as a really good president but ended up stealing the country blind, as well as abusing his power and using his power to get rid of his enemies. The dictator ran off to Hawaii, USA.

In EDSA II (and can you believe I don't remember what the dates are?), my people got rid of a guy everyone agreed was stupid and a little dim up there but who was, against all odds, smartly stole a truckload of money from country. Not to mention, as Jessica Zafra once said, you have to admire a man who can get all his women - wife and mistresses (yes, plural) - and children to back him up in campaigns and election. The stealer and womanizer got locked up, house arrest, in a really nice house with all the usual amenities.

EDSA III mobbed Malacanyang and ended up with a whole bunch of people in the hospitals and jails.

Now... in the 20th anniversary of the very first EDSA rally, people are taking to the streets to throw off a president who cheated in the election. As if she's the only who did, right? As if even mayors and senators and all the little people underneath her didn't.

On the way home, as I was driving, I was trying to figure out why I don't like politics and have absolutely no respect for politicians. I was trying to understand why I was so ignorant of the political scene of my country and adamantly insistent on remaining so.

I know that as a citizen of my country it is my duty, responsibility, and part of my being a Filipino to care and know about the events happening around me - most especially politics-wise. And yet I don't. Why? I am tired. I am tired of hearing one complaint after the other, tired of hearing news that may or may not be true as people try to bring down each other, tired of hearing about graft and corruption, tired of hearing about cheating. Tired of watching my back and getting holed up at home, watching news (rally, terrorism, etc) unfold on the TV with a mixture of disgusting fascination and fear. And then I realized: all my life, I have never been able to experience a calm, safe, trouble-free (or, at least, trouble-less) government. I was born in 1982... EDSA I happened in 1986... then we got Cory who sat on the prez throne and did... nothing. Then came Ramos who started Philippines 2000 but didn't quite get it off the ground. Then came Erap and he stole us blind and allowed the peso to devalue to an all-time low. It got so bad that they joked around with his campaign mantra of "Para sa masa" which they said is really supposed to mean, "Tayo lahat masa" - signifying that the poor got poorer, the rich got poorer and Erap and his immediate family (mistreses included) and cronies got richer. He got arrested and is under house arrest and GMA took over. Then elections happened, we got PGMA, and it was all right, although FPJ's group complained about cheating. Then FPJ died. Then the whole "Graci phone call" happened. And people complained because PGMA cheated her way to the presidency.

I'm not saying what she did is right because heaven knows it's really wrong. But, as Jesus said, "let him who has not sinned throw the first stone". I find it ironic that all these politicians are calling for her to step down when I want to ask them: "Did you not cheat to get to where you are? Did you not pay whoever and the people so they'd vote you and make sure you won?" I will die of shock if they ALL got to where they were without cheating.

I love my country. But I hate the seemingly inherent disease that we all have that seem to make us unable to rise up from our hardships, to learn from our mistakes, to just get over things and do something. Every time I hear someone complain about the government, I remember what JFK (at least I think it's JFK) said, "Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country." They interview squatters and those who are poor, asking what they think of the country, and more often than not, they complain about those in power. Well let me ask them: what are they doing to help themselves and the city/town/place they're in? They complain that the government steals money from the people by pocketing the tax. Excuse me, but do they even pay? And, hello? Why go around saying, "kaya hindi tayo umuunlad kasi hindi magagaling yung gobyerno", I mean, haven't you ever thought about helping yourselves?

I am tired. And I am sorry for feeling so, but it's not like I can go and start caring and being emotionally involved in something that's just going to make me grab my hair and start pulling them out one strand at a time.

My people make me so frustrated that I just want to smack each and every single one of them 'round the heads. Including me. Far be it for me to say that I am an exemplary citizen. But at least I don't complain. And if I do end up doing something that's technically not legal, I try to compensate. Not exactly good, I know, but at least I'm not worse.

Throughout my growing up years, I have asked numerous people: why do they think we are what we are? How do they think we can rise up from poverty? How can we improve our country? I get various responses and ideas which just goes to show that the problem is too big.

I have read numerous articles about different people's take on the state of our government and some even toss out ideas on how to improve it.

I am just tired of it all. I can fully understand why people go abroad in search of greener pastures. Some may do it for the money, but I think in the hearts of every single person who leaves is the wish to escape the crazy world where right is never right and wrong is sometimes right, also known as the Philippines. Some in my generation have said that they don't want to leave because they haven't lost hope in the Philippines. Hope is all well and fine, I guess. I mean, I haven't lost hope in my country but neither does that mean that I look forward to sticking around to see what happens in next 10 years or so.

How, how, how, how can my people, my country, get over all this and just... well, grow up. If every single cent that went to tax actually goes to tax, we'd be very rich. If people would just stop complaining and start doing something, then we'd all be too busy to grip about every single little thing on this Earth. And, hey, we might even improve the country. If squaters and unemployed would just start, I dunno, farming or fishing (I've heard we have a need for those professions), then they'd be doing something, be less of a problem to society, and not even starve.

Where did we go wrong? What happened to my people? Maybe if we can go to the root, we'll figure it out. Because I look around and all I see is one big mess.

I recall two articles that I've read that I still remember until now. I think I read the first one when Erap was president and the second when people began to complain about GMA cheating.

The first one was extolling on the virtues of the novels "Noli Me Tangere" and "El Filibusterismo" and saying that it was such a good piece by Rizal and that it did it's job to incite and awaken the Filipinos to the state of affairs back then. But, he said, isn't it ironic that the very injustices that Rizal portrayed in his novels are the very same injustices that we see nowadays? The very same things that we are fighthing against? What does that tell us? We neither moved forward nor backward. Well, actually, considering the fact that, according to science and genetics and evolution and just plain old common sense, we're supposed to be going forward (as in improving), the mere fact that we haven't can be seen as a step backward.

The other article complained about the people who were complaining about PGMA. He (or maybe she, I forget the gender) was saying that people who complained the loudest were those who didn't even pay tax. He suggested that the only people who would be allowed to vote should be the taxpayers because we have a right to decide who we want to pay to be in the office. He said that Erap won because the masses (yknow, then poor people) outnumber the 'rich'. But all Erap did was steal the money the 'rich' people paid as taxes. What happened to the poor? Nothing. They're already poor, can they get any poorer? I suppose I'm not explaining the second article in a good way. But his point was (and, now, my point is) the only people who have a right to complain, who have a right to vote, should be the people who actually do something. Gets?

Sigh. I don't know. I don't know anymore what's wrong and how to fix it. Meanwhile, all I can hope for is that it won't become violent or that it won't blow up and that mob rule won't rule. All I can do is pray and hope the people I care about, and even those I don't, won't get hurt.

Bakit nga ba? Bakit nga ba nagkakaganito at paano ayusin? Everybody in this country is getting poorer, having a harder life, and the only ones who are having it easy are the politicians who line their pockets with the money of the masses.

Sometimes I wonder... if curses or magic existed... and someone cursed this country so that only the honorable, the responsible, the truthful, and those who would be beneficial to society would be allowed to live... how many would be left?