I'm sure everyone who had a TV watched Aquino's swearing in today. Of course, it's not hard to miss seeing as today was declared a holiday in honor of the occasion, that is, if you weren't part of the crazed horde of moviegoers taking advantage of the rest day to watch the latest installment of that hideous vampire franchise. I wasn't really looking forward to the inauguration, not having voted for Noynoy. Actually, I didn't vote because I was too busy working as an election monitor, but I wouldn't have voted for him in any case. Still, with every station preempting their regular programs to broadcast the Inauguration live, I really had nothing else to watch.
As expected, Quirino grandstand was inundated by a sea of humanity, PNP said there were half a million souls there, all jostling to watch Aquino and Binay take their oaths of office. If I had been there, I would undoubtedly be cursing, I would understand that they would want to have a few musical numbers to set the mood but please, they called in so many that it was starting to get boring. I mean, do we really have to listen to an a capella rendition of You Raise Me Up? And Noel Cabangon, a great artist and songwriter, but he really got into my nerves for hogging the mike for too long. I do believe that a Presidential Inauguration is an affair steeped in history. Too much star power and intermission numbers debases the solemnity of it all and distracts from the true highlights of the day - the oath taking and inaugural speech.
Which brings us to the speech. Ever since I heard Aquino's plan to cut his speech short I've been up in arms. Especially after the giggling organizers kept going on and on about his "song number" It would be outrageous for a new president, especially somebody who promised to bring change in a change-hungry nation, to skip the speech and concentrate on the singing. Does this mean we're back to the age of Bread and Circuses? But kudos to Aquino himself who revised the speech nine times to come up with an exhaustive address that took up nearly twenty minutes. In addressing his constituents at least, he proved how serious he was.
Nonetheless, if you take out the "Daang Tuwid" rhetoric that he's been using since the election campaign he sounds quite typical, especially with the part where he lays down the plan for his administration. You find the typical infrastructure-heavy approach to almost any problem from education to agriculture and neoliberal buzzwords like "levelling the playing field" that it almost sounds as if you're listening to GMA's Sona. He never even mentioned Hacianda Luisita or giving land to landless farmers for that matter. Apparently he believes they should have irrigation before they can have title to their lands. He wants to solve the education problem by building more classrooms also probably forgetting that tuition and other fees have skyrocketed. Now that doesn't make sense to me.
Still, Aquino took several positive steps by appointing respected CHR chair Leila De Lima to the DOJ and setting up a Truth Commission headed by ex-CJ Davide. The biggest and most pressing challenge for the Aquino Administration, aside from resolving the Luisita dispute of course, will be making their predecessors account for the accusations leveled against them. By making these designations and vowing to look into Arroyo's midnight appointments, Aquino showed he has every intention of taking up the challenge.
The eminent Cebuano historian Resil Mojares wrote that Philippine politicians rely on manipulating symbols while avoiding the real issues since tinkering with them might disturb the status quo which they seek to preserve. Now we see how the Laban sign and Bayan Ko, both powerful symbols of the anti-Marcos struggle and earlier waves of protest, got de facto copyrighted by the Liberals for use in their election campaign. Now we have a pledge to have "no reconciliation without justice" even as we find a convicted plunderer with a place of honor among VIPs. Now we hear words like "social reform" and "equitable justice" being thrown around while agrarian reform and nationalist development are nowhere to be found. Now we see a leader who promises Pagbabago but sounds just like any other politico.
Fourteen years ago, another sea of humanity washed out a twenty-year dictatorship and ushered in the first Aquino Administration. But after those historic days at Edsa, the pre-Martial Law elites regained their former places after being rudely displaced by Marcos and his cronies. Changing presidents is just the beginning. Genuine change can't be brought about by a single person even if you invest in him all the powers that the Constitution can confer on an individual. It can only come when the people themselves shake off the indifference and passivity that has allowed the privileged few to dominate the oppressed many here in our country. When Arroyo first took her oath of office at the Edsa Shrine she too was surrounded by adoring crowds hailing the return of democracy. Now, as President Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III takes office in the midst of so much promise, let us sober up and remember that the hard part is only beginning. It is now time to hold Noynoy accountable for all his campaign pledges. For those who watched Aquino today, we should keep watching.
By my personal assessment, Roxas, though a scion of the aristocratic Roxas and Araneta families, is one of the more progressive than the other candidates because of his close association with maverick legislators like partymate Rep. Erin Tañada, himself a member of a distinguished clan of nationalist politicians, a former student leader and current Chair of the House Committee on Human Rights. I've met Tañada twice and even then he had been endorsing his fellow Liberal so I figured, if Erin likes him maybe he's got something there.
Unfortunately, Mar didn't stay too long. After an entrance fit for a ead of State, he made a brief speech in his distinctly Ilonggo accent thanking everyone for coming and apologizing that he had to be home by noon as Korina was waiting for him in Manila. But he was still kind enough to stay for some picture taking and autograph signing as everyone in the jam-packed room mobbed him.
The questions were left to NIPS Director Lambert Ramirez who admitted that he wasn't really authoritative on the candidate's views but whose answers i suppose was congruent with the party line. Concerned student that I am, I asked him about their plans on tution fee increase and the commercialization of education. He replied by saying how ticklish the tuition fee issue was and that Sen. Roxas had already consulted with the National Union of Students of the Philippines and was tilting toward socialized tuition fees (which I think is applicaple only to State Universities). Then the forum went back to the LP's networking campaign strategy for 2010.
Let us digress for a while. Once upon a time, freshman year in college to be more specific, I was a staunch advocate of Charter Change aka Cha-Cha. I would argue with anyone who challenged my views, even if it meant it was the whole class. The Philippines was a mess and everyone knew it.Change was something we needed, I reasoned, and change should begin with the Constitution that serves as the framework of our political system. Parliamentary government will reduce deadlocks between legislature and executive, Federalism will free up the supressed energies of local government and Charter Change was, as I pointed out in a term paper, justified by Aristotle's political philosophy.
Fast forward to the present and you see me now as an active member of the No to Con-
Ass Facebook group and trashtalking pro-ConAss lawmakers whenever I have the chance. Why the about face? I realized that you need more than just Charter Change to fix this country. No, I'm not into the "It's not the system but it's the people" thing. Our political and economic woes go beyond our Constitution and is deeply rooted in the very structure of our society. We can't get anywhere without dismantling elite rule which has thrived in Philippine politics no matter how many times we changed constitutions. However, middle class thinking, which was initially mu stanpoint, sees things differently. Recognizing the need for change but reluctant to take steps that might drastically alter the status quo, Charter Change is the easy answer.This is the kind of thinking i see in the LP, as the answers to my questions show. Most of the Liberals' position are cautious middle-of-the-road compromises. They are against Con-Ass but push for Charter Change through Con-Con. They are concerned with agrarian reform but prefer extending and reforming the gradualist CARP instead of the more forceful GARB. Like any mainstream party, they are also quiet on political dynasties.
We keep on hearing how the 2010 polls will bring change. That's a given, but maybe we should also be thinking about how far we ought to go. Perhaps the more progressive presidentiables should be more progressive.
It has been months since my last post. It's not that my highly sensitive sense of moral outrage has lessened. I'm just either too busy or too lazy. But I digress.
All these cheesy commercials keep reminding us that the bourgeois charade of democracy called the elections are now near enough for the numerous presidential aspirants to obsess themselves with catching the public eye. It seemed only yesterday that candidates tried to outdo each other in projecting the hip pro-youth persona by championing education and the kabataan. Again we find sanctimonious political dinosaurs lecturing young people on how much the country needs them, about how we need to be involved in choosing our leaders, how they are so unselfishly committed to the cause of future generations and how crucial the youth vote will be in 2010.
Please. Tell that to the schoolchildren who trek for five hours to get to their dilapidated schoolhouse and share their textbook with three other classmates, to the families of the murdered student leaders and campus journalists whose killers remain at large. Tell it to the university student who has to quit school because he couldn't affor to pay for his "right to quality education" and tell that to the girl who got pregnant and doesn't know who the father is or the gay kid who can't go inside his school for "cross-dressing". I supose I'm not the only one feeling too busy or too lazy.
Pardon my cynicism but as a Political Science Major and student of Philippine Politics, I have lost the luxury of blissful ignorance. A semester and a pile of reading materials on this subject and I look at the beleaguered Arroyo Administration besieged by Hello Garci and ZTE and I flash back to the 1950s when Elpidio Quirino facing accusations of fraud and violence in the 1949 elections (which by the way is considered the dirtiest Philippine election, that is, until Marcos took dirty to new heights) as well as numerous graft scandals finds an impeachment complaint in the House of Representatives with his name on it. Familiarly, his Congressional lap dogs squashed the complaint when it was put into a vote an omen of things to come. My bottom line, it all happened before and it's all gonna happen again. Even if we keep reshuffling the people we're all doomed unless we change the system.
Of course, like any good Catholic, i give the politicians the benefit of the doubt and to see what they had to say for themselves I stayed up to watch the ANC Leadership Forum last night where rumored presidentiables(actually announcing candidacy would prevent them from prematurely campaigning after all) answered a few queries courtesy of ANC and the Ateneo School of Government. Present were Senators Mar Roxas, Chiz Escudero, Dick Gordon; Governor Ed Panlilio and Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro. MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando, Mayor Jejomar Binay and Sen. Ping Lacson were also invited buts sadly couldn't make it.The questions ranged from the personal (What was the last book you read/movie you watched, Which person inspires you?) to the serious political ones (Would you join a coalition with Manny Pacquiao's Party?Do you support an investigation on the Arroyos alleged corruption?).
Ex-priest Among Ed sounded, expectedly enough, like our parish priest. He talked about St. Paul's open minded leadership style and how corruption is not just endemic to government but in the whole of society and requires a regeneration of moral fiber to combat. Gordon appeared dull and boring, perhaps overshadowed by his more charismatic fellow speakers. He kept on droning about Thomas More and Lord Acton while the moderator was calling the time. He did give an emotional account on how his father, the American-born mayor of Olongapo killed by political opponents, inspired him to enter public service, choking up when he quoted Lorenzo Tañada's eulogy for him ("He was born American, but raised a Filipino and died a Filipino"). Mar Roxas, was the one most obviously gunning for the presidency and you could feel the pressure he was in to get the limelight. His answers were insightful but Escudero got more laughs. Well, except for his melodramatic defense that he was marrying Korina Sanchez for love and not political gain. Chiz was the darling of the crowd, drawing chuckles even as he made veiled attacks on the President. Asked the Pacquiao question he bluntly replied he would support the People's Champ, as long as he's not with the one he visited at Malacañang earlier in the day. Asked the movie question and he answered "Kasal, Kasali, Kasalo".
Arroyo herself wasn't there but the shadow of her presidency was ever looming especially for Admin ally Teodoro. "Gibo" Teodoro dutifully took up the cudgels for the President, extolling her many achievements (i.e. the usual fare: infrastructure, 7.3% GDP growth in 2007, peace and order blah, blah, blah...) and expressing his support on a probe on her family but cautioning that if it was only political harassment "I will protect my President." Mr. Palengke Roxas and Gordon focused on their personal relationship with the President, Mr. Palengke admitting she supported him against the cement and pharmaceutical cartels while DTI Secretary and Gordon about how they used to work together in the Senate. Panlilio discoursed about the inherent goodness found in everyone and praised Arroyo for her commitment to the environment through the Solid Waste Management Act and the Alternative Fuels Law. (I suppose Among Ed isn't familiar with the trouble in the Tañon Strait which is nothing but an outgrowth of her neoliberal policies, but i don't take that against him).
My evaluation? Chiz scored with the audience and all the rest were struggling to get a piece of the attention. Teodoro, particularly, passed off as little more than an Administration lackey, which is not good as negative SWS ratings dog his boss. Mar tried to get noticed but, let's just say he can still catch up with the publicity from the upcoming wedding of the century. But all in all, everyone was playing safe. Nothing much about Cha-Cha, Human rights, Extrajudicial kilings, Agrarian reform or any profound critique on the Philippine economy, society or political system. Nobody said anything about the Tuition Moratorium Bill or the Magna Carta for Students, not even about the Reproductive Health Bill. But yes, there was the usual appeal to the delicious chunk of two million first-time voters (which include me by the way) and their youthful compatriots.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not discouraging young people from voting. Your friendly neighborhood cynic is just telling all the young voters to not put their hopes up too high. If you really want change through the ballot, first, pray like hell that the polls will be clean. Next, pray like hell the people who get elected are clean. Then, pray like hell the next elections will be clean. Repeat steps 1 and 2 indefinitely. It's a long shot but, hey, nobody said change through the ballot was quick and introducing profound changes to the system is really messy and not that sexy compared to all the cool star-studded political ads and campaign jingles. As for me, I prefer to put my vote where it won't be wasted like on Kabataan Party-list, our sectoral organization who just recently was awarded a seat in Congress by the Supreme Court after years of litigation (and God knows how many more years of endless struggle before that). In fact, I' m going to get registered, when I'm not either too busy or too lazy.