Every time I run into somebody from college or with somebody who knew i took up Political Science, the conversation inevitably revolves around why I didn't go to law school this year. It comes in a delectable group of flavors like the surprised("Wa diay ka mag-law?"), assuming (Musta man ang law? Ha? Wa diay ka nag-law?) and, my personal favorite, the interrogative (Naganung wa man kuno ka nag-law beh?). Frankly, I don't understand the fuss of it all especially since I already resolved not to proceed to law even before I started my last year in university. Don't get me wrong, I do plan on studying law, I just don't want to do it yet and I have, not just one, but a series of compelling reasons why.
First, I don't have the money. This is quite superficial I'm sure and it's the one I would give when asked, but probably because I sound like I was joking, people just don't believe me (*sigh*). But it's true. It's a fact that Law school is expensive whatever school you pick and I'm not just talking about the tuition, which goes up every year by the way... (EDUCATION NOT FOR SALE!! NO TO TFI!!) but was thinking about the thick hardbound original books, the mountains of photocopied cases and the semi-formal clothes that I have to procure. With my sister starting college this year I'd rather be earning my keep than adding to the family expenses.
Second, it's so darn tiresome. The day I decided not to proceed to law the year after graduation was the day of the midterms for my Obligations and Contracts class. I was staring at the nth article of the Civil Code that I had to jam into my overflowing brain when it dawned on me that in law school I will be doing this everyday for every subject on a brutal difficulty setting. The great Arsenio Tan (may his name be forever revered) said that to become a lawyer you don't really have to be intelligent but you must be diligent. I had used up all my diligence for the law by that midterm day.
Third, I just don't want to proceed this year, that's all. Imagine, spending half of your life in a classroom, eagerly anticipating the day when you get your college diploma and enter the so-called "real world" only to go back to another classroom, classier and heavily airconditioned but nonetheless a classroom. Now that I graduated there's so much to do and so much to see. Law school can wait. On a more serious note, there are around 40,000 lawyers in the Philippines but we don't have justice. Law school can teach you about the Constitution, the Bill of Rights or the Civil Code but not about justice, equity or freedom. You learn that not by reading cases or law books but by going out into society and immersing yourself in the everyday struggles of the common tao. Before I want to learn about the law, I want to learn about justice first.
Let me end this post with a parting shoutout to the all the Polsci majors out there. We are NOT predestined to proceed to law. Just because we took up this major, doesn't mean we are absolutely compelled to start a career in law. We really don't have to if we don't want to. Going to law school is a big investment, you're putting in at the very least four precious years of your life. In that span of you could have gotten married, become a world-famous writer, started a business or whatever. So think things through before taking the plunge. I did, but I'll just be putting it off for a few years.
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.