ON THE POLITICAL IMMATURITY OF THE FILIPINO PEOPLE
The following article was sent by a visitor to Get Real Philippines! The author seems to have done a better job at expressing our sentiments than our original essay!
Sent: Monday, January 22, 2001 2:56 PM
Subject:RE: People Power II
I believe that the root of the problem is not the lack
of
real justice and democracy. Rather, I believe that the lack of justice
and
democracy are only the effects of an even greater problem that a lot of
Filipinos are still in denial of.
It's sad to see how blind the Filipinos are to the true intentions of
many
politicians. What makes me even more sick is that these people are
using
the country's situation and the poeple's vulnerability to further their
own
interests. But I also believe that the people are as much at fault
because
they allow these politicians to manipulate them! I'm never going to be
part
of any revolution lead by these disgusting, filty, hypocrites
regardless of
whether I like the president or not.
May God forgive me for boycotting the Catholic Church since October
last
year because I can't stomach the things that these so-called priest,
servants of God have been preaching in their homilies. For me, true
justice
means "innocent until proven guilty" and I live by that even though I
did
not like Erap. Let the prosecution prove that he is guilty if he is, or
let
the defense prove that he is not, if he isn't. Until then we really
don't
know the truth especially since the person who was accusing him was not
so
"clean" himself. The biggest blow to me and the biggest reason I am
boycotting the Catholic Church is because they are taking away my
choice and
that is not true democracy. Imagine announcing to the whole country
that if
you are a Catholic and you don't join "us" in Edsa, then you are
committing
a sin!!! How immature is that? I have made my choice to not support
either
Erap or the opposition. And the Church is telling me that if I don't
support
them I'm committing a sin? Excuse me but we are not living in the
Spanish
era anymore. We have democracy and Cardinal Sin DOES NOT HAVE THE RIGHT
to
take away my choice. Who the hell does he think he is?
I started out HATING Erap as much as you all have but in the end, I
found
that the poeple who are trying to overthrow him are far WORSE and for
that
reason alone, they are not getting my support. I'm so ashamed of the
fact
that our people had to resort to force to get what they want. I do not
believe that FORCE is DEMOCRACY! It's the sign of immaturity. Like how
a
child throws tantrums when his/her parents won't let him/her play
outside or
eat candy or whatever.
I'm not a writer by profession. I don't have the best words to describe
how
I feel about the situation and what i think it should be. But this
article
just about describes most of what's going on in my mind.
Every time there is a political crisis brewing in our country, my
father
would often quip, "Well, America took 250 years to mature as a nation.
And
it took a criminal, a mafia head at that, to have, for the first time
in its
history, an honest election. What then can you expect from a country
whose
'independent' political practices have only been in effect for 55
years?" I
never really had the guts to question my father’s authority over
history.
Nor did I make a step to verify the information. But each time he says
this
line, I would silently quip back, "It took them such a long time
because its
people were like you: passive and very pessimistic."
Something happened last Tuesday night at the Senate Session Hall, and
again
my father expressed his indignation. But this time, questions kept me awake
all
night that day. Are we destined to follow the lead of the American
people?
Do we have to let time be the judge of our fate as a nation? Is the
length
of time really of the essence in our and that of our leaders’ so-called
political maturity? Do we have to resign (and not ERAP) to the fact
that in
our country whose majority are people who cannot discern between what
is
essentially true and what is veiled truth, can decide our fate as a
whole?
What will happen if Aroyo fails to do better? Another revolution to
throw
her out without even considering if the possible successors will do
better?
Just throw her out! ano 'to, trial and error? Do you know the latest
buzzword in the streets after Aroyo had taken her oath as the new
President
and after Erap resigned? Well the latest buzzword is "now we'll have to
wait
for HER impeachment or the next revolution to throw her out." YES,
believe
it or not. You wanted to know the inside story, well, that's what
people
are talking about right now. Even my bosses, my officemates who were
there
in EDSA in support of the opposition. They're the ones who are now
saying,
"Next to be overthrown---AROYO!" Imagine that! And last year, in
October/November, everytime I get an email/text message from people
urging
me to join them, whenever i ask them, if Erap steps down, who do you
think
would be the better replacement and believe it or not 100% of them
answered,
"none."
I do not support the opposition because I am not in agreement with this
TRIAL AND ERROR method! If this one isn't working well and none of the
possible replacements will do any better, then let's work together and
help
make this one work instead of pushing it deeper into the dungeons.
And I don't care what the whole world thinks about the revolution. They
don't know because they are not living the lives that Filipinos are
living
IN THIS country. They're just outside looking in and what they know is
only
what the media wants them to see or what the "politicians" want the
media to
report. It's one of two things. Either the media is just as blind as a
the
people are or the media is just as corrupt as the government. What
does the
rest of the world really know about being Filipino and living in this
country? Nothing! They know nothing! Do we have to live by what the
rest of
the world says or thinks about our country? Our people? Our government?
sorry but I refuse to!
We can have ten, a hundred, a million, billion successful revolutions
after
another. It doesn't change the fact that we are not getting any better
because we are not doing it right. How many more revolutions do we have
to
go through to realize that that's not what the country needs? Haven't
we
learned anything from our national HEROES (in the plural) during the
three centuries that we were under the Spanish rule?
I think what our country needs is political maturity. By that I mean
not
only by the people in public service/office but also by us, the people.
We
can't just throw tantrums everytime the president does something we
don't
quite like. Fact is, all of them (not just the president) are doing
something BAD. Just that not all of them gets caught.
Don't judge me by the choices I make. I have the right to choose which
side
to take as much as you have yours.
[Note: The author of this article encourages anyone who would like to react to it to send him/her e-mail at cwis@hotmail.com. -- the Webmaster]
or |
. |
|
