Is there light at the end of the tunnel? Not even a glittering glow of a firefly seems to manifest itself in the pitch dark situation of Philippine political affairs. We witness the Poe-Escudero tandem trotting about in what used to be a political party convention, but which now is replaced and simplified by just a self-proclamation of a candidate.
Of course the intentions are flooded with profuse rhetorics of “ sincere service of the people, especially the poor”. Or in the particular abstraction of presidential aspirant Grace Poe, “pagpapatuloy ng simulain ni FPJ” [continuance of the ideals of FPJ]. Whatever those ideals are remain to be pieces of a guessing game to complete, a jigsaw puzzle.
On the other hand, the ever mobile Jejomar Binay loves to be surrounded always by a crowd of people wherever he goes, usually urban settlers. And keeps abbing here and there at the Pinoy government for its serious lapses. He tries to impress his audiences as one possessed with a big heart for the masses. But he avoids real controversial and or crucial issues, such as the senseless massacres going on in the Lumadlands in Mindanao. He’d rather dwell on the lapses of President Noynoy’s pronounceme nts which, on their own account, are likewise devoid of substantial concerns, if not outright evasion or avoidance.
And Mar Roxas is a pathetic figure! He is fully aware of his negative image in the consciousness of the people. His cacique image which jibes accurately with Noynoy’s landlord gentry arrogance is his basic bane. And this reflects in his own utterances and interaction with the ordinary people whom he tries to woo with the usual Trapo tactic of “shoulder and back tapping”—always dwelling on non-issues. He basks in the shadow of Noynoy as if the latter’s central slogan of “matuwid na daan” carries any magic at all. As a matter of fact, it has become a compounded dirty word as far as the common tao is concerned.
We have said it a number of times over that for as long as the politician candidates continue to nurture the ideology of puppetry & patronage politics and adopt the “trapo-epal”strategy and tactics, nothing—absolutely nothing—will ever happen to our society in terms of development. Or call it radical change. Patronage politics is a recipe suited for the society’s own ruin. Immediately after the completion of the electoral process, corruption and bootlicking will again flourish. The vicious cycle will begin anew with the same fundamental processes in new nomenclatures, colors and shapes.
If Grace Poe wins as head of state, expect the brandishing of a novel slogan, because surely she will refuse to tread under the shadow of the so-called “matuwid na daan” identified with Noynoy and Mar Roxas. If it be Roxas who becomes president, the straight road will be paved with new descriptive phrases. And it would mean that the 4Ps and the PPP and the OplanBayanihan will be raised to “highway levels”—meaning new deceptive methods of implementation.
If Binay is favored with the winning votes, his own style of hypocrisy and deception will burden the people with the same unsubstantial catchphrases as labels to hollow programs that are bound to flounder to utter failure in uplifting the miserable lot of the masses.
Whosoever will be crowned head of state—anyone of them— will be beholden to the same ruling classes—the foreign monopoly capitalists, the big comprador-capitalists, and the big landlord class. Of course the economic interests of these elite classes interpenetrate in an interdependent and mutually beneficial way, as it has always been through the last 70 years.
With regard to the eventuality of a Mar Ro xas presidency, the continuance of the matuwid na daan would mean the deepening of the crisis. But the most ruinous of all, the culture of impunity will be as good as instituted as a national policy.
OplanBayanihan will be heightened with renewed vigor as an anti-insurgency measure. Its codename need not even be changed. What would present as a new feature is the more bestial and more openly evil trampling of the human rights of the masses, especially the Lumads who will always resist the ravage and plunder of their ancestral lands. Certainly it will be in Lumadlands that the rate of mining operations will be implemented with more frenetic pace and more ruinous degradation of the environment.
Nothing will ever change in the miserable plight of the people, if the Status Quo remains. As we have pointed out many times over, nothing short of an overhaul of the system can ever bring about genuine change with its concomitant concentrated expression of democracy, social justice and progress.
But if somehow, by some miraculous stroke of fate, the incoming top leadership would; welcome a coalition government with the revolutionary government obtaining in the countryside, then perhaps, a visible light will manifest at the other end of the tunnel. This is a remote eventuality, but it shall be a flicker of hope we can hold on to. Perhaps, upon the ascendance of someone who has a mindset of a Mayor Duterte?
