"Damn those rallies. I’m so tired from work and still on the road for four hours. Can’t you think of other ways? Why not boycott?"
These are real and valid sentiments of the times, both expressed through text. I was one of a handful who sat it out when Cory Aquino asked the crowd to applaud the pro-impeachment congressmen at the first "Bukluran Para sa Katotohanan" interfaith prayer vigil at the La Salle Greenhills a few Fridays ago. I refused to stand. I did not applaud. There are many personalities in the opposition I neither support nor respect. They have agenda and power grab written all over them. I was sure those who genuinely stand for truth and change didn’t need my applause, so I sat and waited it out.
I understand the sentiments of the texters above. I really do. But it’s also because of our reluctance to be heard that people who would never get together before, had to get together. The currency of politics is numbers. That is a reality we have to contend with. Since the middle forces aren’t doing anything, uneasy alliances were forged. It doesn’t mean Cory Aquino will endorse Erap. It only means she recognizes a need for all the factions to get together for the purpose of getting GMA to wake up and act responsibly. We all want truth and accountability. That is the basis of the coalition. The only one. If the middle forces came through, it probably wouldn’t have been necessary.
During the Tuesday rally that started at Commonwealth and ended at the Batasan, many sported "Be Not Afraid" stickers, blissfully unaware of its pedigree. Some ladies asked if they could join the Pag-Asa group because they didn’t really belong anywhere. I told them they were wearing "Be Not Afraid" stickers and that Ping Lacson’s group was somewhere in the back of the line. They looked at me in confusion. I asked if they were supporters of Ping Lacson. They said no. I said they were wearing his sticker. They asked if they should remove it. Only if you choose to march with us, was my reply.
I am new to this myself. I am surprised by much of what I see and experience, so I go back to my personal drawing board each time a new situation arises: I discern and discern some more. I understand those women feeling lost in that big rally and wanting to be part of any group and I truly applaud them for braving it, but it’s also perfectly okay to just go as an individual and be counted. I think we should all take a close look at the hundred-and-one groups forming out there and see what they really stand for. If you find a group whose principles are sound and resonate with you, by all means, join. Otherwise, be counted as an individual. That’s good enough. But do not join just any group. See what they’re about.
I say this to our young congressmen, too. Be wary of the alliances you forge. You’re out there rallying with all your might but who are you with and what message are you sending our battle-weary brothers? I was at the rally of "Bukluran Para sa Katotohan" last Tuesday. I was there as part of Pag-Asa but I was keenly aware of the negative forces who were there to serve their selfish purposes. I was there as part of the fight for truth. That’s it. Nothing more. For me, it is better to be out there than not at all. I understand the need for numbers but I also have my limits. I cannot lock arms with some of the personalities in the opposition. I will not. So I also deal with it on my terms. I continue to write and have conversations with those who are interested. I have allies here and there who bring the importance of truth-telling and truth-living consciously into their work. I participate in rallies and Pag-Asa activities, but I also actively continue the fight where I am.
While the majority shake their heads at the traffic caused by rallies and grumble that all we need to do is work, the forces with stinky agendas are gaining ground. I choose to be part of Pag-Asa (People‘s Assembly for Genuine Alternatives to Social Apathy. Log on to www.truthforce.info for details) because it is a group without political agenda. We are not big. We are not powerful – not by shallow standards – but our concerns and motives are genuine. We continue to hold nightly masses at the People Power Monument. We have kept that place immaculate in the more than 60 days of our stay there. We have never climbed atop the monument brandishing streamers. We have never defaced any part of it. People come to us in peace to meet like-minded people who want truth but are tired of the trapos and wary of the militant left. Together we do what we can to create change, believing that every little step counts.
I don’t enjoy rallies. I don’t think anyone does, but that’s the avenue the government held wide open when they killed the impeachment complaint. If that is the way to let our indignation be felt, so be it. I’m there. If that is what it takes to stand up for truth and integrity, even if it means coating my lungs with fumes, I’m there. Sitting in an unmoving car for hours while I could be home with my children is not my idea of fun, but a few hours of that is luxury compared to being under GMA’s morally hollow government one minute more.
So I ask the middle forces who keep writing and texting, supporting yet not moving, complaining and still not moving: What will do it for you? Why leave the alternatives and solutions to a handful and then complain every step of the way when a new situation arises? Being at home obviously doesn’t do it. Being in the streets doesn’t seem to cut it for you, either. So, what? What are you willing to do and when? You can be a positive and active part of the solution rather than a critical, unproductive voice. Don’t just stay home and criticize the rest of us. Come out and do your part. I am sure we will reach the tipping point soon, but doing nothing doesn’t help. I would rather be out on the streets than at home complaining about everything. Discern, discern, discern, but move.
If we can get to the truth without another People Power, great. I’m for that. We had a hell of an opportunity the first time, but we blew it. After a million years under the Marcos rule, anything that wasn’t him was tolerable. We became lax. We settled. There shouldn’t have been another People Power but there we were. And we blew it again. But it wasn’t the street protest that failed. The leadership we put in place failed again and again because it chose to betray the trust and faith of the people. It failed because the people – in our apathy, forgetfulness, laziness, cynicism and greed – allowed it.
I want the trapos out of government forever – every greasy one of them OUT. I am tired of looking into dead eyes that lie with total ease. I can’t listen to their honed-in-sin eloquence anymore. I can’t. We really have to clean house. That is why Pag-Asa’s call for inner change is important. It is also why people don’t want to hear us. It means a lot of work. Hell, it means no more bi-weekly jaunts to the neighborhood KTV. Forever. It means facing the truth about ourselves – every one of us – and who really wants to do that? But we must. That is exactly what is needed.
Greater forces are shoving us into this corner because we have been spiritually lazy for too long. Today, no one wants to go anywhere near another People Power because of the issue of succession. Just that. The moral and spiritual issues don’t seem to weigh in. People will actually take a liar for a leader simply because they can’t find a suitable replacement. Until Ninoy was assassinated, would we have thought of Cory Aquino? I don’t think anyone remembers how desperate we were to be rid of Marcos that Ninoy’s wife – a self-proclaimed "housewife lang" at the time – was immediately welcomed and made president. We had GMA as the obvious and acceptable successor during People Power 2 but here we are, deep in the crater of her greed. So what are we holding out for? Will it take another human sacrifice?
Things will keep deteriorating at such a blinding pace until each of us steps up to the plate. We have to be the change. That requires letting go of bad habits: settling, making excuses for ourselves and others, trading our souls for the illusory comfort of material gain, deliberately overlooking and accepting lies, lies and more lies because "nakakapagod na at wala namang papalit" (it is so tiring and there is no successor anyway).
Someone is out there and circumstances will bring that leader out. But we have to consciously shape those circumstances or suffer under another problematic government – the kind apathetic people deserve. We are in such dire straits because we are being called upon to do something different, honest and lasting. There are no easy answers now, but the responsibility to create the vessel for which truth and justice can enter falls on each of us. No one is exempt.
People Power isn’t catching on because the opposition is too scary – the most popular ones are toads with poisonous warts the size of Batanes. No thanks. I get that, too. Well, we don’t have to support them and they certainly won’t get my vote. And I will never forget what they stand for and what they bring. Still, if we don’t act, they will take the reins. I am not going to sit at home sending insults to the few who choose to stand up for truth, when I know that my presence will count for something; if not tomorrow, the day after or the day after that.
A columnist recently wrote that what we need is an inspiring leader to come charging through. The survival of this country doesn’t depend on government. It depends on every one of us. It depends on our refusal – again and again if that’s what it takes – to condone any kind of lie, crime, and injustice. We have been part of everything that has gone wrong in government. For as long as we are fearful, lazy, and apathetic, we are part of the problem. If you don’t like any of the solutions or actions presented by any of the existing groups today, by all means, create something else but move.
There is a time to discern. We have spent the last few months doing just that and we have to keep at it every step of the way as things unfold. But the time to move is upon us, too. We cannot pretend this doesn’t touch us at all. Life doesn’t go on as usual. There is nothing usual about lying and cheating. We cannot unite on the empty promise of moving on at last when we are sitting on the biggest moral fault on the equator.
Last Monday, I joined Pag-Asa’s celebration of the National Day of Prayer at the People Power Monument. We had almost 20 priests from different parts of the country celebrating Mass. It started to rain hard. Umbrellas mushroomed from nowhere. Strangers huddled against each other. Before I knew it, there were more than a hundred of us, practically soaked to the bone. We flashed wet smiles at each other, knowing this was nothing compared to the flood that threatens to drown our morality. We saw the Mass through the way we intend to see this crisis through: to the end. This is the kind of determination and commitment we need to change the country. Being there always fills my heart with hope. We choose to move and keep moving. We pray. We plan. We think. We rally. We pray again.
If you don’t like what you see, do something about it. Get together with your friends, neighbors, officemates and brainstorm. Talk to your children and their friends. Every little pebble thrown on the path of truth makes it clearer. Commit to it. Live it. MOVE.